Brown to leave Surrey

Surrey cricket manager Alan Butcher has paid tribute to Ali Brown who will be leaving the county at the end of the current season.

The 38-year-old batsman made his Surrey debut 16 years ago and established himself as one of the most destructive batsmen in the domestic game.

His 268 against Glamorgan in the fourth round of the C&G Trophy in 1996 remains a one-day world record and he played 16 one-day internationals for England, scoring one century.

Despite a reputation as an attacking batsman in the shorter version of the game, the Beckenham-born right-hander also shone in the county championship with almost 15,000 runs at an average of 43.35 and 44 centuries - a fact not lost on his Butcher.

"He was a great entertainer," he said. "His one-day record speaks for itself, but he also played many match-winnings innings in championship cricket as well.

"He was a big part of our trophy-winning side at the start of the century.

"All good things come to an end, and we had to move forward and find out what we had in our youth set-up and give some opportunities to some younger players. For that reason, Browny won't be with us for 2009."