My one Test was only time that I could not get the ball to swing

I’d like to think I know more about swing bowling than most people but there is still about ten per cent that is a mystery – unfortunately it cost me on my only Test cap.

We were playing Australia up at Headingley, and I’d taken ten wickets up there a few weeks earlier playing for Gloucestershire.

Unfortunately for me, that Test in 1997 is the only game I’ve ever played where I couldn’t get the ball to swing.

That obviously didn’t help, and then Graham Thorpe, one of the best fielders in the country at the time, put down Matthew Elliott on 29 and he went onto get 199 and win the game for the Aussies.

Sadly that was the only chance I got but even when I was called up, a lot of people wanted Andy Caddick in the team instead of me.

Looking back I’d have loved another opportunity but I enjoyed the occasion, even if it didn’t go as I’d have liked.

David Graveney was chairman of selectors and later he came along to my retirement do at Gloucester. He apologised for me not getting as many opportunities as I should have. That was nice of him.

I’d started playing cricket up in Yorkshire and played for Yorkshire Schools. I remember playing an U15s game against Lancashire in Leeds, who were led by Mike Atherton, not realising how highly-rated he was.

There were lots there just to watch him, and I only realised that after I got him third ball and loads of people left.

I was always on the small side and Yorkshire let me know that they weren’t going to give me a contract because of it.

They let me negotiate with other counties, because you needed permission at the time, and I went to Gloucestershire.

I was at uni in Exeter and training at Gloucester, although in those first couple of seasons I didn’t take it seriously enough and that held me back.

As I wasn’t the biggest guy, my body struggled early on, but once I started working a bit harder I was able to make a bigger impact.

In 1995 I took 59 Championship wickets and went to Pakistan with England A but I injured my rib and only played one match. Two years later I got my Test chance and that season I took the most Championship wickets – 83.

After that we enjoyed a great run of success in oneday cricket down at Gloucestershire, and I was lucky enough to play in five one-day finals at Lord’s and win all of them.

We had a great team and the highlight for me is probably the NatWest Trophy win in 2000 against Warwickshire.We kept them to 205 and I took 3-18 before we knocked off the runs for just three wickets.

The guys were saying I was going to get man of the match, but I knew they’d go with someone else. It was NatWest’s final year of sponsorship and they needed a big name for the photo opportunity.

In the end Allan Donald got the nod even though we’d won the game. It was a shame, as a journeyman bowler getting man of the match in a Lord’s final would have been the pinnacle for me, but that’s how it goes. It was still a great run for Gloucestershire though and we had a great bunch of lads in the team.

I ended up retiring in 2004 at the same time as Jack Russell. We were comparing scans at the start of that season and he was in a worse state than me.

Since then I’ve started working for a law firm and I also do some work with the PCA on employment law. It’s great to be able to stay in touch and keep involved in the game. And of course the PCA is only going to get bigger so there is plenty to do.