Dan Housego

A classical right-handed opening batsman, Dan Housego began his career at Middlesex and moved to Gloucestershire in 2012 to try and reinvigorate his career but produced three seasons of modest returns with increasingly limited opportunities before being released at the end of the 2014 season.

An outstanding second XI campaign in 2011 saw Gloucestershire offer him a three-year deal. He was given plenty of chances in 2012, playing 10 Championship games for a mediocre return of 450 runs in 16 innings. The following season he was immediately picked and made 150 in the opening match at Essex but could only add another 293 runs in 13 more innings and was dropped in July. He played only one match in 2014 and made 0 and 27.

Housego attended the Oratory School in Reading and played for England at U-15, U-16 and U-17 level and in 2006 he made his debut in the Minor Counties Championship for Berkshire, scoring 170 not out against Shropshire. He also scored well for Middlesex's 2nd XI, building on winning the Youth Player of the Year Award in 2005. An all-round athlete, he was the U-12 national champion at 200m and played youth-team football for Oxford United.

He made his first-class debut at Derby in 2008, scoring 23 and 36 but struggled to find a place in the Middlesex first team, playing seven matches over the next three seasons, making one century. In 2011, he did get his chance and played eight matches scoring 407 runs at 31.30 before being dropped. But he responded well and went on to finish as the country's top runscorer in second XI cricket with 883 runs at 110.37 with four centuries in seven matches. That form was enough to entice Gloucestershire into offering him a deal for 2012 and Housego returned to the club where he began his career, having been part of the academy at Bristol.
ESPNcricinfo staff