Tom Helm

Tom Helm, a fast bowler who generates pace and bounce from a strong, repeatable action, has long been regarded as one of the most promising fast bowlers in England. He signed for Middlesex in 2012 at 18 and a year later he impressed on his first-class debut against Yorkshire at Headingley, ending the game with match figures of 5 for 78. But his early career suffered from what he termed "a series of false starts". He had a brief spell on loan at Glamorgan in 2014 and after winning a place in Middlesex's Championship-opener against Nottinghamshire in 2015, he suffered a stress fracture and it turned out to be his only county appearance.

He then suffered an ankle injury in June 2016 and missed the remainder of a summer which ended with Middlesex winning the County Championship. But England took him on a Lions tour to Sri Lanka and he did his reputation no harm at all. Helm had expressed modest ambitions for his first England Lions tour. "One of my main aims was to leave the tour in one piece," he said. A young fast bowler can soon become philosophical when his early career is strewn with stress fractures and injury mishaps in the field. But his 5 for 33 against Sri Lanka A in Colombo represented (somewhat surprisingly) the second best figures in 30 years of Lions cricket. It set him up well for an English summer in which her topped the T20 averages and, although he managed only nine Championship games in the next two seasons, he did at least have maiden five-fors across all three formats.

The 2022 season was arguably his most impressive to date, as he picked up 29 wickets at 21.96 in the Championship, while impressing in the Hundred too, not least with figures of 4 for 17 against Birmingham Phoenix

ESPNcricinfo staff