Allan Gibson Steel
England, Lancashire, Cambridge University
Born: 24 September 1858, Liverpool
Died: 15 June 1914, Hyde Park, London
Tests: 29 wickets at 20.86
First-class: 789 wickets at 14.78
Coming from a cricket-obsessed family, Steel was a teenage prodigy, rated by his teachers at Marlborough College as one of the best spinners in the country. He went to Cambridge University and, playing there and for Lancashire, managed 164 wickets in his first season in first-class cricket, using a mixture of leg breaks and off breaks. His figures gradually declined over the next few years, but he remained an excellent all-round player for county and country, scoring eight first-class centuries, two of them in Tests. He is regarded as England’s first out-and-out international leg-spinner. Steel had a long career in the law. He became recorder of Oldham, having gained a reputation as one of the best barristers in England. He also served as an England Test selector.
Walter Mead
England, Essex
Born: 1 April 1868, Clapton, London
Died: 18 March 1954, Ongar, Essex
Tests: 1 wicket at 91.00
First-class: 1,916 wickets at 18.99
A very reliable bowler, pushing the ball down at near medium pace, Mead was not a big spinner of the ball. However, he is credited with bowling the googly, at least occasionally, before Bernard Bosanquet made it famous. He also bowled the off break. His one Test, against Australia at Lord’s in 1899, was not a success. At county level he twice took 17 wickets in a match.
Sydney Francis Barnes
England, Lancashire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Wales
Born: 19 April 1873, Smethwick, Staffordshire
Died: 26 December 1967, Chadsmoor, Staffordshire
Tests: 189 wickets at 16.43
First-class: 719 wickets at 17.09
To this day Barnes is rated by many as the finest bowler to have played the game. He bowled at about 70mph but was still able to spin the ball either way using his exceptionally strong fingers. Taken on tour with England in 1902/03 on a hunch after captain Archie MacLaren saw potential in his bowling, he did well initially but gained a reputation for grumpiness and being injury-prone. He eventually became a regular England player, despite having rejected the first-class county game in favour of a better-remunerated life in league and Minor Counties cricket. In 1911/12 he broke the record for the number of wickets taken by an Englishman in an Ashes series. Barnes took a still-record 49 wickets in his final Test series, against South Africa in 1913/14. His fast leg break, nicknamed the ‘Barnes ball’, has never been bettered. His Test career was ended by the First World War, but Barnes kept playing into his sixties, even being asked in the early 1920s, when almost 50, whether he wanted to tour with England again. In all forms of cricket, he is said to have taken 6,220 wickets at 8.33.
Joseph Vine
England, Sussex, London County
Born: 15 May 1875, Willingdon, East Sussex
Died: 25 April 1946, Hove, East Sussex
Tests: Did not bowl
First-class: 685 wickets at 28.51
A talented batsman, Vine, a professional, was ordered by amateur opening partner C.B. Fry to rein in his attacking instincts to ensure he was not overshadowed. He did not bowl during his two Tests but at county level he was an all-rounder. Vine delivered his leg breaks at a pace rarely seen until Sydney Barnes came along, requiring the field placing of a back-stop.
Leonard Charles Braund
England, Somerset, London County
Born: 18 October 1875, Clewer, Berkshire
Died: 23 December 1955, Putney, London
Tests: 47 wickets at 38.51
First-class: 1,114 wickets at 27.27
Braund is often overlooked, having played in an era dominated by the googly antics of Bernard Bosanquet and the brilliance of Sydney Barnes, but he was a highly accomplished all-round player who gave much to the game. He moved from Surrey to Somerset, where he became a crowd favourite with his big personality and determination to win, always tempered by a sense of humour. Braund played for Somerset until 1920, hitting 25 hundreds to go with his wickets. He was also one of the best slip fielders of his era. Braund became a respected umpire and continued to watch first-class matches after he had both legs amputated during the 1940s.
