The national tour parties have been announced and at last have another representative of Sussex County Cricket Club who will play for England.

If there was ever someone at Sussex who deserved to play for England more than James Kirtley then I'm not a posh, tall person (as I frequently get called on the field, although usually not in quite so polite a way). Ambi has worked harder on and off the field than anyone else over the last few years.

A Sussex man if there ever was, born and bred, apart from a brief stint at a school in Bristol (I'm sure he'd rather forget about that bit though!), Ambi was a late starter as regards the cricket.

He only really discovered he could bowl fast when he was about 16. He soon made up for lost time though and when he played his first game for the Sussex under-19s he was as quick as anyone in the country at that age group. As a young player, and especially if you're a batsman, the main concern is whether the opposition has a fast bowler or not. Throughout the youth age groups it was always the northern teams that possessed the quickest seamers. They seemed to breed them big up north. Whether it was all that lard used in their mothers' cooking, or the fact that they were sent down 'pit from an early age, I'm not sure. but the result was that whenever Yorkshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire or Durham made a visit down south there would inevitably be two huge bruisers taking the new ball and terrorising the life out of the poor, soft, soon-to-be shandy drinking southerners. Sussex never had any one that quick. I used to be our quickest at my age group for goodness sake! So when this pint-sized, wiry lad from Eastbourne came hurtling in, ears pinned back like a greyhound, the batsmen got a nasty shock when a thunderbolt was fired in at his head or toes. At last we had a fast bowler who could give it some to those northerners (and while he was at it, to Surrey, Essex, Middlesex etc.). The Hurtler was soon playing for the second XI and impressing both team-mates and opposition with his whippy action and genuine ability to shape the ball away from the batsman at good pace, the opening batsman's nightmare.

A contract came next and the first-class wickets soon began to flow. It was immensely to his credit that he ignored a stream of offers of contracts from other counties that must have been very tempting, especially when Sussex was labelled an "unfashionable" county with the England selectors. Perhaps it was for this reason, or because of his relatively diminutive frame, that it was too long before he was recognised by the English set up and he only made the A tour to Bangladesh and India as a reserve. Even a respectable tour and another summer where he took a hundred wickets in all cricket (and the majority of those on Hove featherbeds) was not enough to convince the selectors. He didn't even get on the next A tour. Some ridiculous handling over his "suspect" action, now thankfully cleared up, may have be put him back a touch but it has made him even more determined to succeed and when he does get his chance in the international arena we at Sussex know he will be ready.

It will be a very interesting winter for many reasons. In Ambi, Sussex supporters will have an extra reason to be scouring the morning newspapers and signing up to Sky TV. It will also be facinating to see how the academy get on in Australia. An older squad than many had imagined, there are some exciting names amongst them. Hopefully they will learn from the Australian way of doing things and come back better equipped to play Test and one-day cricket. One notable omission is our wicketkeeper, Matt Prior. How they have picked the Glamorgan keeper Wallace ahead of him I will never know.