Second Sussex cricket star extends his County Ground contract

The deal will see Brown through to his 16th year as a professional at the club he has called home since he was 11 years old.

It follows news yesterday that England pace bowler Jofra Archer has extended his Sussex deal.

After committing his long-term future to the club, the wicketkeeper-batsman said: “I’m delighted to be committing to the club for the next few years, which I’m hoping can be the best of my career so far. I’m looking forward to pushing myself to make sure that they are, and I’m excited about the challenges ahead.

“I’ve loved captaining the side over the past two years and hopefully I can continue to do that for many seasons to come, as well as play my part in driving the whole club forward.

“It’s been great to have some fresh faces to boost our squad over the winter and all the boys have been working really hard ahead of the new campaign.

“Everyone is looking forward to coming together as a group again on tour in South Africa and then getting going with the new season.”

Sussex head coach Jason Gillespie added: “It’s great news that Ben has extended his contract with us.

“His professionalism and passion are exactly what we are about at Sussex and his leadership of the Championship and 50-over side has been excellent over the last couple of years.

“I’m looking forward to seeing him continue to lead from the front this season and beyond.”

In 140 first-class matches for Sussex since his debut in 2007, Brown has scored 7,403 runs at an average of over 40 and with 18 centuries. He has 408 dismissals behind the stumps, with his 391 catches as ‘keeper putting him fifth on Sussex’s all-time list.

Over the past two seasons, no ‘keeper has more County Championship dismissals than his 106.

Brown has also played 74 one-day matches and 79 T20 matches for Sussex, scoring just short of 2,000 runs and making 137 dismissals as wicketkeeper.