Charles Lucas Townsend
England, Gloucestershire, London County
Born: 7 November 1876, Clifton, Bristol
Died: 17 October 1958, Stockton-on-Tees
Tests: Three wickets at 25.00
First-class: 725 wickets at 23.11
Townsend, a lawyer like A.G. Steel, enjoyed an early flourish as a big-spinning, wicket-taking bowler. He was also a useful batsman, but his career as a lawyer meant he had little time for cricket after his mid-twenties.
Bernard James Tindal Bosanquet
England, Middlesex, Oxford University
Born: 13 October 1877, Enfield, Middlesex
Died: 12 October 1936, Ewhurst, Surrey
Tests: 25 wickets at 24.16
First-class: 629 wickets at 23.80
Although probably not the originator of the googly, the leg-spinner’s ball which turns into the right-handed batsman with a barely discernible change in action, Bosanquet was undoubtedly its great populariser. Eton and Oxford-educated and of Huguenot descent, he was an experimental character who found the grind of fast bowling tedious and so changed his style with sensational results. Bosanquet’s googly was decisive in England regaining the Ashes in 1903/04, although really his was a bit-part in the context of the series as a whole, with Yorkshire left-armer Wilfred Rhodes deserving the greatest plaudits. Bosanquet’s methods were emulated with more skill by bowlers in South Africa and Australia, and later in India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. He maintained a humorous defensiveness when discussing the googly, branding it merely ‘immoral’ when asked whether it should be legal. Bosanquet’s son Reginald was an ITN newsreader during the 1960s and 1970s.
Alfred Percy Freeman
England, Kent
Born: 17 May 1888, Lewisham, London
Died: 28 January 1965, Bearsted, Kent
Tests: 66 wickets at 25.86
First-class: 3,776 wickets at 18.42
He was known universally as ‘Tich’ because of his diminutive stature, during an era when nicknames seldom verged beyond the banal. Freeman’s career, interrupted by the First World War, took a while to get going but, for several years during the late 1920s and 1930s, his wicket-taking feats were unparalleled. In 1928 he took 304 first-class wickets, a record unlikely to be beaten. Strangely, he was not picked to play in any Tests after 1929. He never faced Australia in England, even when Don Bradman was breaking international scoring records in 1930. There was a perception that Freeman was taking too many easy wickets for Kent and that this would not translate into the highest form of the game. Lesser bowlers were picked at his expense. It was England’s loss and Kent’s gain. Freeman, a quiet man of character and stamina, was sacked by Kent in 1936 but continued to organise charity matches into old age.
Thomas Leonard Richmond
England, Nottinghamshire
Born: 23 June 1890, Radcliffe-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire
Died: 29 December 1957, Saxondale, Nottinghamshire
Tests: Two wickets at 43.00
First-class: 1,176 wickets at 21.22
Not as small as Freeman, Richmond was given the same nickname – ‘Tich’ – as his extraordinary contemporary. For several years the two were considered the best leg break/googly bowlers in England. But whereas Freeman improved, Richmond’s powers waned. Most blamed his expanding waistline.
John William Hearne
England, Middlesex
Born: 11 February 1891, Uxbridge, Middlesex
Died: 14 September 1965, Hillingdon, Middlesex
Tests: 30 wickets at 48.73
First-class: 1,839 wickets at 24.42
A modest, charming all-rounder whose career lasted from 1909 to 1936, Jack Hearne scored 96 hundreds to go with his wickets. He bowled pacey leg breaks and googlies and helped Middlesex win the County Championship in 1921. His Test bowling average was ordinary, but his first-class career was excellent.
Percy George Herbert Fender
England, Surrey, Sussex
Born: 22 August 1892, Balham, London
Died: 15 June 1985, Exeter, Devon
Tests: 29 wickets at 40.86
First-class: 1,894 wickets at 25.05
One of the true characters of first-class cricket, Fender, a tall man with a Groucho Marx-esque moustache and a liking for extremely long jumpers, dominated the Oval during the 1920s. Recognised as a superb captain, talented slip fielder and ultra-attacking batsman, he never made quite the same mark in Test matches. His bowling varied. Usually he bowled quicker-than-average leg spin, but he would try his hand at any type if it meant getting Surrey to a win. Fender went on to a long career as a wine dealer.
