James Coles turned down pay rise to help Sussex keep their best players

Director of Cricket Paul Farbrace revealed the news at a special members’ forum held at the club on Thursday, in which new chair Ed Warner and interim chief finance officer Paul Cooke also spoke.

Farbrace said: “I want to share a story with you just to show you the quality of the people we have in our dressing room. Coles was offered an increase in his salary for next season. He went away for a couple of days and came back and said he didn’t want it.

“He told me he’d rather that money went towards keeping the squad together. ‘I’m doing very well out of franchise cricket,’ he told me. ‘Sussex cricket has been brilliant to me, for my development and I don’t need to leave. And I don’t need the extra money.’