Oxfordshire Cricket is delighted to announce that seventeen-year-old James Coles has signed a contract with Sussex.
Coles who last year made his professional debut against Surrey will join the Sussex squad at the end of the school year.
The all-rounder became Sussex’s youngest first-class player when he made his debut against Surrey in the Bob Willis Trophy last summer at the age of 16 years and 158 days. He took three wickets in the match with his left-arm spin, including those of England players Rory Burns and Ben Foakes, and scored 21 runs. As well as making his first-class debut last summer, James also scored a century against Buckinghamshire on his senior debut for Oxfordshire and was part of an England Young Lions South team that also contained fellow Sussex first-year professionals Jamie Atkins, Henry Crocombe and Sean Hunt.
Coles becomes the first professional player to sign a contract for Sussex as part of the Oxfordshire and Sussex partnership that was initially formed in 2013. The joint Oxfordshire and Sussex Academy is based at Magdalen College School and is led by Oxfordshire and Sussex Academy Head Coach, Alan Duncan, who works closely with Sussex’s Academy Director, Richard Halsall and Oxfordshire’s Performance Cricket Manager, Matt Barnes in developing young cricketers from the region. The school’s support has been invaluable in allowing the partnership to flourish.
Coles, who attends Magdalen College School in Oxford, started his cricketing journey for Oxfordshire at the age of eight when he played for the South Oxfordshire District U11s after showing his potential and being nominated by his club Aston Rowant CC. As an eight year old Coles was selected in the U11 Best of Districts squad that toured Exeter in 2012. In July 2013, as a nine year old playing for the U10s against the U11s Best of District he scored 101 not out off 62 balls at Didcot Power Station. In June 2014, he scored his first county age group century hitting 132 off 119 balls against Buckinghamshire at Thame. His performances have been consistently above his peers from an early age.
A couple years later, while he was in the U12s he was invited onto the Sussex Emerging Players Programme, which he has been on for five years since 2015/16. Fast forward to 2018, Coles was selected a year early as a fourteen year old to represent South & West U15s at the Bunbury Festival where he went on to be highest wicket taker at the festival. Not long after, Coles led Oxfordshire’s U15s to victory over Scotland in the Royal London Division B competition.
A year later in 2019, Coles was again selected to attend and captain South & West U15s at the Bunbury Festival at Felstead School in Essex, where he was named Player of the Tournament as a result of being the leading run scorer at the festival with a total of 199 runs. A few months later, he was informed by Sussex Cricket Academy Director, Richard Halsall that he had been awarded a place in Sussex County Cricket Club’s Academy for 2019/2020 alongside Harry Startin. In November 2019, Coles was named Junior Sportsman of the year at the Oxfordshire Sports Awards.
Just after the news broke we spoke to James Coles:
We spoke to Alan Duncan – Oxfordshire and Sussex Academy Head Coach and Magdalen College School Cricket Professional:
We spoke to Matt Barnes – Oxfordshire Cricket Performance Cricket Manager:
Sussex’s Championship and one-day head coach, Ian Salisbury said, “After he became Sussex’s youngest ever debutant, we are delighted to sign this talented young man. He definitely fits our strategy of signing young talent that will bring sustained success to Sussex in the future. Huge credit must also go to Oxfordshire and the partnership we have with them.”
Sussex’s T20 Head Coach, James Kirtley added, “James is another highly talented youngster. He is highly regarded by Oxfordshire and by Sussex but equally well-regarded by those in the Young Lions set up. I know he impressed many at Loughborough during some of the training weekends. “Not only is James a high-quality top order batter but he offers some good quality left-arm spin bowling. We very much see James as part of the Sussex future and our commitment to build this team is shown by the offer of this contract. We really believe that James can be part of the success story we are trying build.”