Rory Hamilton-Brown
is hoping a more caring environment at Hove can help him begin a new
phase of his career on Wednesday when he is expected to return to Sussex
colours in their opening match of the new season at Headingley.
Hamilton-Brown, 25, has said he needed to leave The Oval, where he had
been club captain, after a desperately difficult year in which his
team-mate and best friend Tom Maynard was killed. He was one of the last
people to see Maynard alive and gave evidence at his inquest in
February.
"I needed to play in a place where I felt like people cared about you and they wanted you around," he told the Press Association.
"Ultimately I think that kind of care and love when you go through
tough times brings the best out of you. It's easy when you go through a
time like that to feel quite isolated and alone.Hamilton-Brown averaged 46.55 in first-class cricket with two centuries
in seven matches during his first stint at Sussex and hopes the memory
of Maynard will inspire him to fulfil his potential. "Undoubtedly a
little part of me wants to think that I'm carrying him with me," he
said. "And that's going to give you a deeper, harder drive than I've had
before.He attempted a return to the Surrey first XI in August, something he now
realises was a mistake. "I was disappointed to be brought back and
dropped and brought back and left out, but ultimately I should never
have played in the first place," he said. "Mentally I had a lot going on
and I was not able to get myself in the place I was before the tragic
incident. There was no way I should have been on a cricket field, but I
wanted to try it and see what I could do."
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