Dermot Reeve

Reeve loved to improvise. He would reverse-sweep the spinners to distraction, go down on one knee to hoist the quicks over midwicket, and subtly vary the pace of his jobbing, limbs-pumping seamers. In one county match, against Hampshire, he even played the left-arm spin of Raj Maru by throwing his bat to the ground to rule out catches to the close fielders. But, as a spanking cover-drive and tight off-stump line showed, he could do the basics too. His mind-over-matter approach made him a natural captain, and in 1994 - with a little help from Brian Lara's bat and Bob Woolmer's coaching - he led Warwickshire to three of the four major trophies, failing only in the NatWest final. Reeve was already an occasional member of England's one-day side by this stage - having appeared for his native Hong Kong in the 1982 ICC Trophy - and played in the 1992 World Cup final, but he was given just three Tests, all in New Zealand in 1991-92. His international career would have been longer if his ability to irk opponents hadn't extended to his team-mates. He left Warwickshire in 1997 to become Somerset's coach, and worked as an incisive commentator for Channel 4 until a newspaper expose of his cocaine addiction forced him to quit.
Lawrence Booth