Ben Brown Extends Sussex Contract

Ben Brown Extends Sussex Contract

©Lee Mills/Action Images

Sussex have extended the contract of 23 year-old wicket-keeper Ben Brown by a year, meaning that he will be staying at Hove until at least the end of the 2013 season.

Brown, who was born in Crawley in the west of the county, said, “I’m really pleased to have signed an extension for another year with Sussex. This is where I have grown up playing my cricket and I want to continue here in the future. Hopefully I can now look to cement my place in the first team from now on.”

Cementing his place is something that he went a long way towards doing at the end of the 2011 season, as he played in all of the last six of Sussex’s Championship matches, the highlight being his century against Yorkshire at Scarborough.

On top of this, he hit 187 runs at an average of 46.75 in the Clydesdale Bank 40 and 155 at an average of 17.22 in the Friends Life t20.

Lancashire CCC have signed a three-year deal with Altrincham-based Optimum Procurement as they embark on the most significant part of the £43 million upgrade to their Old Trafford home in time for when they host an Ashes Test in 2013.

The club’s Finance Director, Lee Morgan, said, “Optimum will help us ensure that we get the very best value and service from our suppliers and this is a crucial deliverable as we transform Old Trafford into a premier cricketing venue.”

Gloucestershire have confirmed that they will be axing the Gloucester Festival, played at the Kings School ground in the city, for at least the next two seasons. The reduction in Twenty 20 fixtures for 2012 and 2013 has meant that the county, which now has five home matches as opposed to eight, could no longer play two of them at the Gloucester ground, and one would be in the words of Gloucestershire chief executive Tom Richardson “not viable.”

He went on to say, “We campaigned hard to keep the number of t20 fixtures at eight – which would have allowed us to continue to take the show on the road – and we were very disappointed not to succeed.

Gloucestershire CCC would very much like to be back at Gloucester in the future and we will be looking at ways of realising this ambition. The recently published ECB Morgan Report proposes seven t20 games from 2014 and this may give us the opportunity.”

Nottinghamshire have confirmed that they will be one of the counties participating in the Twenty20 Barbados Cup. Warwickshire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire have also confirmed their participation in the event.

The Outlaws will play a two-day match against Warwickshire upon arrival and will also face Barbados in the event which begins in mid-March.

Director of Cricket, Mick Newell, said, “The fact that several counties will be on the same tour gives us access to quality pre-season fixtures in a competitive environment. The tour has run for a few years now and the feedback has been excellent so it’s pleasing that we are able to be involved and to compete for additional silverware.”

The 2012 county calendar is due to be officially released tomorrow and is set to start earlier than ever with fixtures against the university sides likely to start in March.

© Cricket World 2011