Jaik Mickleburgh is a top-order batsman who has filled in for Alastair Cook as an opener for Essex. Mickleburgh learnt much of his cricket playing for Horsford CC where Paul Newman, the ex-Derbyshire player, and Chris Brown from Lancashire, the senior pros, helped nurture him.

He also spent time in Essex's academy, and after the World Cricket Academy in Mumbai in February 2006 he had a good season in the East Anglian Premier League as well as in Minor Counties cricket with Norfolk. His increasingly impressive performances in Essex's second XI led to a first team debut n September 2007 in the Twenty20 Floodlit Cup against PCA Masters. He was awarded a full-time professional contract the following year and made a half-century on Championship debut in August 2008 at Leicester.

Injuries meant he only made a handful of appearances in 2009, but Mickleburgh had developed enough to be part of England's Under-19 set-up and was also part of the England performance squad over the winter of 2009-10. From the 2010 season, he was a regular member of Essex's Championship side, but only managed to average in the high 20s. Mickleburgh also struggled in a spell for Mid West Rhinos in Zimbabwe in 2012-13 and began the 2013 season as Essex's spare batsman.
ESPNcricinfo staff