Hove is where the heart is: Fynn Hudson-Prentice's homecoming

SAM DALLING: Released by his boyhood county as a 20-year-old, Fynn Hudson-Prentice has taken the long road back home. From Adelaide to Derbyshire, via the MCC Young Cricketers, Sussex are re-acquiring a cricketer approaching the peak of his powers

"A lot of people have asked whether I am coming back to prove people wrong," begins Fynn Hudson-Prentice, acknowledging it is a natural line of enquiry following his impending return to Sussex upon the expiry of his Derbyshire contract. "But at the same time, the people who were here when I was here last time aren’t anymore.  I just saw it as a move that I thought personally – while it might not be perceived like that from the outside – was better for my career and the way I wanted to go.  

"I’ve never looked at it as a second chance to prove people wrong. Naturally, it might turn out to be that way. But as a kid growing up, I saw myself in a Sussex shirt so as soon as I found out they were interested, it was always going to go one way."

The announcement came mid-August, with the all-rounder spending the final month of the recently completed campaign in Hove on a temporary basis. In three appearances, he made 145 runs with a top score of 67, picking up three wickets. He was ineligible to feature against his parent club in the final round, but the move will be made permanent shortly and he will leave his Nottinghamshire home over the winter to return home.    

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Cricket was not Hudson-Prentice’s first love. That honour was bestowed on another sport.  "I was massively into football. It was an absolute passion of mine from day dot. I always remember Mum, Dad and Grandad getting me really heavily involved.  Cricket was sort of a summer sport on the side. I only started playing when I was eight as a hobby to get me to stop kicking balls around the garden [and] breaking things in the summer holidays. It just turned out that I was naturally better at cricket than I ever was at football.”

Like so many of his generation, a switch was flicked when Andrew Flintoff et. al claimed victory over a seemingly immortal Australia outfit in 2005: "That series was when I really started to take cricket as a serious option. It was like 'wow, this is actually a great sport.' Before that it was just sort of turn up and whack a cricket ball around for an hour out in the middle with a few mates and then go home. That was the moment that sparked me. I realised people have a career in cricket. It began there."

^{Andrew Flintoff and the 2005 Ashes opened Hudson-Prentice's eyes to cricket}

Hudson-Prentice was part of Sussex’s youth set-up from age 10, skippering his age-group side while scoring prolifically opening the batting. He also starred at the 2011 Bunbury Festival, batting at number four in a formidable London and East line-up behind Robbie White, Dominic Sibley and Charlie Thurston.  

Graduating onto the academy, his professional bow came in a Royal London Cup clash with Glamorgan at Hove back in August 2014. Having watched Luke Wright thrash a century to set the visitors 324 to win in 48 overs, Hudson-Prentice bowled six wicketless overs, Jacques Rudolph making 169 to secure victory with eight balls to spare. "He smashed it everywhere. I think I bowled six overs for 50 or something; I was like wow this is a step up," he recalled grinning.

That winter Hudson-Prentice signed junior professional terms and made his first-class debut the following summer. This time Hampshire were the visitors, and he made 15 in the first innings followed by a duck in the second: "Fidel Edwards bowling down the hill at Hove was something I hadn’t really experienced before at that age! You go from thinking 82 or 83mph is quite quick and then you face that; it’s pure reaction based. There’s no time to think about what’s going on. It was an absolute baptism of fire. The wicket was quite up and down as well. He was bowling short balls and one was going through chest high, another head high. It wasn’t the nicest of experiences, but I think it helped me in the future. At the age of 18 walking into that… well it wasn’t the finest of debut memories."

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A further 12 months passed before his next outing and with his contract running out, Hudson-Prentice was given a four-match run to earn a new deal. It was not spoken aloud but he knew it was make or break. At that point his bowling was on the backburner and a haul of just 69 runs in six innings meant he suffered the ignominy of release by his boyhood club. "It’s really hard being so young; I think I was just a bit naïve," he admitted to The Cricketer. "When I turned 18 and got a contract, I just assumed that I’d get better and progress. I didn’t actually realise you have to do the hard yards. When that day came around – I was 20 – it was a bit of a shock. It was tough to take."

