Barefoot Bert is Sussex cricket team’s hero

​It was towards the close of the last match of the season between Mid Sussex Heathens and Hurstpierpoint 2nd XI.

The Heathens needed to score 159 runs or take four wickets at the Warninglid Rec to survive in Division 10 Central of the Sussex Cricket League.

But they had fallen just short of that total when they batted and taken just two wickets while Bert, a 26-year-old auditor from Lindfield found it impossible to keep his footing in the constant drizzle.

But, by the time he was brought back for a second spell late in the game, he had found a solution.

It was off with his trainers and socks – and a squelching place in local history awaited him.

Sure enough, Bert took the two required wickets in successive deliveries before being mobbed by team-mates.

There was to be a happy ending for Hurstpierpoint, too, who needed only to win the match to stay up. They scored 156 for victory.

George Barnes, the Heathens' player-chairman, said: "Conditions were terrible but both teams needed to play the game for a chance to avoid relegation.

" Bert had gone wicketless as he was sliding and slithering all over the place in his opening spell.

" Then he came up with his brilliant idea of bowling in bare feet and that is what saved us.

" Bert trapped one player lbw and bowled another out.”