Charles Stowell Marriott
England, Kent, Lancashire, Cambridge University
Born: 14 September 1895, Heaton Moor, Lancashire
Died: 13 October 1966, Dollis Hill, Middlesex
Tests: 11 wickets at 8.72
First-class: 711 wickets at 20.11
To consider Marriott’s career is to return to an era when even top sportsmen did not regard their performances on the pitch to be of paramount importance in life. Raised mainly in Ireland, Cambridge-educated Marriott played for Lancashire briefly before joining Kent, where he performed during holidays from teaching at Dulwich College. A tall, lean man, he had a distinctive whippy action, flinging the ball forward from a starting point behind his back. His single Test match, against West Indies in 1933, was one of the greatest debuts in internationals. His average of 8.72 stands as the lowest in the history of Tests among those who have taken ten or more wickets. Usually in Tich Freeman’s shadow (metaphorically) for Kent, he later continued to teach leg spin, writing a book on the subject which was published after his death.
Richard Knowles Tyldesley
England, Lancashire
Born: 11 March 1897, Westhoughton, Lancashire
Died: 17 September 1943, Bolton, Lancashire
Tests: 19 wickets at 32.57
First-class: 1,509 wickets at 17.21
Part of a famous Lancashire cricketing family, Tyldesley cut a Falstaffian figure – overweight and jolly. He eschewed the googly in favour of the top spinner. In fact, he did not get much sideways movement with the ball either way, but was relentlessly accurate. On helpful pitches he could be deadly. He made his Test debut on the 1924/25 Ashes series in Australia, where the hard, unresponsive surfaces did not help him.
Greville Thomas Scott Stevens
England, Middlesex, Oxford University
Born: 7 January 1901, Hampstead, London
Died: 19 September 1970, Islington, London
Tests: 20 wickets at 32.40
First-class: 684 wickets at 26.84
With his matinée idol good looks, Stevens was one of the glamour players of the 1920s and 1930s. He first attracted attention by scoring 466 runs in a house match at University College School in 1919, being selected for the Gentlemen against the Players that year. His bowling tailed off towards the end of his career and he missed many matches because of his business commitments.
Thomas Bignall Mitchell
England, Derbyshire
Born: 4 September 1902, Creswell, Derbyshire
Died: 27 January 1996, Doncaster, Yorkshire
Tests: 8 wickets at 62.25
First-class: 1,483 wickets at 20.59
Mitchell, a miner, was discovered during the General Strike of 1926, when Derbyshire captain Guy Jackson spotted him during a match organised to rebuild industrial relations. He started playing for the county, his strong body action allowing him to get plenty of spin. Mitchell was a noted comedian. With this came a tendency not to take himself as seriously as some thought he should. Mitchell made his England debut in the notorious 1932/33 Bodyline series and never became established, having a particularly bad match at Lord’s in 1935. He refused the terms offered by Derbyshire after the Second World War, returning to work in the pit. He lived until the age of 93.
James Morton Sims
England, Middlesex
Born: 13 May 1903, Leyton, Essex
Died: 27 April 1973, Canterbury, Kent
Tests: 11 wickets at 43.63
First-class: 1,581 wickets at 24.92
A well-loved Middlesex stalwart from the late 1920s to the early 1950s, Sims bowled a particularly quick leg break and googly, which he charmingly nicknamed the ‘wozzler’. He also made almost 9,000 first-class runs and was known for his sportsmanship and good humour. He never became a regular in Test cricket, two of his matches being played on the heart-breaking Australian pitches of 1936/37. He later worked as Middlesex’s scorer.
