Ben Brown
Wicket-Keeper Batter & CC Captain
Ben Brown is a right-handed batter and wicket keeper.
He was born in Crawley, Sussex and spent more than two decades at Hove before moving to Hampshire ahead of the 2022 season.
Brown came through the youth set-up at Sussex, before being picked for England Under 19s in 2006 and making his First-Class debut the following summer.
He became a regular with both the bat and the gloves, even scoring over 1,000 runs in the 2015 LV= Insurance County Championship. Soon after, in 2017, Brown was given the role of captain for Sussex's County Championship and List A sides.
The right-hander continued to perform in the seasons that followed, especially in red-ball cricket where he averaged 40.41 during his time at Sussex. In the 2021 County Championship, Brown averaged 51.36 from 12 matches and no other player scored more than his four centuries – all after having lost the captaincy midway through the season.
Having played 318 matches across all formats – racking up a total of 10,843 runs, 543 catches and 40 stumpings – Brown announced he was leaving Sussex in late 2021.
In his first season at Utilita Bowl, he scored 696 runs at an average of 38.66 in the County Championship – with a high score of 157 against Kent at Canterbury – and was named Red Ball Batter of the Year at the club’s End of Season Awards.
Brown was ever present in Hampshire’s County Championship and Metro Bank One-Day Cup sides during the 2023 season, with his performances in the latter helping them reach the final.
Into 2024, a career-best score of 165* from 178 deliveries in the County Championship was crucial in seeing Hampshire rack up 608-6 against Surrey to set up an innings victory. A further century came against Kent, making 110 in a 259-run partnership with captain James Vince as Hampshire were victors by six wickets.
Another career-high score, this time in the One-Day Cup, came against Northamptonshire. Brown’s unbeaten 139 from 131, his second career List-A hundred, gave Hampshire a win in the competition opener.
Brown finished the season with 22 appearances, scoring 943 runs. He would also take 49 catches and a stumping with the gloves.
After James Vince announced he would be signing a white-ball exclusive contract, Brown was named Hampshire red-ball captain for 2025.
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