The most controlled and consistent England bowler of the 1990s, injury and muddled selection policy permitting. Fraser was a classically English seamer, landing ball after ball outside off stump and brilliantly exploiting even the slightest hint of uneven bounce - as his record in the Caribbean shows. Ignore the downbeat demeanour: he looked almost as knackered at the start of a spell as he did at the end, and he cared passionately, once running from the field in tears when England won at Melbourne. Former chairman of selectors Ray Illingworth wasn't a fan, and Fraser had to wait 18 months before returning triumphantly for the tour of the West Indies in 1997-98. He was omitted after England's disastrous World Cup performance in 1999 and saw out his career at Middlesex. He retired in April 2002 to take up a job with The Independent newspaper.
Lawrence Booth