Lewis Dunk could become Albion’s first senior England international for 36-and-a-half years over the next few days.

He would be their fourth in total and the third post-war Sussex-born England international.

Steve Foster was the last man to appear for England while an Albion player.

The centre-back, who was born in and played for Portsmouth, won three caps in 1982 with Albion an established top-flight side.

He played against Northern Ireland at Wembley in February of that year, then a friendly against the Netherlands.

Foster was taken to the 1982 World Cup in Spain and appeared in the final group match, a 1-0 win over Kuwait at the San Mames in Bilbao.

England were already through to the next stage and Foster played alongside Liverpool’s Phil Thompson with first choice Terry Butcher of Ipswich rested.

The victory, secured by a superb strike from Trevor Francis, ensured ‘Fozzie’ ended his three-match England career with a 100% winning record.

Peter Ward played eight minutes off the bench against Australia in Sydney in 1980 for his sole senior cap.

Cuckfield-born Tommy Cook was the Albion trailblazer with England.

He led the nation’s attack as a third division player as they beat Wales 2-1 at the Vetch Field in 1925 and was close to a double when he played in a trial for the England cricket team in 1932.

Cook, who scored more than 20,000 runs for Sussex, is a sporting legend of the county.

However, since 1945, only two players born in the county have played for England, namely Bobby Tambling (born in Storrington) and Gareth Barry (Hastings).