Cricketing all-rounder who was loyal to Northamptonshire and made 15 Test appearances for EnglandIt was 1989, another disastrous summer for English
Cricket. The Ashes had been lost, horribly. Half the
England team were on the brink of joining a rebel tour to the pariah state of
South Africa. Of those staying, the former star Ian Botham was in eclipse and there was an urgent search for a new world-beating all-rounder.
As a try-out, England then sent a team of young hopefuls to the Netherlands for a gentle friendly. They lost even that. Afterwards, the players tried to forget in the usual manner.