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Haseeb Hameed
At 19, after that fairytale series in India when he became the youngest debutant ever to open for England, the teenage lad with the Bolton accent and winning smile faced two of the hardest jobs you can have. First, he had to grow up in public, a task almost too cruel to wish upon any kid. Second, he became the latest vessel for the hopes of English cricket.
Tough enough? Add in injuries, inevitable fluctuating form and the game evolving, and he was in danger of being left behind. That said, it’s hard to recall a player who has generated such goodwill among cricket followers – I’m sure I was not alone in frequently checking in on his performances to have my heart sink as another 20 or so was written on the scorebook. His batting suffered from a kind of writer’s block, an inability to go beyond the first page of an innings.
Well, at the halfway mark of his career, he has solved that one. Moving to Nottinghamshire gave him the chance to work with Peter Moores, the best county coach of this century, and being appointed captain gave him the show of faith he probably needed. His 1,258 runs at 66 put him second behind only Dom Sibley in the Division One run-scoring table, but he got them at a strike rate of 58, hitting 178 boundaries, the most in the division.
More importantly, he lifted what had looked like a mid-table team all the way to the title. Sure, as Worcestershire fans will point out, he had some handy recruits to work with, but he fashioned a culture that led to consistency across the stop-start season, regardless of the conditions, brand of ball or players on the field. And, at the Oval, when it was all to play for in the penultimate round, he got his team over the line by just 20 runs.
George Hill
A certain kind of cricketer is doomed to go under the radar. England fans love an all-rounder, but they equally love to label anyone short of Garry Sobers figures as a “bits-and-pieces merchant”. This condescending description can cling to a player long after their skills improve.
So, this year’s candidate for the Darren Stevens Award is George Hill, an all-rounder who is unusual in the sense that his bowling has been the skill to improve. The 24-year-old snared 51 wickets with his medium pace this season at a remarkable average of under 17, with exactly 100 of his 341 overs being maidens. That’s usually a sign that he is also “taking wickets at the other end”.
If his batting has been no more than handy, his bowling, from a strong action that hits the deck hard with something of the young Toby Roland-Jones about it, has flourished in a tough season for Yorkshire. Where would they be without him? Division Two I suspect.
Rehan Ahmed
At 17 he was a promising young county leg-spinner; at 18 he was an England Test player with a five-fer in the bag; at 20 he was a top-three batter making centuries almost at will. In-between times, he’s been a domestic and international T20 all-rounder, a List A and a Hundred player too, and worn the hi-vis vest running drinks home and abroad. How is he supposed to learn cricket’s hardest art in those circumstances?
There are Division Two players with more runs or wickets, but it was Ahmed’s early burst of run-scoring that lit the fire under a Leicestershire season that absolutely nobody saw coming. He is the city’s new Riyad Mahrez.
Pushed up the order, he embraced the spirit of Bazball and teed off to the extent of bagging five centuries in 10 matches, at a strike rate above 75. The belief he had in himself surged through the club and they took out a mortgage on a promotion slot and never relinquished it. He even had time to keep his hand in as a bowler by adding six for 51 and seven for 93 to his 115 in the match at Derby.
Other players may have done more or faced tougher opponents, but no player had quite the impact Ahmed had on his club.
Will Smeed
The Somerset opener is probably still best known for his (in)famous decision to sign a white-ball only contract before he had played a red-ball match, dedicating his career to franchise cricket and the Blast. He has stuck to that, playing 130 T20s (and Hundred) matches, just four List A’s and no first-class cricket at all.
But the kid who more or less saw every ball as a six in waiting has matured into a more thoughtful batter, one who understands that even short-format cricket has rhythms that need to be respected, an ebb and flow that won’t just bend to your will because you’re swinging hard at every delivery.
The most valuable asset to any team wishing to win a T20 competition is an opener who can go at 140 or above, pace an innings when conditions and the match situation demands and deliver in the big moments. Smeed always met the first requirement and has developed his game to make good on the second but, until the very end of a slightly chaotic Finals Day at Edgbaston, he hadn’t made a score in a knockout match.
Chasing the highest target ever to win The Blast, Smeed had 27 off 19 at the end of the powerplay with two Toms (Kohler-Cadmore and Abell) out and another (Banton) away with England. After those six overs, the required rate had actually gone up to a round 10 and, though there was batting to come, everyone knew his was the key wicket. It fell to him to accelerate the innings while simultaneously anchoring it, first with James Rew and then with Sean Dickson. His 94 off 58 took the match deep enough for a cameo to suffice and Lewis Gregory finished the job.
The Smeed of 2024 might not have played that innings, but the 2025 version is less impulsive, more considered and the best batter in an outstanding T20 outfit.
Ethan Brookes
The admirable Tom Taylor has a case but the Worcestershire all-rounder edges him because, when the One-Day final needed someone to step up and seize it, he did.
It was a messy, interrupted conclusion to a messy, interrupted competition, but professionals are paid to deal with that stuff, unreasonable as it may be. Brookes had enjoyed a fine List A summer, his medium pace bringing him 13 wickets at a strike rate below 5.5 as a team anchored to the foot of Division One found progress easier in a weakened, but still challenging, 50-overs tournament.
But, having got his eye in with a round 100 from No 8 the previous week in a Chester-le-Street runfest, Brookes knew that impetus was required in a twice delayed chase that ended up at 188 in 27 overs. He was at the crease while the score advanced from 93 for three to 168 for five in 8.3 overs, his share 57, a cascade of sixes and fours – a knock that supplemented a wicket and a couple of catches in Hampshire’s innings. Worcestershire would not have won the cup – or reached the final – without him.
Some will always value the plateaux of a high achiever over the peaks of a player who saw his chance and delivered the match of his life. I side with the latter. Consistent excellence is laudable, but match-winning wonders are glorious.
This article is from The 99.94 Cricket Blog
