Rob Andrew says Ben Brown remains fully committed to Sussex – despite losing the captaincy.

He finished the season in fabulous form with the bat and appeared to be enjoying his cricket.

He saw Tom Haines take over the captaincy and young Oli Carter the wicketkeeper gloves.

Chief executive Andrew said: “Ben has two years left on his contract.

“There was a lot of noise around that the club were trying to get rid of him.

“It’s nonsense. People make stuff up but that was purely a decision around freeing up Ben, who had been keeping, batting, captaining and trying to carry the team on his own.

“We thought it was the right time for him as well as the team to lighten things up, change the dynamic. Let him just play.

ROB ANDREW PLANS SENIOR SIGNINGS FOR SUSSEX CCC

“The decision around what happens with keeping and batting is not for me.

“They wanted to have a look at Oli Carter as a young keeper/batter.

“We have run for a couple of season without a back-up keeper.

“Look at what Ben has done at three in the Championship.

“Let the coaches work that out. But Ben is as committed to Sussex as anybody and, if anything his performances have now improved.”

“You could argue the toss as to why that is.

“Maybe is he is trying prove us wrong for taking the captaincy off him.

“Maybe he can just focus on his batting. Who knows?”