With his love for the game dwindling, Hudson-Prentice headed to Australia. Returning to Adelaide where he had spent the previous off-season, he enjoyed a successful second season in Prospect District Cricket Club colours, notching 582 First Grade runs at 44.77.

Back in England Hudson-Prentice spent the 2017 summer with East Grinstead CC. It was a successful one on two fronts. He racked up 828 runs at a shade under 40 and snared 31 wickets at 17.16, while the club secured the Sussex Premier League title. They also made it to the National Club Championship semi-final, losing to champions elect Wanstead and Snaresbrook CC.  

He puts his success down to a lack of pressure: "It was just about going out there to have fun and enjoy myself; I didn’t have anything to worry about back home."  Hudson-Prentice also turned out for the MCC Young Cricketers side that year at the behest of then head coach Steve Kirby, debuting alongside Finn Allen and Arjun Tendulkar. It was a seminal period, revitalising Hudson-Prentice’s love for the game: "That time out helped me refresh mentally. I was a little bit shot because things weren’t going as well as I wanted them to. Finding who I wanted to be as a person away from cricket first, and then in cricket, has really helped me progress over the last 24 to 36 months."

^{A youthful Fynn Hudson-Prentice on Sussex's media day ahead of the 2016 campaign - his final season in Hove before being released}

But despite cricket and enjoyment interlinking again, Hudson-Prentice was not actively seeking a return to the professional game. Instead, he accepted a place to study architecture at Leeds. Then Kirby made a phone call that changed his life: "I had my head around going to university," he admitted. "But then Steve offered me a contract with the MCC YCs. I deferred my place one year but by February the following year I had fallen in love with cricket again. So, I rang them and told them I wouldn’t be able to take up the place. I wanted to see if I could nudge out another five years or so playing cricket."

As well as being a finishing school based at Lord’s for those stuck in the shade just below the professional game, the YCs programme also helps build life skills. Sharing an apartment with teammates Jonty Jenner and Jake Dunford a stone’s throw from the Home of Cricket, the boy became a man: "You grow up quite quickly living in London. When I first went up there, I was quite an immature young guy who didn’t really know his arse from his elbow – I can’t say that can I?  I didn’t know much about myself or life really. It was quite an eye opener.

"If you ever mess something up, you have to deal with it yourself. It was all those typical life things that you don’t get to do or learn at home – they come to roost quite quickly, and you realise that being away from the parents isn’t all it is dreamt up to be!"

But Hudson-Prentice believes his cricketing improvements stemmed from that: "It took me a while, but as soon as you’re taking care of yourself and your life off the field, things become so much easier on the field. There is nothing to worry about at the back of your mind.”  

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Another perk of the YCs programme was the chance of Test match involvement. For the more able fielders, of which Hudson-Prentice was one, that included stepping out onto the field:  "Those weeks are always special. They are hard work, genuinely hard work. We’d get to the ground at quarter past seven in the morning, fully suited and booted bright and early and you’d be the last people to leave. Some lads were doing covers, others nets but I was doing the 12th man stuff, so I got the best gig. Occasionally I’d get to go and mis-field a few. Great days, tiring days but you wouldn’t replace that for anything."

In all Hudson-Prentice worked five Test matches, including one against India at the Oval in 2018 that lives long in the memory: "I was there for Sir Alastair Cook’s Test match farewell. I’ve still got the picture with him after the game in whites. I remember just watching that innings, his last hundred and the overthrows from Jasprit Bumrah for four. The crowd stood for five minutes I reckon. It was complete goosebumps. It was a massive 'I was there' moment.  And it wasn’t even I was there because I had a ticket, it was I was there because I was genuinely part of that dressing room at the time. It was really special to be honest. I don’t think I’ll have many more memories like that."

