Alex Blake caught the attention with some whirlwind displays in white-ball cricket in 2015 as part of an exciting Kent side that reached two cup quarter-finals and brought hopes of better times ahead without managing to win a trophy. Three innings stood out: a career-best 71 not out from just 30 balls against Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl which turned Kent's T20 season, 59 in 24 balls against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham to secure that last-eight place, and another pulverising effort from a seemingly hopeless position against Lancashire at Canterbury in a losing cause over 50 overs. He resisted overtures from Sussex at the end of 2015 to remain with Kent, his native county, but expressed his desire to make progress in the four-day game.

When he did mark a mark in the Championship in 2016, the headlines again told of his capacity for big hitting as he struck the only three balls he received for six, from the legspinner Matt Critchley, to seal a victory against Derbyshire in Derby.

A product of the Kent academy, Farnborough-born Blake is a left-handed, top-order batsman and medium-paced right-arm seamer. He represented England U-19 in ODIs and made his first-class debut in 2008 against the New Zealand tourists but he has struggled to cement a place in Kent's Championship side. He scored his maiden century, against Yorkshire, at the end of the 2010 campaign but by the time he shot to prominence in 2015 it remained his only first-class century in a career spanning only 29 first-class matches in eight seasons.

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