Jake Ball's reputation as a fast bowler of promise was cemented in 2015 when he was one of a group of young fast bowlers called up for an England Development Programme fast bowling camp and given a place on an England Lions tour of Pakistan. His breakthrough season had brought 39 Championship wickets, allied to a late-order penchant for six hitting. The rise continued early in the 2016 season when he was handed a maiden Test call-up.

The nephew of Bruce French, the former Nottinghamshire and England wicket-keeper, Ball is a former England Under-19 international. He made his Nottinghamshire debut at the end of the 2009 season, against Sussex in a Pro40 match at Hove. Bowling right-arm medium-pace, he claimed Rory Hamilton-Brown as his first senior wicket but when he batted he was out first ball as Dwayne Smith completed a hat-trick.

He played in two Under-19 Test matches in 2010, taking 5 for 64 in the second innings against Sri Lanka at Scarborough, to set up an England win. He made his first class debut for Nottinghamshire in the Champion County v MCC match in Abu Dhabi in March 2011, taking 3 for 72 in the second innings. Most of his county cricket so far has been in the one-day, in which he impressed enough in 2012 to be named Nottinghamshire's Young Player of the Year and be awarded a one-year contract extension.

Ball's biggest impact in the early part of his Nottinghamshire career came in the semifinal of the YB40 in 2013 when he took 4 for 25, his best figures in senior cricket, as Somerset were beaten by some distance. Ball missed the final because of a back injury but could at least watch with satisfaction from afar as Notts brished aside Glamorgan to claim their fist piece of one-day silverware for more than 20 years.

After his 2014 season was disrupted by a broken foot his continued success in white-ball cricket in 2015 earned him a first call-up to the England Lions squad.
ESPNcricinfo staff