Names on the buses

788 Jim & James Parks

Connections with Brighton and Hove : James Parks Sr 1903 - 1980
James Horace Parks was born in Haywards Heath and played cricket for Sussex and England. Between 1927 and 1939 he scored at least 1,000 runs in all but one season. As well as playing as a right-handed opening batsman, he was also an effective medium-paced bowler, doing the "double" for all-rounders in 1935 - scoring 1,000 runs and taking 100 wickets. His career peak came in 1937, when he scored 3,003 runs, breaking records in a way that will likely never be equalled. No other cricketer has ever scored 3,000 runs while taking 100 wickets. Very few have taken so many wickets while scoring over 1,000 runs. His first-class career ended with the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. After a period of coaching for Sussex in the 1960s, he passed away in Cuckfield.
James Parks Jr 1931 - 2022
In 1931 a son, also named James, was born who would also go on to be a first-class England cricketer. James Michael Parks was an all-rounder, starting as an attacking batsman, he was effective as a fielder and was also a spin-bowler. In 1958 he transitioned to wicketkeeping and went on to become the first-choice wicketkeeper for England into the mid-1960s. He captained Sussex in 1967/68 and retired from first-class cricket in 1976, having scored a total of 36,673 runs, taken 1,087 catches, made 92 stumpings and taken 51 wickets. In 2013 he served the first of two terms as President of Sussex and was manager of the Old England cricket team. At the age of 90, he was then the oldest surviving male England test cricketer. He had three children with his first wife. His son Bobby went on to play for Hampshire and Kent. He died in Worthing in 2022.

788 ADL Enviro400 - carried name since December 2025.