James Coles, the Sussex batsman who is younger than Facebook

The right-handed batsman, who also bowls left-arm spin, strode to the wicket at the Oval today aged 16 years and 158 days.

He stayed out there for almost an hour, facing 39 deliveries for his 11, which included a boundary.

Coles beats a Sussex record set way back on August 18, 1870, also against Surrey, by John Mare, who was 16 years and 177 days when he made his debut.

John Barclay was 16 years and 205 days when he made his bow versus Jamaica on August 15, 1970.

The Nawab of Pataudi was 16 years and 228 days when he first played for Sussex, against Somerset on August 21, 1957.

Cricket fans and statisticians have been having some fun with Coles’ emergence in the Bob Willis Trophy.

One pointed out current England strike bowler Jimmy Anderson had already taken 72 international wickets (Tests and ODIs combined) by the time Coles was born on April 2, 2004.

The County Championship’s own Twitter feed added Coles is younger than the iPod, Facebook and Beyonce’s big hit Crazy in Love.

1️⃣6️⃣ years and 1️⃣5️⃣8️⃣ days old James Coles is @SussexCCC's youngest player in their history. 

He makes 11 in his first innings against @surreycricket including hitting @JamieOverton for 4 👏 pic.twitter.com/Jk5k5uo8qB

— Oxfordshire Cricket (@Oxoncb) September 7, 2020

The big one for Sussex is that he was born AFTER their first Championship title success, which was secured in September, 2003.

(Whisper it near the current Sussex Sharks T20 captain but that also means he wasn't born when Luke Wright, then of Leicestershire, played his first match at Hove)

Coles has played for Oxfordshire and has been with the Sussex academy since the age of 12.

Facebook was founded in February 2004.