Jim Parks, a former Sussex and England wicketkeeper-batsman, died at the age of 90. He was England’s oldest living Test cricketer.
Parks played 46 Tests for his country between 1954 and 1968, however his county career lasted another eight years, into his mid-forties. Later in his career, he worked for the brewer Whitbread and as the marketing manager for Sussex, where he also served as club president for two terms.
Sussex said that he died on Tuesday morning in a Worthing hospital after collapsing at his house over the weekend.
Parks grew up in a cricket-loving family. His father, Jim Snr, and uncle, Horace, each played over 400 times for Sussex, while his son, Bobby, was a wicketkeeper for Hampshire and Kent.
Parks began his career as a hitter who also bowled legspin and went on to become a stalwart behind the wickets, assisting in over 1000 first-class dismissals. He made his first-class debut at the age of 18 in 1949, and went on to play 739 first-class games and 132 List A games before concluding his career with Somerset.
Parks made his Test debut against Pakistan at Old Trafford as a specialist batter, but he might not have played again if Sussex captain Robin Marlar had not instigated his conversion to keeping wicket after Rupert Webb’s retirement. On the 1959-60 tour of the West Indies, he returned to England’s Test XI and hit a century, securing his place for the following decade.
He made a total of 1962 runs in Tests, including two centuries, while also completing 103 catches and 11 stumpings.
Parks was also a key component of the Sussex team that won the Gillette Cup for the first time in 1963, scoring 57 in the final and then retaining the title the following year at Lord’s. He captained the team in 1967 and 1968 before joining Brian Close’s Somerset side in 1973.
He was a much-loved, always cheerful figure at Hove in his senior years. Bobby and Jenny, his wife, are his only survivors.
