The rise and rise of Gareth Batty

Gareth Batty is someone for whom nothing has come easily during the course of his career. However, having moved from Yorkshire to Surrey and then on to Worcestershire, he is now fulfilling potential and goes to the West Indies as England's number one off-spinner.

Born in Bradford, he was 19 when he made his debut for Yorkshire in 1997 but moved on to the Oval for the 1998 season. He played in one-day cricket that year and it was not until 1999 that he made his first-class debut for Surrey.

By the end of 2001, he had been named as the Surrey Young Cricketer of the Year and the ECB 2nd XI Player of the Year. He had also been released by the county as he struggled to get a first team place with the likes of Saqlain Mustaq and Ian Salisbury on the Oval staff.

Players of lesser character might have thought about another profession at this point, but Batty took the opportunity to join Worcestershire for 2002 and, at New Road, began a profitable new chapter of his career. That season, with regular first-team cricket, he took 56 first-class wickets as well as scoring nearly five hundred runs at 21.34.

He had already played for England at Under 15 and Under 19 levels, and was selected for the ECB National Academy intake that went to Adelaide for the 2002-03 winter. While there he was called up to join England's one-day squad and made his international debut against Australia in Sydney.

A 2003 season during which he took 60 first-class wickets at 26.25, and scored over five hundred runs, got him into the side that went to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka on the first stage of the winter touring itinerary. He duly made his Test debut in Dhaka and has now a veteran of four Tests.

If his figures do not yet do him justice, he showed that he is a player of character with some dogged innings at a time when they were needed and important bowling spells. Now he is going to face another serious challenge with his inclusion in the squad to tour the Caribbean.

Some are saying that he will merely be the drinks waiter with Ashley Giles commanding the first spinning spot, but there are enough left-handers in the West Indian order to give batty hope that his particular skills will be needed before the tour is finished.

It is the tussle with one of those left-handers, the in-form Brian Lara, that could well decided the outcome of the series and Batty is looking forward to an opportunity to pit his skills against those of Lara in what could be the crucial battle.

"If we can get that big man Lara out, then we can apply an awful lot of pressure," he says. I've never bowled to Lara but you want to play against the best in the world and it will be a challenge I will relish.

"I certainly won't be scared of bowling at him. I'm not that kind of person. You have to try to get on top of your opponent at whatever level you are playing. I wouldn't like to put my head on the block but I think the boys would be disappointed in both the one-dayers and the Tests if we didn't come away with a victory.

"Some people have written us off and the reaction I've seen to the squad is typical of people who love to shoot the cricket team before they have bowled a ball. We are going through a change with people like Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick not available but there is a lot of talent in the squad."

Of his tour to Asia before Christmas, Batty said: "I was determined to try to take my chance, to do myself justice. I went out there to show the England management that I am not out of place at that level.

"I sat down after the tour and had a real think about how things had gone, and I felt I did do myself justice with bat and ball and feel I am going in the right direction.

"If you look at the statistics it will suggest that I had not had a brilliant time, just an okay time. A few catches went down and a few decisions did not go my way but I was reasonably happy although I am always searching for perfection. The feedback from the management and captain was reasonably good."

Once he had arrived at New Road, his rise to the top has been rapid with, according to Batty, the benefits of increased confidence and his time at the Academy playing an important role in that rise.

"The Academy was great. It was very hard work but it opened my eyes to a few things different that I could be doing in my game. I think awareness of my role in the game has increased.

"It's not just a matter of when you're bowling or batting. It's an all-round thing and I think my batting is getting better by the day, hopefully my bowling keeps improving and the fielding is a major aspect."

That is exactly the sort of attitude head coach Rod Marsh wanted players to take from the Academy. It is all about taking talent and turning it into Test cricketers. Batty has got a little way to go before he fulfils Marsh's other aim of producing established Test players rather than players who get the odd outing in Test cricket. However, should he come back from the Caribbean with his career still on an upward curve, he will be well on the way. The scalp of a certain B.C. Lara a couple of times would be a measure of his progress.