Luis Reece

Allrounder Luis Reece has proved himself a consistent performer for Derbyshire with bat and ball, capable of game-changing bursts of form. He scored a century on first-class debut for the club in 2017 and was a key member of the Derbyshire T20 side that secured a first-ever Finals Day appearance in 2019.

The summer of 2019 saw Reece at his best across all formats: he scored 944 first-class runs to go with 55 wickets - which included a career-best 184 and 5 for 63 in the same match against Sussex - was third in the club's T20 run charts, and also produced a maiden List A hundred. The majority of his runs have been scored at opener but his versatility means he can bat anywhere in the top seven, and in T20 has led to appearances in the Bangladesh Premier League, as well as a Hundred contract with London Spirit.

Reece joined the Lancashire academy in 2008, having made appearances for the 2nd XI as a 17-year-old the previous year, but it was across the Pennines in Leeds in 2012 that he gave notice of the other component of his game - an ability to bowl left-arm medium pace to considerable effect - when he took 7 for 21 for Leeds/Bradford MCCU in a three-day friendly against Sussex, at one time having figures of 5 for 0 from five overs.

Spells for the Unicorns in the county 40-over competition in 2011 and 2012 also helped him reawaken Lancashire's interest. After averaging 64.60 with the bat for Lancashire's 2nd XI he signed a professional contract for 2013.

Reece made an immediate impact when he opened the innings for Lancashire in the Championship, averaging 55.53 and being named as the county's Young Player of the Year as they won promotion from Division Two. Sign of the interest he had generated came when he represented MCC in Abu Dhabi prior to the 2014 season. A rise in standards, though, proved more difficult for him to combat and he failed to retain his place as his average took a battering. A knee injury slowed his progress with the ball.

His 2015 season was disrupted when he broke a hand thumping the dressing room wall in frustration at a poor run of form and a dubious lbw decision, and at the end of another unproductive summer in 2016 he joined Derbyshire in the hope of getting his career back on track. He did just that, scoring healthily in the Championship, despite a viral-induced heart scare which saw him hospitalised after pulling up while bowling during a match against Northants at Northampton. He enjoyed a prolific T20 Blast campaign, in his first full season in the format, scoring 433 runs and four fifties - a joint Derbyshire record - and a career-best 97 not out against his former county, as if to emphasise that they had overlooked his potential in the shorter format.

He suffered a broken foot in 2018, but his rehab was rewarded at the end of the season when he startled even himself with a career-best 7 for 20 against some undistinguished Gloucestershire batting at Derby.
ESPNcricinfo staff