And what does one say to Sir Alastair? "'Well done, congrats Chef' - I don’t think you can say too much. He is such an unassuming man, such a gentleman. What can you say? He is an absolute legend."

^{Sir Alastair Cook celebrating his final Test century. Hudson-Prentice was on 12th man duties}

But the main aim of the YCs programme is to place young cricketers in the professional game, and it was at Lord’s that Hudson-Prentice the all-rounder was born: "Before I joined the YCs I was a batter who bowled a bit, not an out-and-out bowler. Maybe Steve saw something in me and thought he could take me to the next level; I couldn’t honestly tell you.   

"He was an amazing bowler in first-class cricket who could have probably gone on to play international cricket. Being around him and learning from him for so long improved my bowling. He was the guy that introduced me again into professional cricket. He looked after me, he mentored me. And from that he is now one of my best friends. I’ve got him to thank for a lot of things in my career now."

And their friendship endured Kirby’s departure to Derbyshire in October 2018. In early April 2019, Hudson-Prentice made 59 for the YCs against the Derbyshire 2nd XI. Mal Loye, Derbyshire’s batting lead, called him shortly afterwards and for the next few months he oscillated between the Derby and London. 

By June, Hudson-Prentice was making a Derbyshire bow against the touring Australia A side before he returned to County Championship action for the first time in three years shortly thereafter. He remained a Derbyshire regular until his departure was announced. In all, Hudson-Prentice made 19 red-ball appearances (696 runs at 26.76 and 44 wickets at 25.4), played 27 T20 games and was a mainstay of Derbyshire’s Royal London Cup campaign this year. 

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"It was a really hard decision," he explains when asked why he walked away from a notoriously close dressing room. "Derbyshire has so much to offer. The culture at the club is really good, the players all get on really well and I’ve got a lot of good friends up that way. It’s a great setup and that is bringing through a lot of local talent as well.

"Leaving wasn’t something I’d set my mind on for a long time; it just came about as the season progressed really. It all happened quite quickly. So it’s disappointing in that sense that having been there a few years, you start to build close friendships and then almost have to start again. But it is a move for my career rather than for friendships."

The Sussex Hudson-Prentice is re-joining is a club not just transitioning, but virtually starting again. Up at Sedbergh in a narrow Royal London One Day Cup defeat they handed out nine List A debuts, while in their County Championship clash with Worcestershire at New Road they had an average age of 19.5. Even the most ardent of county cricket followers would have struggled to name the Sussex playing XI.  

^{Fynn Hudson-Prentice, centre, celebrating with his Derbyshire teammates during the 2021 season}

While the club made T20 Finals Day, they also propped up the red-ball table. But Hudson-Prentice insists the future is bright: "When I played a 2nd XI game before the first Championship game, Ben Brown and I were the only two born before the year 2000. That definitely made me feel old; you’re 25 but feeling about 40!  It’s the oldest I’ve ever felt going into an environment.  

"But it’s really exciting. I’m a Sussex fan as well as a player and there are so many exciting young players coming through. When I was coming through a lot of the guys would have been in primary school and last time I’d seen Archie Lenham he was about two feet tall! And I’m really excited to be a part of that for the future."

And with Chris Jordan and Phil Salt both departing, does Hudson-Prentice feel the pressure for perform immediately?  "I don’t think I see it as pressure. There are a lot of senior players but then there’s a bit of a gap between 30 plus and 20 and below.  I’ll be in there with George Garton and Delray Rawlins in that middle group of players. I want to push myself into the top six to try and further my pedigree as a player."

Hudson-Prentice will be joined on the south coast by Steve Finn next summer, while others may yet follow. Whether the tide turns next year remains to be seen. What is for certain though is that Sussex are re-acquiring a cricketer approaching the peak of his powers.