Scott Borthwick is that rarest of commodities - an English legspinner. A product of the local league system in Durham, Borthwick was thrown rudely into the limelight when, live on TV, he was carted for five successive sixes by Essex's James Foster to lose a Pro40 game at the back end of the 2009 season. But, surrounded by a battery of paceman at Durham, he enjoyed a good outing with the pink ball against MCC taking eight wickets in the game to set up his 2010 season.

While he was in and out of Durham's first XI, his opportunities that year came mostly in first-class cricket and in 10 Championship games he acquitted himself reasonably well. Looking to further his development, he spent the winter down under in Adelaide, working particularly hard on his fitness and making the most of opportunities to learn from the likes of Shane Warne and Mushtaq Ahmed, who he brushed shoulders with when the Ashes were in town. The work stood him in good stead for the 2011 season, where he claimed 35 wickets and a call up for England's one-day international with Ireland. He gained further recognition in a T20 against West Indies in August and on tour to India in October 2011. Though sparingly used in the Championship in 2012, he continued to perform effectively in one-day cricket and was named in England's provisional squad for the World Twenty20. He toured Australia with England Lions in early 2013.
ESPNcricinfo staff