Border veteran Brown draws curtain on his glittering career
IT IS the end of an era as Border cricket stalwart Darryl Brown has decided to hang up his whites after a stellar career which included him reaching his century during the past season.
Brown played his 100th first class game for Border earlier this year. A tremendous feat and he ends his career on 106 not out, while he also featured in 85 list A matches and 26 T20s.
“It wasn’t a hard decision to make, I had just lost the passion for it,” admitted Brown.
“I thought I could still play on but I found I just couldn’t get myself to practice and the gym, so I decided it was the right time.”
It was a glittering career that saw Brown pick up a host of personal accolades for Border including the coveted Player of the Season award, as well as winning the one day cup competition on two occasions. He represented the Warriors throughout his career, with his debut for the franchise in 2009.
Brown made his debut for Border against Boland in 2005 and became an integral part of the team and for his province.
As an allrounder of note, Brown scored 3 728 runs with a highest score of 112 not out, including two centuries and 21 fifties, while in the bowling department he claimed 202 wickets at an average of 26.25. His best bowling in an innings was 6/32 while his best bowling in a match was 9/66 over his first class career.
The 34-year-old right-handed bat and right-arm medium-fast bowler also achieved success in the shorter versions of the game, scoring 1 956 runs and picked up 86 wickets in one day games, and scored 416 runs and claimed 20 wickets in T20s.
“I am pretty happy with the way my career turned out,” said Brown.
“Reaching my 100 cap milestone wasn’t something I planned for but it was a nice acknowledgement of the time and effort I put in over my career.”
Border coach Frank Plaatjes admitted the team had lost a long serving stalwart and said that “Darryl was a committed cricketer with a high work ethic and always passionate about his cricket”.
This will not be the end of Brown’s interest in cricket however as he has recently been employed as a Hub coach at the Buffalo Flats Hub.
He will thus continue to put back into cricket through coaching, while he also may play a bit of club cricket on the side.
“My goal is to help produce cricketers that can go into the Border schools team at this stage,” said Brown.
Border cricket will now have a large void to fill in terms of the experience and the impact he brought to the Border team.
“On behalf of everyone at Border Cricket, we would like to thank Darryl for his on and off the field contributions and wish him well in his new chapter of cricket,” said Border Cricket CEO, Thando Booi.