Ian Alexander Ross Peebles
England, Middlesex, Oxford University
Born: 20 January 1908, Aberdeen
Died: 27 February 1980, Speen, Buckinghamshire
Tests: 45 wickets at 30.91
First-class: 923 wickets at 21.38
Peebles was long regarded by devotees of leg spin as the one that got away. In his youth he showed promise of becoming the next Sydney Barnes but, because of injuries, technical problems and the pressure he felt under, this never materialised. Still, for a couple of years Peebles was undoubtedly one of the best leg-spinners in the world. His finest moment came at Old Trafford in 1930, where he made Don Bradman look foolish for a few overs. A genial man and protege of South African Aubrey Faulkner, Peebles was the first Scotsman to play for England. He maintained a connection with cricket throughout his life as a journalist, while running a wine business.
Thomas Peter Bromley Smith
England, Essex
Born: 30 October 1908, Ipswich
Died: 4 August 1967, Hyères, France
Tests: 3 wickets at 106.33
First-class: 1,697 wickets at 26.55
Peter Smith is best known for being the victim of a hoax in 1933. He turned up to play for England at the Oval despite not actually having been picked. It was another 13 years until he made it to Tests, having a brief and unsuccessful career. However, his first-class career with Essex was long and productive. He worked as a film extra.
Frederick Richard Brown
England, Surrey, Northamptonshire, Cambridge University
Born: 16 December 1910, Lima, Peru
Died: 24 July 1991, Ramsbury, Wiltshire
Tests: 45 wickets at 31.06
First-class: 1,221 wickets at 26.21
Best remembered for his stoical leadership of the England Ashes team of 1950/51, who lost four-nil, Brown was as tough as they came. A slow-medium leg-spinner and quick-scoring batsman, he was very much in the amateur mould. He could be a martinet as a leader, but learned his skills under Percy Fender at Surrey and would never ask his men to do anything he would not. After the Second World War he moved to Northamptonshire. His greatest test, though, came during it. He was captured by the Germans at Tobruk in 1942 and remained a prisoner of war until 1945, losing more than four stones in weight. He made a comeback to first-class cricket in 1948, returning to England colours, having been on an MCC tour as early as the 1932/33 Bodyline series.
Johnny Lawrence
Somerset
Born: 29 March 1911, Leeds
Died: 10 December 1988, Tadcaster, Yorkshire
First-class: 798 wickets at 24.97
Turned down by Yorkshire, Johnny Lawrence was a reliable spinner for Somerset during the immediate post-war years. He returned to his home county and is best known as the mentor of Yorkshire and England batsman Geoffrey Boycott.
William Eric Hollies
England, Warwickshire
Born: 5 June 1912, Old Hill, Staffordshire
Died: 16 April 1981, Chinley, Derbyshire
Tests: 44 wickets at 30.27
First-class: 2,323 wickets at 20.94
Eric Hollies – he was known by his middle name – will always be associated with the dismissal of Don Bradman for a duck in his final Test innings at the Oval in 1948. But Hollies had a long and distinguished career for Warwickshire, having been able to bowl leg breaks and googlies since early boyhood. He did not look for huge turn, using his fingers rather than his wrist to spin the ball, but his style provided the accuracy more often seen among off-spinners. Hollies studied hard to become a professional cricketer, taking bodybuilding classes before the Second World War to increase his stamina. His relationship with the England team was often fraught, not being picked between 1935 and 1947 after he injured himself in a clash with a team-mate. Whether it was horseplay or an accident, the selectors were not impressed. Possibly as a result of not being consistently picked, Hollies was initially reluctant to play at the Oval in 1948. His love of Warwickshire and cricket in general never dimmed and he continued to pick up wickets in vast numbers in the Birmingham League after he quit the first-class game.
Douglas Vivian Parson Wright
England, Kent
Born: 21 August 1914, Sidcup, Kent
Died: 13 November 1998, Canterbury, Kent
Tests: 108 wickets at 39.11
First-class: 2,056 wickets at 23.98
For more than 20 years Wright perplexed English cricket and himself. Why was it that a bowler at one moment capable of bowling so many unplayable deliveries could the next be rendered impotent by inaccuracy and lack of confidence? Wright, like Peebles a protégé of Aubrey Faulkner, bowled at well above the average pace for a spinner. If not quite as quick as Barnes he was definitely not much slower than medium pace. He had leg breaks and googlies at his disposal. It is no coincidence that this unassuming Kent player holds the record for the most first-class hat-tricks with seven. His 13-step run-up, likened to a man leaping about to avoid puddles, might explain his erratic tendencies. Yet he remains England’s most successful out-and-out leg-spinner, in terms of Test wickets taken.
