"I've always admired [Ravindra] Jadeja as a bowler, and always enjoyed watching Kevin Pietersen bat," James Coles says. The Sussex allrounder has spent the last 12 months doing his best impressions of them, and will find out at Thursday's Hundred auction whether he has convinced some of the world's leading franchise coaches of the likenesses.
Coles is a young man in high demand. At 21, he has already played five full seasons of county cricket and spent the 2025-26 winter winning trophies on the franchise circuit. He was the standout player in England Lions' recent series win over Pakistan Shaheens in Abu Dhabi, and a first full international cap surely awaits this summer.
He has long been seen as a future international player at Sussex, but it was in South Africa that Coles announced himself to a wider audience. In seven appearances for Sunrisers Eastern Cape, he was named player-of-the-match twice - including once in the qualifying final - and was part of his second trophy lift of the winter, following a walk-on role in the Abu Dhabi T10.
It is not lost on Coles that his performances should bode well for an auction which features Sunrisers Leeds among four Hundred franchises with new IPL investors. In fact, the opportunity to impress them first-hand was a major contributing factor to his decision to play in the SA20 in the first place, and to turn down interest from state-run Big Bash League teams.
Coles sat down last summer with his dad - Jon, a former Buckinghamshire player - and his agent to map out his off-season plans. They sounded out England's management and agreed that Coles would be better served by a winter focusing on white-ball cricket rather than the Lions tour to Australia, given he had been involved in several previous red-ball trips.
"We came to the conclusion of trying to do SA20, just because of the links later down the line with regards to IPL, and now the Hundred," Coles tells ESPNcricinfo. "We went down that route, and thankfully, it's paid off nicely with me doing quite well there… It was a lot better than I expected. I could only praise it: the competition itself, the group we had, and the whole experience."
He played alongside several seasoned internationals at Sunrisers and believes that he has learned from watching Quinton de Kock and Jonny Bairstow train. "They're all just so precise. I'm getting a lot better at that, and I've noticed it in my practice. As I'm getting older, everything I do has got a purpose to it."
Tymal Mills, Coles' T20 captain at Sussex and Southern Brave team-mate, predicts a hefty payday for him in the Hundred auction. "After the SA20, his stock has never been higher… You don't get too many players that can bat in the top four, be a genuine spin option, and be good in the field at 21. That ticks pretty much all boxes that teams are looking for when they're building squads. Thursday's going to be a great day for him."
Coles looks primed for an international debut this summer, most likely in T20 cricket as England refresh their squad after last week's World Cup semi-final defeat to India. Beyond that, he could put himself in contention for a Test cap if he continues to develop his left-arm orthodox spin, potentially on the two-match tour to Bangladesh early next year.
He counts Jacob Bethell as a close friend from their Under-19s days and has taken confidence from his recent success. "I'd like to think I'm in the best place I've ever been for now," Coles says. "Everyone says you're never actually quite ready for international cricket, you've just got to get in there.
"My ultimate goal is to play for England for as long as possible… I guess I've hopefully put myself more on the radar for England [this winter] you'd like to think. It's out of my control, but I haven't done myself any harm."
Coles is unusually experienced for a 21-year-old. He came to Sussex's attention thanks to a link with Oxfordshire's pathway and made his first-class debut at the age of 16. The acrimonious departures of several senior players meant that he won far more opportunities than most teenagers, but he managed to stay afloat in the deep end and has since learned to swim.
He batted at No. 4 in the Championship last year, scoring four hundreds, and has high expectations of himself for 2026. "I'd like another 1,000-run season. Bowling-wise, I probably want 30 wickets in the Championship at least. Then T20, I want a hundred this year, and a few more wickets than last year… The year before I took 20, so I wouldn't mind 20 again."
Mills believes that Coles took his game to a new level last year by expanding his off-side scoring options, as reflected by his sixes tally in the Blast jumping from four in 2024 to 22 in 2025. "He was very leg-side dominant but he's added skills at a quick rate," he explains. "He's still a very young man and is still growing and developing physically as well."
Coles anticipates more scrutiny on his performances after a successful winter, and for his opponents to raise their game against him. "There's now a few more people that would have seen I've done well. It puts a bit more pressure on where people want your wicket or want to get [after] you when you're bowling. That's the way cricket works."
He also believes that his Sussex team-mates will be motivated by the club's financial woes, which will see them start the Championship season on minus 12 points. "We all deep down know that this, potentially for the next few years, will be our best chance and best crack at doing really well in the Championship. Everyone's so determined… It's just laid out completely in front of us."
Given the imminent constraints on Sussex's playing budget, it remains to be seen if Coles will stay at Sussex past the end of his current contract, which expires at the end of the 2027 season. If he does decide to move on, there will be no shortage of interest from the rest of the country - as Thursday's auction will show.