Hampshire, parenting and the art of perspective: Ben Brown is ready for a new challenge

It has been a year of change for Ben Brown.

Twelve months ago he was a one-club man, proud captain of his county, and life at home was considerably quieter without the yappings of his first-born.

Today, on the day he formally begins life at a new club, Hampshire, he can reflect on how noisy 2021 really was.

Because, for a cricketer who has dealt in consistency for most of his career, last year threw up challenges which have set Brown down fresh paths both personally and professionally.

As much as he and his wife Katie could at least form the semblance of a plan for pregnancy and bringing up their son, there was no antenatal scan for what was going to unfold at Sussex.

Brown had spent his entire career at Hove, and held the top office among the playing staff, before he was abruptly demoted in July. By the autumn, he had decided to move on. And the next time he returns to the County Ground, it will be in the visitors' dressing room.

^{Ben Brown has signed for Hampshire after leaving Sussex}

So, The Cricketer asks, what is the biggest effect these 12 months have had on him?

Brown laughs, gesturing in the direction of his little boy, Leo.

"I'm definitely less selfish with food!"

There is a more serious answer, too.

"I probably got to a point where I have perspective outside cricket. I've learnt to deal with the pressure of cricket better.

"I'm a big believer of 'if you're happy off the field, it translates onto the field'."

Brown has tagged out of daddy daycare for this chat. There is, it seems, one corner of the family home which is quiet enough for an interview around teatime.

Leo came into the world in February, the timing of his arrival giving Brown just about long enough to settle into a pattern of nappy changes and interrupted sleep before the county grind slowly cranked into gear.

He speaks glowingly about the transition into fatherhood - "it's been an incredible ride. Becoming a parent has been the best thing that's ever happened in my life" - and the support he received from his wife and the couple's parents, who bore the brunt of rude awakenings and regular burpings as Brown moved into a spare room to keep himself in sound body and mind (or at least sound enough to play elite sport).

That he averaged more than 50 with the bat last summer, with both a baby at home and everything going on behind the scenes at Hove, is - he says - testament to the power and compassion of his family unit.

"I was really proud of how I was able to perform," he says. "That is a credit to my wife, my family, that's why I was able to perform."

It is with them in mind that Brown picked Hampshire.

"In my ideal world, the right fit would be a few hours from home but it had to be the right cricket move," he says.

"If it wasn't the right cricket move then it would have been a different conversation with my wife and family and we might have had to make a move.

"I was lucky that the two married up."

^{Brown will play for his second professional club in 2022}

Brown had other options after choosing to leave Sussex, good ones. But Hampshire stood out for several reasons: they offered him the chance to play for the County Championship trophy - one of his two top-tier career goals; they gave him Division One cricket and the additional exposure, perhaps even England recognition, that can bring; he has an admiration for the coaching team in place at the Ageas Bowl; and, of course, the move meant not having to uproot his family from their Hove home.

"I really like the coaching staff; the things I've seen and heard from the outside make it look like it's in a really good place at the moment," he says.

"I've heard really good things about Jimmy Adams as a batting coach, I know Pop Welch has just come in on the bowling side and he comes with a great reputation, I've always liked the way Adi Birrell goes about it, and Giles White is a really good guy as well.

"I looked at it holistically and it looked like a really good fit at the moment."

At 33 years old, some would argue that Brown's chance of international honours has gone. He doesn't see it the same way, and why should he?

Frankly, any batsman with a first-class average above 40, scoring runs as freely as he has been over the past half-decade and more - since 2015, Brown has only averaged below 42 in first-class cricket twice (and one of those was during the pandemic-hit 2020 campaign) - can justifiably argue they deserve attention given the paucity of options in England's top seven.

"Once you start thinking about [England selection] too much, it can become distracting. I've certainly been at that point in my career - probably early to mid-20s. It can suffocate you"

"I've made no secret about wanting to play for England throughout my career; I think that's helped drive my own standards," he says. "It's something you naturally think about all the time.

"We've had some fantastic wicketkeeper-batsmen playing for England in our era and I've got no gripes about that; you've just got to keep working hard - it's about weight of runs, staying fit, and keep performing well."

Perspective features prominently in the way Brown goes about his work, how he prepares himself before, during and after any given season.

The current version of himself, he says, is much more grounded than the Ben Brown of seven or eight years ago. It is partly why he knew he was ready to be a parent, and that the experience would not take him by surprise nor shake his world too vigorously.

