Eddie Byrom

Eddie Byrom, a Zimbabwe-born left-hander with an Irish passport, flattered to deceive in his first stint as a Somerset opener in the County Championship, before announcing himself as an all-formats player with a staggering month during the 2019 Blast.

The son of a former Zimbabwean sports journalist, Byrom had moved to Kings College, Taunton in 2015, and was signed by Somerset on a scholarship contract after impressing for Zimbabwe's age-group teams.

He broke into the Championship side opening alongside Marcus Trescothick in 2017, but had a tendency to get in and then get out - in his first 15 Championship games, he passed 38 on 12 occasions, but his top score was 56. He spent the 2017-18 winter in Zimbabwe with more success, racking up a six-and-a-half-hour 152 against Tuskers for his maiden first-class ton.

He was dropped one game into the 2019 season, and there were few signs from his solid, but unspectacular Championship efforts that he would be able to force his way into the white-ball teams. But injury gave him a chance in the middle order in the T20 side, and he grabbed it with both hands, scoring at a strike rate of 196 in the Blast to earn a contract extension at the club.

ESPNcricinfo staff