The Sussex Cricket Museum

Martin Chandler | 9:02am GMT 06 March 2022

Published: 2022
Pages: 62
Author: Sharp, Nicholas
Publisher: Private
Rating: 3.5 stars

The Sussex Cricket Museum began life, formally, in 2009 when its charitable trust status began. Of course in reality that was the end of one journey and the beginning of another. Nicholas Sharp, one of the trust’s current trustees, was the man who, in 2000, started the car for the first part of the journey. Against that background I suppose it was inevitable that eventually,  a man who is an accomplished writer as well as a great authority on Sussex cricket, would decide to commit this success story into writing, and this 62 page booklet is the result.

The Sussex Museum is a place I have long known I need to visit, and this splendid booklet serves only to reinforce the point. The narrative is not without interest, as the reader is told a story that begins with a disastrous decision by the club to sell off some of the family jewels in order to make ends meet, and ends with a description of the way in which what remained of the club’s rich store of artefacts and those many items subsequently acquired are now looked after and displayed, its future secure for generations to come.

The above point made, and with all due respect to the skill with which Nicholas Sharp has put the story together, the star turns in this particular booklet are the illustrations it contains. Slightly over half of the pages are taken up with these, and it is with them that the quality of the paper used is so important. The photographs are all in colour and have clearly been taken by someone with considerable skill. The majority, but by no means all, cover items and individuals that are rather more ancient than modern, but then it is a museum after all. Inevitably and quite properly the name of Ranji looms large, and my personal favourites amongst the illustrations are of a couple of Alfred Craig’s poems, one directly on the subject of the Jam Sahib.

Naturally the booklet contains a chapter on the numerous excellent publications that the museum has been responsible for over the last decade, and indeed there is a full bibliography, slightly troubling to me in that it confirmed there are a handful of items that do not currently occupy a place in my collection. That said dinner menus have never loomed large in my collecting habits, although on the other hand the appearance of the magic words ‘limited edition’ alongside the descriptions of the items in question does provide that one thing I find it difficult to resist, temptation!

All things considered I would have to concede that as cricketing publications go The Sussex Cricket Museum is a bit ‘niche’, but there are a not inconsiderable number of collectors in that space, and for all of us who enjoy reading about the memorabilia that our great game has produced this one is thoroughly recommended.