A neat, upright batsman with a penchant for the drive, McGrath started his Yorkshire career in a blaze of glory at 19, in 1995. "The one bonus was the development of Anthony McGrath into a player of obvious class," intoned that year's Wisden, and 999 runs the following season won him a place on an England A tour of Pakistan - when his captain was Nasser Hussain. But then McGrath's career went into reverse. Those seam-friendly home pitches at Headingley didn't help, and soon he was keeping his place in the side with a spot of swing bowling as well as some occasionally eye-catching batting. In 2002 he topped Yorkshire's Championship bowling averages (18 wickets at 27.66), but was only sixth in the batting (803 runs at 32.12, including a career-best 165 in the Roses match). But then, in 2003, Darren Lehmann decided to have a year off from county cricket, and Yorkshire decided not to burden Michael Vaughan with the captaincy. To some surprise, McGrath was appointed. A few weeks later, the national selectors came calling too - an injury to Andrew Flintoff left them seeking another batsman who bowled a bit, and McGrath fitted the bill. He made an immediate impact as well, with consecutive half-centuries against Zimbabwe, and three wickets in his first six overs. Over the past few years McGrath has been on fire; proving all the pundits wrong when his career seemed to be going down the pan. 2006 was a particularly fruitful season, averaging 60.00, while he also hit a one-day best 148 in late August. In the autumn of 2006 he fell out with Yorkshire, turning down the captaincy and a three-year contract, and his time there was seemingly over. However, Darren Gough's arrival as captain brought a u-turn and he agreed a new deal. He took over as captain at the end of the 2008 season and signed a new three-year deal with the county.
Steven Lynch February 2009