David Alleyne, now 30, spent five seasons as Middlesex’s understudy keeper before leaving in 2004, with the sensible expectation of regular first-team cricket at Notts. But Chris Read fell out of favour with England, leaving Alleyne back in the 2nd XI. “I think most people expected Chris to be England’s wicketkeeper for
10 years,” Alleyne says. “But he got dropped by England during the series in the West Indies, which was disappointing for him and frustrating for me.

“Being a reserve wicketkeeper does test your professionalism. Motivation isn’t a problem. It’s a case of trying to maintain my own standards and scoring as many runs as I can to force my way into the first team as a batsman.”

Given a rare chance against Warwickshire, while Read was with England A, Alleyne hit a fifty and a maiden first-class century. But it was not enough to save the team from defeat or Alleyne from the chop. “We’ve had a pretty settled batting order for a couple of years so it’s not been easy to break in,” he says. “But I hope it will remind people what I’m capable of.”
Paul Bolton, The Wisden Cricketer