Jamie Overton

Jamie Overton was on England's radar for a decade before he briefly became a regular in their squads across all formats in 2024-25. A seam-bowling allrounder, blessed with power and pace at 6ft 5in, Overton was first called into the England squad as a teenager, but did not win his first international cap until his Test debut at the age of 28, against New Zealand in 2022. The delay owed primarily to persistent injuries, while a move to Surrey from Somerset also helped him flourish after finding a regular first-team spot hard to come by at his home county.

Overton would have been in England's squad for the T20 World Cup in 2024 but for injury, and became a regular in their white-ball set-up later that year. He struggled to translate his batting form as a T20 finisher from franchise leagues into international cricket, but his hostile back-of-a-length bowling was generally successful and earned him a surprise Test recall for England's home series against India in 2025. He played at The Oval in the final match of the series, but his body struggled to cope and he put his first-class career on pause soon after, effectively ruling himself out of the 2025-26 Ashes tour.

Overton's cricketing development was in sync with his identical twin brother Craig, who is the older of the two by three minutes. They progressed through the Devon ranks, were playing first-team club cricket at Instow CC by the age of 14, and were soon playing for Somerset and England's Under-19s together. Jamie was always the quicker twin and later developed into the better batter, capable of winning games in short-form cricket with his powerful hitting from No. 7 or 8.

He was the player of the match when Somerset won the Royal London Cup in 2019, taking 3 for 48 in the final against Hampshire, but left the club under a cloud the following summer after growing frustrated with his limited role in their T20 side. It took him to Surrey, where club captain Gareth Batty labelled him "our Andre Russell", and he was part of the squad that won three successive County Championship titles from 2022-24 while also earning franchise opportunities in the Big Bash, the Hundred and the ILT20.