My England A tours came too early, I was far better later on

Back when I was younger – playing Devon U11s with Chris Read – I was actually bowling left-arm seam.

Then I was lucky enough to go to Millfield School and in a decision that probably changed the course of my career, I started to bowl leftarm spin as the first-team didn’t have a spinner.

I didn’t look back from there and I was playing for the England U15s when the Glamorgan scout, Graham Reynolds, enquired about my Welsh heritage – I have Welsh parents but was born in Dorset.

It wasn’t a hard decision – Somerset were not interested and I’d always very much felt Welsh. Glamorgan eventually offered me a summer contract and it was an amazing feeling being in the same dressing room as heroes like Steve James and Matt Maynard.

Some of the other spinners were coming to their end so the timing was ideal. I’d had some good performances in the 2nd XI in 1995 but it was a massive step up the following year as I made my firstteam debut against Lancashire at 18.

I was facing stalwarts like Jason Gallian and Mike Watkinson but the Glamorgan dressing room had welcomed me with open arms and I was made to feel comfortable.

It was actually the overseas players who tended to look after the young ones the most. In my first year it was Ottis Gibson and then Waqar Younis – they really stood me in good stead.

My first wicket was Bumble’s son, Graham Lloyd – a catch at cow corner, thankfully not many of my later wickets came there!

My biggest memory was that I came into bat with Glen Chapple on a hat-trick but I stuck at it for 20-odd runs and Maynard got a double century. It was things like that which made you believe you belonged. Robert Croft and I had some fantastic success together but he was always a little wary when another spinner came onto the staff. He’d share a lot on the field but Tony Cottey and Maynard, who fielded at slip, were the ones who aided me the most with their insight. Soon after that I played for England U19s with Gareth Batty and Graeme Swann, including a tour of Pakistan which was a big eye-opener! I also toured with the England A side the following two years but I was still very young and it was one or two tours early for me. I wanted the confidence of 30-plus wickets a year and I was just a far better player later on in my career. But I’ve had a fantastic county career over 20 years. The big white-ball memory is a quarter-final with Yorkshire in 1997 – it was a 60-over game which shows how long ago it was! – and I got 3-26 off ten overs, pretty unheard of. That year we won the County Championship and I played 13 of 16 games. Robert and I formed a useful partnership on turning wickets and we had the class in Waqar. I could have gone on in white-ball for another year but we’ve got some talented spinners coming through and I’d picked up a lot of different injuries throwing myself around at backward point over the years. I’m doing some shadowing work with match referees and I’ve had some interest as a spin consultant. I’ve had a few interviews, too – and apart one or two one-day games, I’ve not wished I’m back out there playing.