Leonard Litton Wilkinson
England, Lancashire
Born: 5 November 1916, Northwich, Cheshire
Died: 3 September 2002, Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire
Tests: 7 wickets at 38.71
First-class: 282 wickets at 25.25
Wilkinson played in three Tests against South Africa after a prolific burst for Lancashire in 1938, aged 21. He faded from the scene shortly after the Second World War.
Roland Oliver Jenkins
England, Worcestershire
Born: 24 November 1918, Worcester
Died: 22 July 1995, Worcester
Tests: 32 wickets at 34.31
First-class: 1,309 wickets at 23.64
Rarely can a man have loved his art as much as Jenkins. This son of Worcester, born, shaped, made aware on the city’s playing fields, was obsessed with getting things right. Often seen at the nets by 7am, he would bowl away for hours, honing his ‘mechanics’. He got big turn but never aspired to the same accuracy as Eric Hollies, a lifelong friend. Jenkins had a droll sense of humour, which sometimes got him into trouble. He became a cult figure among Worcestershire supporters and was free with his advice for players who followed him.
Edric Leadbeater
England, Yorkshire, Warwickshire
Born: 15 August 1927, Huddersfield
Died: 17 April 2011, Huddersfield
Tests: Two wickets at 109.00
First-class: 289 wickets at 27.49
‘Eddie’ Leadbeater was a decent leg-spinner in an age when his county, Yorkshire, was awash with spinning talent, most notably Bob Appleyard, Johnny Wardle and Ray Illingworth. He was surprisingly called up for two Tests against India in 1951/52 but did not prosper. Never awarded a Yorkshire cap, he played for a while for Warwickshire before giving up cricket for life as a travelling salesman.
William Thomas Greensmith
Essex
Born: 16 August 1930, Middlesbrough
First-class: 733 wickets at 28.93
In the years after the Second World War Greensmith became the main leg-spinner for Essex, taking over from England man Peter Smith and eventually making way for another Test bowler in Robin Hobbs. He was known to sport a ‘Teddy boy’ haircut.
Thomas Greenhough
England, Lancashire
Born: 9 November 1931, Rochdale, Lancashire
Died: 15 September 2009, Rochdale, Lancashire
Tests: 16 wickets at 22.31
First-class: 751 wickets at 22.37
It nearly ended so very early for Greenhough. Soon after having been taken on by Lancashire, aged 18, he was lucky to escape with his life when he fell 40 feet down a shaft in a cotton mill where he was working. He broke both his ankles but made his way back, entering first-class cricket in 1951. Greenhough, who had a longish approach to the wicket and got a good amount of work on the ball, picked up wickets steadily, if unspectacularly, over the next few seasons, earning a call-up in 1959 and taking five wickets in an innings against India at Lord’s, making him the last English leg-spinner to achieve this feat in a Test match. But he experienced problems with his follow-through and missed the next couple of matches. Greenhough played four Tests, finally retiring from the professional game in 1966. His Test figures suggest he deserved a more prolonged chance.
Robert William Barber
England, Lancashire, Warwickshire, Cambridge University
Born: 26 September 1935, Withington, Manchester
Tests: 42 wickets at 43.00
First-class: 549 wickets at 29.46
Apart from Doug Wright, Barber is the most prolific Test wicket-taker since the Second World War among England’s leg-spinners. Lasting as an England player for most of the 1960s, he gave the ball a rip. Barber also scored 1,495 Test and 17,631 first-class runs. He moved from Lancashire to Warwickshire and gradually moved from being a bowling all-rounder to an entertaining left-handed batsman of high class and more occasional bowler. Barber later made a fortune from toiletry products and now lives in Switzerland.
