Why London Spirit spent £390,000 on uncapped Sussex all-rounder Coles

London Spirit swooped in ahead of Sunrisers Leeds and Trent Rockets to sign young Sussex all-rounder James Coles for a top-priced £390,000 at Thursday's Hundred auction - an audacious move that drew applause from within the room.

The 21-year-old, previously of Southern Brave, also attracted interest from Manchester Super Giants and Birmingham Phoenix in a bidding war between five franchises.

Spirit, based at Lord's, won the race to buy Coles after the gavel had looked poised to fall in the favour of Sunrisers Leeds.

It made him the fourth most expensive player recruited by Hundred sides this year, after England's Jofra Archer (£400,000), Phil Salt (£450,000) and Harry Brook (£465,000) were signed before the auction by Southern Brave, Welsh Fire and Sunrisers Leeds respectively.

But why was Coles in so much demand? And why did he cost £150,000 more than England legend Joe Root?

Starting his county career as a 16-year-old at Sussex, Coles became the club's youngest ever debutant in 2020.

He was part of the England squad for the 2022 Under-19 World Cup in the West Indies and was also in the Lions squad for the tour of Australia in January 2025.

Coles will work under the stewardship of former England coach Andy Flower, who took over as Spirit head coach after leaving Trent Rockets in October.

On his new purchase, Flower said: "I've worked with James Coles before.

"My brother [Grant Flower] works closely with him at Sussex where he's the batting coach and I've worked with him in franchise cricket this winter. I really rate him quite highly.

"He's an all-rounder and they tend to go for quite a lot of money in these auctions. He's having a lot of in success in all formats.

"We think he's got a great future and banking good, young English talent is important for English franchises.

"We knew we'd have a good fight with Sunrisers because they have him in the SA20, and he did really well. We'd budgeted a big amount for him. We expect a lot from him."

Outside of Sussex, and the Southern Brave, Coles may not be that familiar to cricket followers, but that all changed this winter.

His performances for Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the SA20 raised a few eyebrows, as the largely unknown quantity turned in two man-of-the-match performances to help Sunrisers retain their title.

He then backed up those performances with England Lions last month in the truncated series against Pakistan.

At just 16 years and 157 days old, Coles became the youngest player ever to represent Sussex when he made his debut at The Oval against Surrey in the Bob Willis Trophy in September 2020 - and he did not disappoint.

His left-arm spin accounted for Rory Burns, Jamie Smith and Ben Foakes - and the 21 runs he scored in the match demonstrated a sound technique and composure that suggested the emergence of a very talented player.

That talent has evolved under the eye of Sussex boss Paul Farbrace, as shown by Coles' performances in last season's County Championship.

He scored 1,032 runs, including four centuries, at an average of 47, and added 20 wickets, as well as providing as safe a pair of hands as anywhere in the Championship with 19 catches, most of those at second slip, a position in which he has excelled.

Coles' record in the T20 Blast last season was equally impressive - scoring 397 runs at an average of 33, and taking 10 wickets at an economy rate of just over nine on the short boundaries at Hove where he often bowled in the power play.

"I didn't know James at all when I first came to the club - I was watching a second XI game at Hove against Kent [and] it was so obvious there was a lad with so much ability," Farbrace told BBC Sport.

"He's in early every morning, he's watched how the likes of [Cheteshwar] Pujara, Steve Smith and Dan Hughes prepare, and the beauty of the franchise world is that he's learning and playing with some of the best players and coaches in the world.

"He's a fantastic player who could be captain here for 10 years, the only thing that will stop that is that he'll be playing for England."

Coles turns 22 in April, on the day before the new season gets under way. Expectations will be high after an impressive winter, and of course he now has a big price against his name.

"There is already a lot of excitement about him as a player," said Spirit batting coach Dinesh Karthik. "You could see walking into the auction that he'd be one of the most-sought after players.

"Mo [Bobat, Spirit director of cricket] and I have worked with him with England Lions and I've really enjoyed working with him as a player.

"Everything suggested he was the type of player we should be looking at and I'm very pleased we landed him."