The East Sussex village of 250 that produced two of Sussex's finest players

With the museum going on the road and the club talking about returning to Horsham and Eastbourne, as well as taking a County Championship game to Arundel, it is as if Sussex cricket is embracing new Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s zeal for devolution.

More seriously, it does seem that the museum, the Foundation and the county club as a whole are all helping each other to spread the word around the county.

The museum’s Arundel outing was on Wednesday, when Sussex beat Essex in the Metro Bank One Day Cup. Curator Keith Ridge told me: “We had a fantastic time at the Castle Ground.

“We were on the far side of the ground, opposite the pavilion. We were under a lovely oak tree so we were in the shade all the time.

“We had a view of the cricket and a huge number of visitors showed great interest in our boards, depicting early Sussex cricket and old cricketers and famous women cricketers.

“We sold a lot of stuff: books, bats, items of china, pictures, photographs. People were in the sun, they were happy and they were happy to buy.

“But it’s not just about pounds, shillings and pence. It’s about all the contacts, about getting out into the community and making people aware of the museum.”

At Arundel the museum had a captive audience, thousands of cricket followers cheering on the club.

The Brightling outing was a little different, more like the original roadshow in Newick a couple of years ago and the visit to Lindfield last year.

Brightling is a delightful place but so rural – in East Sussex, near Battle – that my satnav had a hissy fit and took me to Burwash instead.

But I was delighted to finally make it to the Brightling Flower and Dog Show and there, between a coconut shy and a JCB, where people were challenged to hang from it, I found Keith and his gazebo attracting much interest.

“We didn’t have many sales there,” said Keith. “It wasn’t a cricket audience, but a lot of people came out who would never have come to Hove.

“We were flying the flag not just for the museum but for Sussex cricket in a part of the county that may feel neglected.

“It was very simple, very rural and very friendly. At the end we all went to have a hot dog together from the local farm.

“There were under-age kids coming up and asking for water and lemonade. In Brighton and Hove they might have been asking for a gin and tonic or a pint of lager.”

Two Sussex stalwarts of the Sussex side of the 1960s and 1970s, Tony “Omni” Buss and Mike “Mini” Buss were born in Brightling. Tony, 86, who toiled in the shadow of first Ian Thomson and then John Snow but took 100 wickets in a season on three occasions, was too ill to attend the roadshow.

But younger brother Mike, 82, did turn up. Mike joined the Sussex staff in 1961 as a slow left-armer and lower order batsman. But injury meant he had to become a purveyor of little left-arm swingers which were often very economical in one-day cricket, where he also became a dashing opening batsman.

Keith said: “It was lovely to see Michael Buss and his granddaughter and his partner. So many people remembered him. A population of just 250 people produced these two fine county cricketers. And then there was Albert Relf who was born in nearby Burwash and went on to become a fine all-rounder for Sussex and England.”

Mike showed me one of his two Gillette Cup man of the match awards. “I played in three finals and we lost the lot. It was so dark when we batted against Gloucestershire in the 1973 final that I couldn’t see Mike Procter at the start of his run-up. We won the cup in 1963 and 1964 but I didn’t play in them.”

Apart from his runs and wickets the younger Buss is best remembered for his coaching stints in South Africa where he spotted a gawkily talented all-rounder called Tony Greig and brought him over to England with him. “After that Greigy became my big mate in the team,” said Mini Buss.

Brightling Cricket Club is one of the oldest in Sussex and their first recorded match was against Robertsbridge in 1751. Looking at the club’s history, which was on display in the museum gazebo, the name Buss comes up regularly over the years. The historical document looks like a Buss timetable.