Jordan Cox

Jordan Cox joined Kent at the age of 10 and a decade later helped them win their first trophy in a generation, named player of the match in the T20 Blast final with a performance that summed up his strengths as a young cricketer. Coming in at 75 for 4 in the 12th over, Cox worked the gaps on his way to 20 off his first 17 balls without hitting a boundary, before a late flurry of boundary-hitting took him to 58 not out off 28 balls. At 20, he was the youngest man to score a half-century in the Blast final, and the second-youngest to score one on Finals Day after Jos Buttler.

Then, in the field, he produced a moment of magic, jumping beyond the boundary rope after sprinting round from deep midwicket before parrying the ball back into play in mid-air, straight to Matt Milnes at deep backward square leg. "I can't say I practise that much - I think that's from my youth days when I used to be a goalie," he said. "He's being too humble: he's our gun fielder and he's done probably five different catches similar to that over the season," Sam Billings, his captain, countered.

Educated at Felsted School, Cox made his first-class, List A and T20 debuts for Kent in 2019, featuring regularly in the Blast. He became a key member of the England Under-19s, making hundreds against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, but underwhelmed at the World Cup in early 2020.

Later that year he was involved in one of the more bizarre disciplinary breaches. After scoring his maiden first-class hundred, a mammoth 238 not out as an opener in a mammoth stand with Jack Leaning, he was forced to self-isolate after breaching Kent's strict Covid-19 protocols by posing for a photograph with fans. The following summer was tougher in red-ball cricket as Kent struggled in the Championship but he made four half-centuries opening the batting, and his form in the Blast earned him a deal with Oval Invincibles in the Hundred as a wildcard.

Cox holds an Australian passport, which he has used to play grade cricket in Sydney, and he played one game for Hobart Hurricanes in the 2021-22 Big Bash as a replacement overseas player.

ESPNcricinfo staff