James Coles: London Spirit sign Sussex all-rounder at Hundred auction for £390,000

Outside of the Sussex and Southern Brave, Coles may not be familiar to cricket followers, but that has all changed this winter.

His performance for the Sunrisers Eastern Cape in SA20 raised some eyebrows, as the largely unknown sum put in two man-of-the-match performances to help Sunrisers retain their title.

He then backed up those performances for the England Lions last month in the truncated series against Pakistan.

Aged just 16 years and 157 days, Coles became the youngest player ever to represent Sussex when he made his debut at The Oval against Surrey in the Bob Willis Cup in September 2020 – and he did not disappoint.

His left-arm action was responsible for Rory Burns, Jimmy Smith and Ben Fox – and the 21 runs he scored in the match showed sound technique and composure that signaled the emergence of a very talented player.

This talent has developed under the watchful eye of Sussex boss Paul Farbrace, as evidenced by Coles’ performance in the County Championship last season.

He scored 1,032 runs, including four centuries, at an average of 47, and added 20 wickets, as well as providing as safe a pair of hands as anywhere in the tournament with 19 catches, most of them at second slip, a position in which he excelled.