Former England cricketer Jim Parks dies aged 90
England wicketkeeper-batsman Jim Parks, who played 46 Tests between 1954 and 1968, has died aged 90, his county Sussex announced on Tuesday. At the time of his death, he was England's oldest living Test cricketer. "Sussex Cricket is deeply saddened to announce the death of Jim Parks at the age of 90," the club said in a statement. "Jim died in Worthing hospital this morning after a fall at home last week." Born in 1931, Parks made his debut for Sussex at the age of 18 and went on to play in 739 first class matches and 132 List A games for the county. He was picked purely as a batsman for a single Test against Pakistan in 1954 but he only really made an impact once he took up wicketkeeping four years later. "It came about by accident," he once said. "I didn't keep wicket at the start of my career. I was a specialist batsman. A couple of years after that, Sussex were playing against Essex in a Championship game at Chelmsford, when our wicketkeeper, Rupert Webb got injured. Robin Marlar, the Sussex captain, looked at me and said 'You're doing it'."
