As he made a tumbling stop during Sussex’s Championship game against Glamorgan on Monday before raising his hand to acknowledge the cheers of the Hove crowd, big Mitch Claydon looked like someone determined to enjoy the last few weeks of his long career.
Sussex are the fourth stop on a journey around the counties for the 38-year-old from Sydney which started at Yorkshire in 2005 and has included spells with Durham and Kent.
When he arrived at Hove at the start of 2020, Sussex planned to utilise his experience to help a young bowling group.
Instead, his first season was overshadowed by the suspension he picked up for using hand sanitiser on the ball during a game against Middlesex last August.
Last week the 38-year-old announced he will be retiring at the end of the season so he can concentrate on coaching and umpiring opportunities in Australia.
“It wasn’t a difficult decision to make,” he reflected this week. “I’m not getting any younger and I didn’t want to stop young players coming through.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed my career and by deciding to retire now I have a few months left of the season to hopefully play as many games as I can for Sussex as a senior bowler to help the youngsters develop on the field.”
There was no place for Claydon in the opening three months of the season as Sussex gave chances to their Academy players, particularly in the County Championship.
But with eight players self-isolating after Tom Clark tested positive for covid-19 and George Garton on England duty, Claydon returned last Thursday in the T20 Blast against Middlesex.
Sussex lost but Claydon bowled well and kept his place for the victory over Glamorgan a day later which kept Sussex on track for the quarter-finals.
Injuries to Phil Salt and Chris Jordan further weakened Sussex’s options for the resumption of Championship action this week.
As well as handing Claydon his first red-ball opportunity of the season, 19-year-old Oli Carter became the sixth Academy graduate to make his first-team debut following Jamie Atkins, Joe Sarro, Ali Orr and Dan Ibrahim and Archie Lenham in the Blast.
Claydon had a good luck at 16-year-old Ibrahim as they batted together at the end of Sussex’s first innings against Glamorgan on Monday, when Ibrahim followed up his 55 on debut against Yorkshire last month with 58.
“He’s incredible, so calm and composed at the crease,” said Claydon. “He has shown in two games that he can handle first-class cricket.
“On his debut at Headingley against Yorkshire he looked brilliant and this week I thought he did even better. He spent a lot of time at the crease and played some lovely cricket shots.
“There are some exciting young cricketers around here for sure and he’s one of them. The club will definitely be better off in four or five years if they can stay together and keep some senior players around to help their development.
“When I started, you grew up learning your trade in the second XI but they are doing it in the first team when there are going to be knocks and setbacks. You have to hang in there with them.
“There is a lot of learning to be done in first-class cricket so you have to be patient because they will not always get it right.
“But they are training well and they ask the right questions and will learn so much from batting with guys like Travis Head and they are all in a good place.”
