James Muirhead - Australia - Bowler

James Muirhead is a talented leg spinner, who has been touted as an exciting prospect, Australia has been looking for in their spin department. During the T20I series against England in 2014, the TV commentators often compared him to the former great Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne and he made a few heads turn with his uncanny knack of creating pressure on the batsmen. He represents Victoria in the Australian domestic circuit and has played for Adelaide Strikers and Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash T20 league.

Shane Warne was naturally his childhood idol, but it was his uncle Daryl Veteha, a club leg-spinner in Melbourne, who helped him learn his craft. Muirhead's father Matt, who has coached him in the past years, still provides him with some valuable inputs. Over the past few months, he had a pre-season trip to Sri Lanka, where he worked with Stuart MacGill. Warne also provided him with some tactics and has briefed him about the mindset of a leg spinner.

His initial career was marred by controversy after he was approached by South Australia without his team Victoria's knowledge and South Australia was fined 15,000 Australian dollars for a breach of Australian cricket legislation. Muirhead later made his debut for Victoria against South Australia in 2013. He also featured in the Australian U-19 side and the Cricket Australia Invitational XI against the touring England side for the 2013 Ashes series.

He made his international T20I debut for Australia against England in Hobart on January 29, 2014 and took 1/34 from 4 overs. He was also named in Australia's 2014 World T20 squad and did fairly well in the opportunities that he got. It did seem then that he was the next big thing with the ball for Australia but fate took a cruel turn. A wrist injury and then depression hampered his career in a big way. After a hiatus, he got back to competitive cricket and is now slowly working his way back to his prime. Muirhead is yet to return to domestic cricket since the debacle although he has featured in a few exhibition games. The 2017-18 BBL season would be his return to the big stage after a gap.

By Hariprasad Sadanandan