Samit Patel

Samit Patel, a hard-hitting middle-order batter and a more than capable slow left-arm bowler, has been one of the most watchable county cricketers of his generation, but he will be remembered as one who had several opportunities to make his mark for England, without ever quite holding down a regular place.

Samit's bugbear was having to repeatedly convince England that his fitness levels were acceptable; it was a feat he never entirely managed, not helped by the fact that the left-arm slows that made him an especially tempting option in Asia turned out to lack the guile to trouble the best players.

He represented England at Under-15, U-17 and U-19 levels, and in his breakthrough international season, 2008, played 11 ODIs, impressing particularly with the 5 for 41 that beat South Africa at The Oval. But instead of kicking on to greater things, his career stagnated amid repeated failures to sort out his waistline.

In 2011, when he did reach the basic fitness targets laid out by England, he was rewarded with a recall to the limited-overs set-up, his first international involvement for two and a half years. That season was the first in which he made over 1000 first-class runs, to go with 33 wickets, for Nottinghamshire. And he was one of few players to come out of England's poor tour of India in credit with 160 runs at 40. Samit earned a first Test call-up for England's tour of Sri Lanka in March 2012. On that tour, and his next, the one of India the following season, he did not make an impact. He won a surprise call-up as England's third spinner for a Test series against Pakistan in the UAE in 2015, taking three wickets in the third Test, a Pakistan win.

That was it for his international career, though in county cricket there was much more on either side. His 3 for 21 from seven overs took Nottinghamshire to their first limited-pvers trophy in over 20 years when they won the 2013 Yorkshire Bank 40 title. And he was at the forefront of the club's excellent 2017 season, when they made it back to the first division in the Championship and won both limited-overs trophies. That year, he made an unbeaten 122 against Essex as Notts pulled off a record 50-over chase in the semi-final. And he was the Player-of-the-Match in the T20 final at Edgbaston for his 64 off 42 balls against Birmingham Bears.