diff --git a/lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/SortField.java b/lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/SortField.java
index f5860ffe272..de10014e8b5 100644
--- a/lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/SortField.java
+++ b/lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/SortField.java
@@ -90,11 +90,7 @@ public class SortField {
   private String field;
   private int type;  // defaults to determining type dynamically
   boolean reverse = false;  // defaults to natural order
-  
-  // This is not generified because of a javac bug in early JDK 1.5 (e.g. used by FreeBSD).
-  // With <?> as type param, getComparator() fails to compile because of cast problems.
-  @SuppressWarnings("unchecked") private CachedArrayCreator creator;
-  
+  private CachedArrayCreator<?> creator;
   public Object missingValue = null; // used for 'sortMissingFirst/Last'
 
   // Used for CUSTOM sort