Profile of Paul Nixon by John Dobson

Player:

DateLine: 9th October 2006

A talented middle order batsmen and effective off-break bowler, Dalrymple made the step up to international cricket effortlessly in 2006.

Signed by Middlesex as a teenager, the former Radley College student also played university cricket captaining The British Universities and hitting 236 and 105 in the Varsity matches of 2003 for Oxford.

Dalrymple had been a regular contributor to the Middlesex one day side after he took 4-14 against Essex in 2001 but it was in 2004 he became a regular championship player averaging 40 with the bat in first class matches that season.

The feeling still persisted that he was a batsmen who bowled though, both at Middlesex and on the England A team tour of the West Indies in 2006 where he had an average tour with the bat.

However he was one of six new caps for the one day series against Sri Lanka in the middle of the 2006 summer and from the beginning it was clear he was being used as an all rounder. Despite England losing series without reply Dalrymple scored at least 30 in every innings and kept his economy rate under 5. Another solid one day display against Pakistan saw him seriously challenge for an ashes touring spot and he was unlucky to loose out to Ashley Giles, though he remains part of the England one day set up.

As a batsmen he is more than capable of clearing the boundary in run chases and, while much of his bowling relies on accuracy, he is capable of quite prodigious spin if conditions suit. Indeed his dismissal of Mohammad Yousuf in the 3rd ODI against Pakistan was one of the balls of the 2006 summer.