Sean Robert Dickson is a South African professional cricketer who plays for Durham County Cricket Club. He is a right-handed top-order batsman. Dickson was born in Johannesburg and made his first-class cricket debut in South Africa before signing for Kent in July 2015. Dickson has a British mother and holds a UK passport and so does not count as an overseas player in the Kent squad. Dickson is one of only two men to have made a triple-century for Kent. He scored Kent's second highest overall individual total in July 2017, making a score of 318 runs. In July 2020 Dickson joined Durham, initially on loan before a permanent move to the county in November 2020. He had declined a contract extension at Kent.
Cricket career
Dickson played cricket for Pretoria University before being called into the Northerns team in November 2013, making his first-class cricket debut against Border. He scored his maiden first-class century for Northerns in a CSA Provincial match against North West at Potchefstroom in March 2014, before being dismissed for 173. Dickson played a total of nine first-class matches for Northerns in the 2013/14 and 2014/15 seasons, as well as representing the club in List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket in CSA Provincial competitions. At the beginning of the 2015 English cricket season Dickson moved to England, playing in the East Anglian Premier Cricket League for Woolpit in Suffolk. He played in a trial match for Kent in May, having previously had a trial with Somerset in 2010 while playing club cricket for Clevedon Cricket Club. Seven centuries in Second XI matches for Kent in 2015 saw Dickson sign a contract with the county in July. He made his senior debut against Warwickshire in the 2015 Royal London One-Day Cup in August 2015, before making his County Championship debut later in the same month against Derbyshire. He was awarded the 2nd XI National Player of the Year Award for 2015. Dickson started the 2016 season opening the batting for Kent but became the 60th batsman in first-class cricket history to be dismissed handled the ball in the county's first Championship innings of the year against Leicestershire at Grace Road. He scored his second century – a maiden double century – for Kent in the 2016 County Championship against Derbyshire at Derby in May 2016, where he finished on 207 not out in their first innings. Dickson signed a long-term contract extension with Kent in August 2016, having won a consistent place in the County Championship side for the county during the season. He played rarely in limited overs matches for the county during 2016, although he did score 99 in his only 2016 Royal London One-Day Cup appearance, his new highest List A score. He was named as the Kent Supporters Club most promising uncapped player of the season in January 2017. In July 2017 Dickson made a score of 318 for Kent against Northants at Beckenham in the County Championship. The innings was Kent's second highest individual score in first-class cricket and the third triple-century scored for the county. Dickson batted for over eight hours and faced 408 balls. Batting with Joe Denly, he contributed to Kent's highest partnership for any wicket, putting on 382 runs for the second wicket. Later in the season he made his fourth first-class century, scoring 142 against the touring West Indies team at Canterbury in August. He ended the season having scored 982 first-class runs. During the 2017/18 close season Dickson played in the US T20 Open tournament in Florida, playing for the US Tigers. In 2018 he scored three first-class centuries for Kent and featured in all formats of the game for the county. He signed a contract extension in November 2018 and played for Kent throughout 2019 before leaving the club to join Durham on loan in July 2020.
