Jordan Clark

Jordan Clark, a powerful striker and useful seam bowler, left Lancashire for Surrey at the end of the 2018 season. Clark had taken 150 wickets and scored over 5,000 runs in all formats since making his debut for Lancashire in 2010, but Surrey saw untapped potential as well as a ready-made replacement for their veteran allrounder Rikki Clarke.

His first year at Surrey was not an unqualified success, as the club endured a poor season while trying to defend their Championship title, but he chipped in with occasional performances in each format. By 2022, he had become a vital all-round cog in their County Championship team. Clark's 30 wickets and 481 runs across 11 matches were vital contributions to that summer's title win, earning him his county cap which was awarded to him during the title-clinching victory over Yorkshire, the last home match of the season. The reception from the Oval faithful spoke of their acceptance and gratitude for his services.

Clark had displayed the potential to become a crowd favourite at Old Trafford, especially in the limited-overs formats, without ever quite pinning down that reputation. A product of Sedbergh School, he hails from Cumbria and his younger brother Graham chose another well-trodden route from that county by joining Durham.

In April 2013, he became the first English professional cricketer to hit six sixes in an over in a match of some repute when he did it during a Second XI Roses clash against Yorkshire at Scarborough. His victim was Gurman Randhawa, a left-arm spinner, who was regularly deposited over midwicket. There was barely a spectator to witness it, but he could claim a link with those who had pulled it off in more demanding circumstances: Sir Garfield Sobers, Ravi Shastri, Yuvraj Singh and Herschelle Gibbs. He had almost achieved a maximum a few months earlier in grade cricket in Australia when he hit the first five balls of an over for six.

Clark joined Lancashire's Academy in 2008 as only the second entrant from Cumbria, where he attended Sedbergh School. He made his first-team debut in a 40-over match in September 2010 and his hard-hitting batting style earned him several appearances in the Twenty20 side the following season after recovering from a stress fracture in the back and signed a professional contract in October 2011.

His most eye-catching bowling display came in 2014 when he took 4 for 22 in the NatWest T20 Blast quarterfinal win against Glamorgan at Old Trafford, including a triple wicket maiden, to swing the tie Lancashire's way. An increasingly regular performer in the limited-overs formats, he had still to make his Championship debut at the end of 2014.

His career-best Championship score of 84 not out had special appeal. Not only did it come against Yorkshire in the Roses match at Old Trafford, it involved a record 10th-wicket stand for Lancashire in that fixture with generations of former Lancashire players looking on. He was also one of Lancashire's more consistent batsmen in their relegation year of 2018.

ESPNcricinfo staff