Robin Nicholas Stuart Hobbs
England, Essex, Glamorgan
Born: 8 May 1942, Chippenham, Wiltshire
Tests: 12 wickets at 40.08
First-class: 1,099 wickets at 27.09
From a young age Hobbs became obsessed with spinning a ball. He practised for hours in his back garden and in the parks of his home town of Dagenham. Wanted by Kent, he chose Essex instead. Not a huge turner of the ball, he was, like Eric Hollies, very accurate. Hobbs played most of his Tests against India and Pakistan, who cope with the turning ball better than most. He was not helped by having finger spinners Derek Underwood and Ray Illingworth around at the same time. Hobbs came out of retirement to captain Glamorgan but, by the time he quit for a second time in the early 1980s, he was the only English leg-spinner of any note left. He was also the last to take 1,000 first-class wickets. Hobbs, a friendly man and kindly coach, continues to help would-be leggies and to be involved with his beloved Essex.
Amritt Harrichand Latchman
Middlesex, Nottinghamshire
Born: 26 July 1943, Kingston, Jamaica
First-class wickets: 487 at 27.90
‘Harry’ Latchman, brought up in west London, cut an anachronistic figure in county cricket from the mid-1960s until the mid-1970s. Small of build, he tossed the ball up in a way followers of Tich Freeman would have appreciated decades earlier. He coached at Merchant Taylors’ School, in Middlesex, after retiring.
Alan Terry Castell
Hampshire
Born: 6 August 1943, Oxford
First-class wickets: 229 at 30.97
Castell started off as a leg-spinner but became a medium-pacer, reasoning that this would give him a more solid career.
Warwick Nigel Tidy
Warwickshire
Born: 10 February 1953, Birmingham
First-class wickets: 81 at 34.25
Tidy, named after early 20th century author Warwick Deeping, rather than the great Australian all-rounder Warwick Armstrong, made his debut for Warwickshire at the age of 17. He had a good first year but faded from the scene after being advised to slow down his bowling. Tidy went on to a successful career in banking and finance and now runs his own gardening business in Devon. An enthusiastic character, he continues to help out aspiring leg-spinners.
Andrew Russell Clarke
Sussex
Born: 23 December 1961, Patcham, Sussex
First-class: 53 wickets at 35.32
Clarke went from club cricket to the first-class scene in 1988 when Sussex decided that leg spin might be a useful attacking weapon, such was its obscurity. He did not disappoint, picking up 44 wickets in his first season and prospering in one-day matches. His chances soon dwindled as Sussex brought in the younger Ian Salisbury, who gave the ball more spin. He left in 1990 and had a long career with Minor Counties teams.
Ian David Kenneth Salisbury
England, Sussex, Surrey, Warwickshire
Born: 21 January 1970, Northampton
Tests: 20 wickets at 76.95
First-class: 884 wickets at 32.65
Salisbury, who came on the scene in the late 1980s, was soon seen as a young leg-spinner with genuine international potential. Largely self-taught, he moved from Northampton to Hove, via the Lord’s ground staff. By 1992, aged 22, he was in the Test side. An encouraging debut saw him take five wickets, his first being Javed Miandad, and great things were forecast. It was downhill after that for England, but Salisbury continued to be an effective attacking bowler in county cricket. After retiring, Salisbury coached Surrey. He now assists with England’s youth teams.
Christopher Paul Schofield
England, Lancashire, Surrey
Born: 6 October 1978, Rochdale, Greater Manchester
Tests: No wickets
First-class: 237 wickets at 36.40
Picked to play for England aged just 21, Schofield never fulfilled his potential in the first-class game, although some blame should be attached to those who pushed him too far too early. Dropped after two Tests, he fell out with Lancashire and spent a year playing Minor Counties cricket and doing odd jobs to make a living, before Surrey offered him another chance. He excelled in T20 cricket, earning a call-up to the England team in this format of the game. Thereafter his performances tailed off and he was released by Surrey in 2011. He coaches and still plays for the Lashings side.
