Jim Allenby

Jim Allenby, a solid county performer, made Somerset his third county when he joined them from Glamorgan ahead of the 2015 season, stating that as an allrounder beyond his 30th birthday he needed to be winning trophies. Those ambitions were not immediately met and instead Allenby was unfortunate to become the butt of a section of the Taunton crowd, leading him to be dubbed as one of the most persistently barracked cricketers in the county game.

A powerful striker of the ball, Allenby's all-round skills make him a particularly useful addition to Somerset's Twenty20 squad. He swung the ball at lively medium pace, held vital slip catches and also skippered the side in limited-overs formats for two seasons from 2016 as Marcus Trescothick, a long-time county hero, stood down as captain and was persuaded to pare back his involvement in the one-day game. A career-best 144 against a former county, Glamorgan, in the 50-over competition was a highlight of his final season.

Allenby played in the 2006 domestic Twenty20 final for Leicestershire and towards the end of that season he gained an opening in their Championship team, hitting a century against Essex in the final round of matches and followed that up with a match-winning, unbeaten, half-century in the run chase. In 2008, he became the first player in Twenty20 Cup history to achieve four wickets with four consecutive balls, when he removed Lancashire Lightning players Kyle Hogg, Steven Croft, Dominic Cork and Sajid Mahmood.

Australian by birth and educated in Perth, in 2006-07 he made his Australian domestic debut in a Twenty20 game for Western Australia, but stated his ambitions to play for England. Although that goal quickly led to a county contract with Leicestershire, it ultimately led to his departure from Grace Road in 2009 when he stated that he needed a county that could help him fulfil his international ambitions.

He eventually moved to Glamorgan, hardly the first port of call for England selectors, but quickly became a vital cog in their limited-overs sides while also nailing down a spot in their Championship side. He was a potent force in the Glamorgan side which reached the final of the Yorkshire Bank 40 in 2013, against Nottinghamshire, but could not prevent them falling to a third defeat in three Lord's finals.
ESPNcricinfo staff