Tom Craddock has found himself a new fan in one of England’s most successful ever Test batsmen.

Essex batting coach Graham Gooch was full of praise for the leg-spinner after he starred yet again for his county in the Division 2 County Championship victory against Leicestershire. Craddock returned figures of 4 for 59 from 27 overs in the first innings and 2 for 12 from 12 overs in the second to give him superb match figures of 39-13-71-6. Writing in The Times, Neville Scott said that Crads’s performance had Grahom Gooch purring ‘this fellas just what we need’.

Until Craddock made his championship debut for Essex they had only won one out of their first eight 4-day fixtures. They have now won both games in which he has appeared, where he has snapped up 10 wickets for 146 runs from 71 overs, taking him to 3rd spot in the Division 2 bowling averages.

In the game against Leicestershire he also shared a crucial 9th wicket stand of 75 in 99 minutes with James Foster, contributing 11 runs from 37 balls and helping to see his skipper through to his century. Knowing Crads, he’ll be prouder of the 11 runs than of the 10 wickets!

He has now been summoned to Lord’s to bowl at the England batsmen prior to the first Test v India – at the request of England head coach Andy Flower, no less.