Ian Cockbain

Liverpool-born Ian Cockbain was a handy middle-order batter for Gloucestershire in all forms of the game through the first half of the 2010s, though it was for his feats in T20 that he was best known - having turned out, as he did, for 11 straight seasons for the county in the competition dating from its time as the Friends Life t20 in 2011.

He arrived in Bristol following three years as an MCC Young Cricketer, went on to secure a maiden first-class century, 127 against Middlesex in 2011; and made a match-winning 78 off 46 balls in just his second T20.

The following year was his best in first-class cricket - he made 764 runs in 15 matches - but he was out of the Gloucestershire Championship side in 2013 and only appeared in one-day cricket, where he made modest runs. The next season brought three T20 half-centuries, a match-winning 98 not out in a 50-over victory at Worcester, and a larger role in the four-day side - he played nine matches and made an unbeaten 151, his third first-class century, to secure a miraculous draw against Surrey in Bristol after Gloucestershire conceded a 500-plus run lead on the first innings. In 2021, the first year in five that he played more than one first-class match, Cockbain made 302 runs, including another second-innings hundred, 117 against Leicestershire.

That year he also played for Welsh Fire in the first season of the Hundred before going on to stints in the BBL and PSL in the winter.