Dan Ibrahim, Youngest Ever County Championship Half Centurion.
In line with current thinking down at Hove, where youngsters are given huge Sussex CCC 1st team opportunities, our own Danny I was thrown into the limelight at Headingly Leeds on Thursday June 3rd 2021. Its a day he will never forget!
Asked to bat by Yorkshire in grey, heavy conditions Sussex made some good progress before lunch against a very competitive attack. After lunch skipper Ben Brown and Aaron Thomason batted with grit and determination forging an elongated 90 run partnership. All the while Danny patiently sat in his pads high up on the players balcony.
Then half way through the middle session Aaron was caught and it was then time for Danny, aged just 16, to stroll to the crease and make his Sussex 1st Team Debut . He immediately got off the mark with a clip to square picking up 2 runs and an encouraging round of applause from the knowledgeable Headingly crowd.
Ben and Dan then went on to produce a wonderfully entertaining afternoon’s cricket with fluent strokes and quick running between the wickets. At stumps the pair had a 90 run partnership with Ibrahim sitting comfortably on 33 runs. In the morning Brown might of been out first ball on 127 but that didn’t faze Danny at all. He just kept it simple and half way through that 1st session he had his record breaking half century as Headingly rose to its feet. Dan became the youngest ever player to score a half century in County Championship Cricket