A FORMER Sussex cricket all-rounder and scorer of more than 20,000 runs for the county, has died aged 88.

Alan Stanley Myles Oakman, nicknamed “Oaky”, was born in Hastings on April 20, 1930 and passed away on September 6.

He was recommended to play for the county by his coach at Tower Road Secondary School.

The county were initially attracted by his bowling prowess and he took 739 first class wickets with his off-breaks.

In his earlier years he had served as a Welsh Guardsman before carving out a cricket career with Sussex.

He played for 22 years as a stalwart member of the team. His career started in 1947 and finished in 1968.

Throughout his career he contributed hugely to the team.

He is 11th in the list of all time run-scorers for his county.

He took five wickets in a match 31 times, with a best of seven for 39 against Glamorgan in 1954.

He scored 22 centuries, with a highest score of 229 not out against Nottinghamshire in 1961, a season in which he scored his highest tally of 2,307 runs.

Alan used his height of 6ft 6in to gain advantage with his off-spinners.

He passed a thousand runs on nine occasions, and totalled 594 catches in his career.

He played two Tests for England and helped Jim Laker to his 19-wicket haul against Australia in July 1956 by taking five catches.

Alan’s international career was rather short-lived as England already had a wealth of off-spinners including Raymond Illingworth and Fred Titmus.

Alan was also an important member of the county’s one-day side that enjoyed great success in the early years of the format, helping Sussex to victory in the first Gillette Cup in 1963.

He scored 21,800 first-class runs for the county, including a highest score of 229 not out against Nottinghamshire at Worksop in 1961, and picked up 703 wickets with his off-spin.

When he retired, he became a first-class umpire before becoming coach of Warwickshire and later took on an administration role with the county.

He coached Warwickshire to the 1972 to the County Championship title.

After his successful role as a coach, he became the club’s assistant secretary for cricket administration.

He continued to play cricket until he was 70 and turned out regularly for Warwickshire’s over-50s.

Alan was also a candidate for The Argus’s all-time Sussex XI. He received eight per cent of the votes.

The Sussex flag was flying at half mast at the 1st Central County Ground as the county took on Leicestershire.