John Simpson

Neat and reliable wicketkeeper-batter John Simpson was a Middlesex stalwart for over a decade, before moving to Sussex and leading the club's promotion back to Division One of the County Championship.

He played first-team Lancashire League cricket when only ten, and went on to represent Lancashire in every age group from Under-11 upwards. But it took a move to Middlesex to realise his ambition of becoming a professional cricketer. He came into his own during the 2011 season, when 869 runs at 43.45 and 65 victims behind the stumps played a big part in the county's promotion campaign.

Simpson was never really in the running for a Test cap, but for one extraordinary week in July 2021, his dream of England recognition came true, when he was called up to a second-choice ODI side (Covid had put most of the original side out of contention) to take on Pakistan. He played all three games and took nine catches in a 3-0 clean sweep, including five in an innings on his home ground at Lord's.

Before then, his career highlight had come on a memorable final afternoon at Taunton in 2016, when his 79 not out from 80 balls, rounded off with two leg-side sixes, completed a thrilling chase in a season that brought Middlesex their first Championship title in over two decades. A hundred against Hampshire in May that year, the fifth first-class hundred of his career, was another strikingly fluent display. Simpson finished that season with 779 runs at 43.27.

In 2022 he topped 1000 runs in a season for the first time. But after a poor 2023, he opted to leave Middlesex for a fresh challenge at the age of 35, taking on the Championship captaincy down at Hove. His batting form was revelatory, with 1197 runs at 74.81 - including a career-best 205 not out against Leicestershire - and Sussex benefited from an experienced hand on the tiller as they won promotion after a nine-year absence from Division One.