
One of the first England cricketers to be hailed as "the next Botham" (although the original Botham was still playing at the time!), Phil "Daffy" Defreitas enjoyed a career that spanned two decades on the county circuit, during which he played for Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Lancashire and acquired a reputation as one of England's finest all-rounders - something that was confirmed when he was selected as one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year in 1992. He played for England 147 times across Tests and ODIs, finishing with a combined total of just over 1600 runs and 255 wickets, his best bowling being 7/70 against Sri Lanka in 1991, and his best batting being a match turning innings of 88 against Australia (Adelaide 1995) which helped England to turn a first innings deficit into a target of 263, which in turn became a victory margin of 106 runs. The last member of the 1986 Ashes-winning England team to retire, he did so with the most sought after "double" of them all: 10000 runs and 1000 wickets in First Class Cricket. Phil also holds a unique record in the county game as he is the only person ever to have taken five wickets in an innings against all 18 first class counties. He's still involved in the county game as Nottinghamshire's bowling coach, and fits his Lashings appearances in between his commitments at Trent Bridge. Having been a part of the Lashings World XI squad that played in Abu Dhabi, Daffy embarks upon his third year with Lashings in 2008 and he says this year he might even play some shots on the off side to go with the usual mows through cow corner!
Click here to see Phil's profile on Cricinfo (opens in new window)