Sussex Cricket Museum

Cuckfield is in Mid-Sussex and cricket has been played on various grounds in the village since 1741 when a match was played on the 'North Field'. The purchase of the club's ground for a burial ground extension in 1854 led to a decline in the club's fortunes, but from 1868 with a relocation to Ockenden, the club began to flourish once again, to the extent that for four seasons Fred Tate was the opening bowler. Listen in to this fascinating story of one of the oldest cricket clubs in Sussex.

Stephen Baldwin is talking in this podcast to John Barclay about his recent book on John Wisden. Perhaps better known for his Almanack and his business venture - establishing a cricket and cigar shop in Coventry Street, London, Wisden was an excellent all-rounder playing for Sussex and various England teams from 1845.
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For our July podcast, Sussex Cricket Museum's curator, Keith Ridge, talks to Malcolm Page from Lindfield Cricket Club about the exhibition on Lindfield Cricket CLub that is currently on display in the Museum. Malcolm has been at the forefront of collating  archive material to enable Sussex Cricket Museum to assist with the publication of a history of the club.

Annie Chave is Editor and Director of 'County Cricket Matters', a magazine that celebrates County Cricket in the UK. Annie has written articles for The Cricketer', spoken on Radio5 and appeared on the' Victoria Derbyshire' show. In this podcsat Annie talks to John Barclay about her latest book, 'Cricket Changed My Life'  in which she tells the stories of eleven different people for whom the game of cricket has been transformative.

Stephen Chalke, author of many books on cricket and triple winner of the Wisden Book of the Year award is talking to John Barclay about his latest book, the product of 25 years of conversations with the subject who he describes as daring, defiant and daft - Brian Close.
In 'One Hell of a Life - Daring, Defiant and Daft' Chalke gives us an insight into an unusual man who could never be relied on to take the easy option, and in this interview with John Barclay which took place during the 2025 Sussex Cricket Museum's Book Fair, Chalke talks about the leadership qualities of Close on the field, and the battles he had with authority off it.

For our first podcast of 2025, Keith Ridge, the curator of the Sussex Cricket Museum, has travelled to the north east of Sussex to a place that has become famous for the battle that was a turning point in our nation's history, the Battle of Hastings. Battles between willow and ball though have long featured in this small town and are the subject of this podcast with Kieran Dudgeon and Tim Dudgeon, author of 'Bats, Baronets and Battle'.

Today’s podcast features John Barclay in conversation with David Bowden who in December 2021 was awarded an MBE for Services to Cricket and the Community. There can’t be many of those who have devoted themselves to Sussex Cricket who have done as much as David has. Soon after retiring from a career in Healthcare Management, David became Chairman of Preston Nomads, having previously been the team’s captain and then helped in the creation of the Spen Cama Foundation. In 2006 David was elected as a Board Director of Sussex County Cricket Club and helped to bring about the merger of the Sussex Cricket Board and the Sussex County Cricket Club into Sussex Cricket Ltd. In recent years  David has been President of Sussex Cricket and  Chair of the Cricket Committee at the Brighton Aldridge Community Academy as well as being  President of the Sussex Cricket Society.

Adrian Harms, BBC Radio Sussex Cricket commentator, and recipient of the ECB Domestic Broadcaster of the Year for 2021, talks to Keith Ridge, curator of Sussex Cricket museum about his life as a cricket commentator: how he got the job, working with other county commentators, good and bad moments, including mistaking Ollie Robinson for Bruce Springsteen are all in a day's work for Adrian.

Jack Eaton played for Sussex between 1926 and 1946, primarily as a wicketkeeper. In a recent interview with the Museum curator, Keith Ridge at the County Ground in Hove, Jack's son Richard talks about growing up in Sussex and memories of his father.

In this months' podcast John Barclay chats to two of the most stylish Sussex players from the 1960s and 1970s who between them played a huge part in the defeat of the famous West Indies side of 1966. In that match the West Indies were bowled out by Sussex at Hove for 123 and 67 with John Snow grabbing 11 wickets in total and Peter Graves scoring 64 against the West Indies attack which included Griffith and Sobers. Listen in to a fascinating discussion about the Gillette Cup, Test cricket, Packer and life after cricket.