Mal Loye

A right-hand aggressive top-order batsman - and a destructive one in one-day cricket - Mal Loye seemed destined for international honours, playing England Under-19 and then being picked for an A-team tour in 1993-94. But somehow he was made to wait another 13 years to play at the highest level, when he was selected as a replacement for England's one-day campaign in Australia. It had been a long, long time coming. In 1998 he was named PCA Cricketer of the Year, and was actually told he had been picked for the last Test of the summer against Sri Lanka, only to be left out three hours later when the selectors instead opted for Steve James. Although he made his second A-team tour, again to South Africa, that winter, he rather fell from the reckoning thereafter. In 2003 he moved to Lancashire and made an immediate impression with back-to-back hundreds on his debut. Finally, after a string of injuries, his chance came during the 2006-07 CB Series and he even had the confidence to sweep Brett Lee for six on debut. However, he couldn't build an innings and was left out of the World Cup squad when Michael Vaughan returned.
Martin Williamson April 2007