Gloucestershire honour Brown after record-breaking 365 not out
18 July 2015
Gloucestershire Cricket has paid tribute to record-breaking batsman Aaeon Brown after he smashed 356 not out – including more than 300 runs in boundaries - to help Cheltenham club St Stephens to a 282-run win away to Hatherley & Reddings 3rds in Division Three of the Bank House Gloucestershire County League.
T20 skipper Michael Klinger presented the 24-year-old with a signed bat on the pitch ahead of the club’s NatWest Blast match against Hampshire at trhe Brewin Dolphin Cheltenham cricket Festival.
The left-hander had arrived at the wicket with Saints wobbling at 8-2 and they were soon 12-3 before he changed the course of the match with what is thought to be the highest individual score in any Saturday league match in the country this season.
It goes without saying that the innings is a personal best along with a record for 131-year-old St Stephens and in the Gloucestershire County League.
According to cricket website ESPNcricinfo it is the fourth highest individual score in limited overs history at any level.
In total, Aaron walloped 24 fours and 36 maximums to help his side amass 456-6 from their 40 overs.
It was the fifth century of his career and comfortably surpassed his previous best of 122.
He said: “It was one of those days when everything I tried kept coming off. Once I got to 150 I started thinking about the individual record at the club, which I knew was 183, and after that I wanted to bat for as long as I could.”
To watch a video interview with Aaron click below
Aaron admitted the boundaries “were reasonably short” while he was missed off a skyer – “it went really high, the fielder underneath it ended up tripping over” and also gave a couple of half chances.
The ball was disappearing over the boundary with such regularity that six balls were used in rotation while Saints stationed one of their own players in an adjacent field for the last hour to help with the retrieving and to save time.
Aaron shared a stand of 186 for the fifth wicket with Wes Green whose contribution was 12.
The great majority of his runs came on the legside. Aaaron added: “The wicketkeeper said to me at one point ‘you haven’t hit a six yet over cover’ so I did that next ball!”
After all his exertions, Aaron might have thought he could take it easy in the second half of the game by standing quietly at slip.
But he was asked by captain Paul Evans to open the bowling and followed up by claiming 3-25 from his nine overs as Hatherley reached 174-9 in reply, ensuring that lowly Saints recorded only their fourth win of the summer.
Work commitments as an estate agent mean that Aaron usually plays only every other week. “But I’ll be seeing if I can change that and play again this weekend!”
