Harry Gurney      

Harry Gurney's reputation began to blossom in 2013 when he finished the Championship season as Nottinghamshire's leading wicket-taker, taking 44 wickets at 30, enough to catch the eye of the England management who invited him to pre-Ashes nets along with another left-arm quick, Tymal Mills, to prepare England (unsuccessfully as it turned out) for an expected onslaught from Mitchell Johnson.

Gurney's success in white-ball cricket had also captured the attention. More good news followed when he was picked in the England squad for a limited-overs tour of West Indies and named as a travelling reserve for the ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh. He had a habit of taking top-order wickets and was adept bowling yorkers at the death. Add England's constant craving for left-arm quick bowlers and he had much to commend him.

Gurney played club cricket for Loughborough Town before graduating through Leicestershire's age group system. He missed most of 2007 with an ankle injury but made his first-class debut towards the end of the season and picked up a couple of wickets against Northamptonshire. In early 2008, while playing for Leeds-Bradford University, he showed his promise by removing Michael Vaughan and Jacques Rudolph.

Gurney remained something of a short-format specialist and was Leicestershire's leading wicket-taker in the 2011 Friends Life t20 with 23 scalps, but he missed Leicestershire's Finals Day victory with a side strain.

His development as a four-day player made big strides after he joined Nottinghamshire at the end of the 2011 season. Gurney went on to take 21 wickets in 10 Championship appearances for his new county compared with three from only one opportunity for Leicestershire in 2011. When he doubled the tally in 2013, his reputation as a solid county performer had been established.

ESPNcricinfo staff