"This is History" Sussex 2003

"This is History", the commemorative DVD celebrating Sussex's final push towards the County Championship last year, will probably be of little interest to non-Sussex followers, but it is worth watching just to remind yourself how much county cricket still means to players and supporters.

The camera follows the squad for their remaining three games of the season, showing match footage interspersed with starring roles from Peter Moores, the dedicated coach, Chris Adams, the no-nonsense captain, and Mushtaq Ahmed, the heartbeat of the side. Team talks, tactics and tension provide most of the off-pitch entertainment, which successfully captures the atmosphere leading up to the magical moment.

After a win against Middlesex, celebrated by the first of many renditions of "Sussex by the Sea", and a thrashing by rivals Lancashire in the penultimate game at Old Trafford, graphics remind us that only six points stand between Sussex and history. And once Mushy has walked off to a standing ovation after grabbing his 100th wicket of the season, 300 runs is all that remains to gather those title-winning bonus points.

Cut to another speech from Adams. "We're not there yet," he growls, "we need to have big balls and big belief." Then, as if on cue, Murray Goodwin pipes up: "I don't want to sound selfish," he says, "but I want to be there when we pass 300 and hit the winning runs." And the rest, as this DVD says, is history.

Back in a jubilant dressing room, Mushy tells the team that he is as proud of them as if they were his brothers. Somehow it seems right that he has the final say.