David Wainwright is a terrific story of how a career can be revived. He began his time at Yorkshire, where as a left-arm spinner he was one of crop of young slow bowlers on the staff. Initially he enjoyed some success, especially in one-day and Twenty20 cricket, and reached as far as England Lions level when he played three times for them in 2010. However, first-team opportunities, particularly in four-day cricket, were limited at Yorkshire due to the presence of Adil Rashid and Azeem Rafiq and in 2011 he used a clause in his contract to ask for a release.

He was subsequently signed by Derbyshire, after a previous brief loan spell, where he has flourished as their senior spinner in all formats. He picked up 50 first-class wickets at an average of 31 in 2012, which was a major factor in Derbyshire winning the Division Two title in the County Championship promotion. His bowling was the key to three of their six victories. For his own part, the success earned him a new four-year contract.

Wainwright is also a very handy lower-order batsman, scoring two first-class centuries for Yorkshire and two 50s for Derbyshire.
ESPNcricinfo staff