Richard Dawson      

A silk shirt in an empty English cupboard, Richard Dawson helped bowl Yorkshire to their first Championship since 1968, and at just 21 was chosen for England's 2001-02 tours to India and New Zealand. An accurate, attacking bowler with a dainty, high-stepping action reminiscent of Peter Such, Dawson flights the ball well, and extracts plenty of turn, grips the turf and uses his height to conjure some hearty bounce. Easy-going and quick to learn, he took four wickets in his debut innings at Mohali, and stepped into the breach against Australia the following winter, following an injury to Ashley Giles. Although palpably out of his depth, he kept his head above water, and proved his temperament with some brave batting against the likes of Brett Lee. Handy in the outfield as well, he is multi-dimensional enough to make more of a mark than England's last two wet-nursed offspinners, Jason Brown and Graeme Swann, and in 2004, he was named in England's 30-man pool of players for that season's Champions Trophy. But thereafter he faded from the reckoning and by the end of 2006, unable to command a place in the Yorkshire side, he found himself released on financial grounds - and Northamptonshire quickly snapped him up on a one-year deal for 2007. It was a short-lived stay and his deal wasn't renewed, leaving him out of the professional set-up until Gloucestershire came knocking towards the end of the 2008 season.
Tanya Aldred August 2008