"Once you start thinking about it too much, it can become distracting," he says of the prospect of England honours.

"I've certainly been at that point in my career - probably early to mid-20s. It can suffocate you."

Being free of that noose has helped Brown furrow his path through the county game in recent seasons. Born in Crawley, and based in Hove, he became club captain at Sussex in 2018 and described the moment as "a special day in my life". He is rightfully proud of what he achieved with his home county.

Those days are over now, of course. In July, he was stripped of the captaincy, with Tom Haines awarded it in his place until the end of the season. Sussex reasoned it was a step in line with the county's desire to develop a new generation. Ultimately, it was a decision which precipitated his exit.

^{The wicketkeeper-batsman is a new dad}

He doesn't want to speak about his departure from his former club here, and there's no good reason for The Cricketer to dwell too long on the point. The project under way at the County Ground, with its focus - perhaps borderline obsession -  on youth, has been well documented.

Brown still has some creases to iron out over his exit, as well. And, as much as anything, he wants to be allowed to look forward not back.

"I've always had pretty simple career goals: I've wanted to win trophies and play for England," he says. "Every day, getting out of bed as a professional cricketer wanting to play for your country. People talk about age and whether it's realistic or not; for me those have always been my two goals.

"I'm probably a bit old school. Championship cricket is, for me, everything. I've always wanted to win the Championship: that's my primary goal going to Hampshire.

"You should always target playing international cricket and hopefully those goals always drive your standards. Whether you get there or not is sometimes outside your control."

So does moving to a Test match ground, and to a Division One club, immediately give him more of a shot at those elusive England honours?

"In some ways, I hope not," he says. "I hope it isn't seen that way."

If some of the criticisms of the Championship made in the days following England's abject Ashes surrender are to be believed, it would not matter if batsmen play at the top or the bottom of the pile.

"It's all well and good criticising the guys who are out in Australia when it's suddenly bouncing above your waist, but for us guys who are making a living in County Championship cricket, we have to have a technique which is good enough to survive the moving ball"

The various autopsies carried out on English cricket have included some damning assessments of first-class cricket among the counties, and the techniques it has taught.

Brown does not buy into the idea that the quality simply isn't there.

"I don't see any less talent," he says. This is a man who has a considerable depth of knowledge on the subject. He may be worth listening to.

"The large part of my career has been four-day cricket, it's the cricket I love the most and the lack of four-day cricket in the middle of the summer has always baffled me.

"Obviously that's been squeezed again with the 100-ball. The conditions we've played in have been really challenging and I think that has bred a certain type of cricket."

Technique, he says, is intertwined with the time of year cricket being played.

"I hear a lot of stuff about guys batting on off stump and think, as a wicketkeeper, with the way the ball moves in April and September, I'd almost argue that if you don't bat on off stump what chance do you have to balls that are nipping back a good six inches.

"You have to have the technique which works for the conditions you play in. It's all well and good criticising the guys who are out in Australia when it's suddenly bouncing above your waist, but for us guys who are making a living in County Championship cricket, we have to have a technique which is good enough to survive the moving ball."

^{Brown still harbours England ambitions}

Pitches, too, are a problem, Brown says. But he does not place blame on the groundsmen - "they've got really hard jobs in the conditions they are asked to work in".

Instead he wants more objective criteria for pitch assessment, and more rigorous marking. 

"There's been some pretty generous marks for cricket pitches which have gone up and down, seamed a lot, had a wet top, whatever it is. I have played at places where you know they have juiced up the wickets to get results in two and a half days."

Moreover, he wants red-ball cricket to be attractive to young players just making their way in the game.

"Enjoyment is huge for professionals," he says. "Otherwise you have young kids thinking 'I can just bang it out of the park, I'll go and play T20 cricket, four-day cricket in April... I'm just freezing cold and nicking off."

Brown talks with a genuine enthusiasm for the red ball. He speaks as a fan. As is too often the case, though, fans are not always the ones who are listened to.

"You hope the Ashes will bump red-ball focus," he says. "One thing it has shown is people still love Test cricket, that's been obvious from the reaction on social media.

"People have been pretty gutted."

Maybe 2022 will be the year Brown, with the benefit of a new platform, reaches the ears of England selectors. Maybe he is destined to never get that opportunity. Even if that life goal is never reached, though, he already has another which is worth so much more.

"You come home and there's a baby that needs you, and there's suddenly no point in having your sob story about your lbw," he says.

"Get home and get on with it."