Jason Gallian

Born and raised in Australia, Jason Gallian captained Australian Young Cricketers against England in 1989-90 but subsequently moved to England and signed for Lancashire. At his best, Gallian is a class batsman - he has been described as a slimmed-down Mike Gatting - and in the period before he qualified for England in 1994, a decent international career was considered a virtual certainty. But he was dogged by ill-luck and inconsistency. His Test debut in 1995 was on a minefield at Birmingham where West Indies' fast bowlers blew England away in a little over two days, Gallian collecting a fractured finger in his first innings. He returned for the final Test at The Oval as a makeshift opener, and did enough to go with England to South Africa that winter. He played his third and final Test at Port Elizabeth where Christopher Martin-Jenkins wrote that he "confirmed his character if not his unarguable Test quality". He continued to score consistently for Lancashire - in 1996 he hammered 312 against Derbyshire, the highest score at Old Trafford - but grew increasingly disenchanted and moved to Nottinghamshire in pursuit of new challenges at the end of the following season. He was subsequently appointed their captain but continued to be dogged by injury - he missed almost all 2001 after undergoing knee surgery and then breaking a knuckle in his first match back. Following one year back in the ranks, he was reappointed captain of Nottinghamshire in 2004. However, after a fractious relationship with Kevin Pietersen amongst others he was replaced by Stephen Fleming for the 2005 season, a decision that he did not take too well initially. He still topped 1000-runs that season as Nottinghamshire won the Championship. 2006 was a lean year for Gallian as he failed to threaten the 1000-run mark and Nottinghamshire were relegated to Division Two. They bounced straight back, but at the end of that summer he moved on again, choosing to take on the role of senior statesman at Essex.
Martin Williamson September 2008