Craig Miles

Craig Miles joined his Gloucestershire team-mate Liam Norwell by moving from Gloucestershire to Warwickshire at the end of the 2018 season, chasing a future in Division One of the Championship and scuppering hopes in the West Country that he could win England honours while playing for the county.

Miles, 24 when he made the switch, had long been seen as Gloucestershire's brightest young prospect. Mark Alleyne, who led the county to seven one-day titles in five seasons, was just one judge who has expressed the belief that Miles had the ability to play for England, describing the slim pace bowler as reminiscent of a young Stuart Broad. As that comparison suggests, he is tall, at 6ft 4ins, stands tall at the crease and hits the deck. His challenge was to add a touch of extra pace to make himself an international prospect.

He was thrust into senior cricket aged just 16 in 2011 when an injury on the opening day of Gloucestershire's Championship match against Northamptonshire at Bristol required Miles to play. He didn't disgrace himself and returned two years later much stronger and fitter and took 43 wickets at 30.58 as a key part of Gloucestershire's attack. He was rewarded with a contract until the end of the 2017 season.

During the winter of 2013-14 he was part of the ECB's Potential England Performance Programme but injured his back training at Loughborough and missed the first half of the season. He returned in July and took 18 wickets at 19.88 in the remaining four Championship matches of the season. Further success in 2015 - including a 10 for 121 match analysis against a strong Lancashire side which scooted away with the second division title and a Gloucestershire-best 6 for 63 against Northants - earned him a place in the EPP fast-bowling camp and put him on the shortlist as the PCA's breakthrough player.

Miles' 52 Championship wickets for Gloucestershire in 2016 continued to make a good impression. He took his first hat-trick - of sorts - at any level in a surprise Gloucestershire win over Essex at the Cheltenham Festival, his wickets spread over two innings.

When he left Gloucestershire he had taken 255 first-class wickets at 26.68 (56 in his final season, including a five-for against Warwickshire as they marched towards the Division Two title), but it was as a batsman where he managed to provide a winning farewell, dancing down the pitch to strike the winning blow in an angsty two-wicket win against Derbyshire.

In 2021, Miles played a key role in Warwickshire's County Championship and Bob Willis Trophy double, taking 37 wickets at 21.81 in the former triumph, before picking up a first-innings five-for in the innings victory over Lancashire at Lord's.

In 2022, he was limited to 11 wickets in seven first-class appearances but had an impressive white-ball campaign, claiming a career-best haul of 16 wickets in the T20 Blast.

ESPNcricinfo staff