Matthew Thomas Gitsham
Gloucestershire
Born: 1 February 1982, Truro, Cornwall
First-class: 3 wickets at 90.33
Gitsham had a brief first-class career, having fallen out of love with the game after spending time in Australia under Terry Jenner’s tutelage. But after university Gitsham decided to give cricket another try and worked for months to get his bowling to county standard. He runs a carpet and upholstery-cleaning business in Bristol.
Michael Kenneth Munday
Somerset, Oxford University
Born: 22 October 1984, Nottingham
First-class: 86 wickets at 29.46
Munday is a gifted leg-spinner. Terry Jenner, with whom he stayed in Australia, thought his wrist action was rivalled only by Shane Warne among those he had taught. Yet Munday, who has a first-class degree from Oxford University, did not always agree with Jenner’s methods, arguing they were too dogmatic. Jenner, in return, thought Cornish-raised Munday had departed from the course most likely to bring him success. Somerset released Munday aged 25. He plays club cricket for Horsham, in Sussex, and works for an insurance company.
Mark Anthony Kenneth Lawson
Yorkshire, Middlesex, Derbyshire, Kent
Born: 24 October 1985, Leeds
First-class: 52 wickets at 43.82
If England waited many years for a decent leg-spinner to come along, Yorkshire was one of the more barren areas. So it excited the romantics and traditionalists when the White Rose county started using not one but two in the first team. Bowling in tandem with Adil Rashid, Lawson, from Leeds, had a fluent action. He was deemed surplus to requirements at Yorkshire and tried to prolong his career with other county sides, but nothing worked out. Lawson works as a coach.
Adil Usman Rashid
England, Yorkshire
Born: 17 February 1988, Bradford
First-class: 375 wickets at 34.77
From an early age Rashid looked special. His lively, front-on bowling action was good to watch, as was his batting. He took six wickets on debut for Yorkshire and both his bowling and batting improved over the next couple of years. He joined the England tour of South Africa in 2009/10 but his bowling fell away, with some suggesting it had been tinkered with. His frustrations increased over the next few seasons, leading him at one point to hint he was misunderstood by Yorkshire and wanted to leave. County and player resolved their differences and Rashid’s form has returned, allowing him more overs. England picked him again for the 2015 tour of the West Indies.
Max Thomas Charles Waller
Somerset
Born: 3 March 1988, Salisbury, Wiltshire
First-class: 10 wickets at 49.30
Waller has been primarily used in T20 and one-day matches. Opportunities at first-class level have been limited.
William Andrew Thomas Beer
Sussex
Born: 8 October 1988, Crawley, West Sussex
First-class: 13 wickets at 39.92
Another mentee of Terry Jenner, Beer is a gutsy player who gets most opportunities in the shorter forms of the game. He was able to learn from Pakistan’s Mushtaq Ahmed in his early days at the club. Beer needs to bowl more in four-day cricket if he is to progress.
Thomas Richard Craddock
Essex
Born: 13 July 1989, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
Craddock had a good game against England, when they played Essex as a warm-up for the 2013 Ashes, taking five wickets in an innings. But the county laid him off after signing left-arm spinner Monty Panesar from Sussex.
Scott George Borthwick
England, Durham
Born: 19 April 1990, Sunderland
Tests: 4 wickets at 20.50
First-class: 140 wickets at 34.37
One-Test wonder or a star of the future? Borthwick made his debut in the last match of England’s appalling Ashes campaign in 2013/14. He gives the ball a rip and plenty of air but lacks overs at seamer-friendly Chester-le-Street, home of his club Durham. Even more than Adil Rashid, he can justify his place at county level as a batsman, usually going in at number three. Now in his mid-20s his role needs to be defined. Is he a batsman who bowls occasionally, or a leg-spinning all-rounder? England need the latter more than the former, especially with the rise of Moeen Ali. Borthwick, an excellent fielder and a chirpy character, needs to bowl, bowl and bowl some more.
All figures correct as of 25 January 2015.