When Alex Lees made his England debut in March at the age of 28, it was the culmination of a long journey chasing his dream.
Lees had been widely tipped as a future England opener from a young age, having thrived at Yorkshire under head coach Jason Gillespie. He became the youngest Yorkshire player to score a double hundred in the County Championship at the age of 20 years and 95 days and was soon picked in his first England Lions squad.
He also went on to become Yorkshire's youngest-ever professional captain at the age of 22 and helped the county win back-to-back Championship titles in 2014 and 2015. However, once Gillespie left at the end of the 2016 season, Lees' career hit a roadblock and he very quickly went from being talked about as a potential England star to barely even playing for Yorkshire as his form deserted him.
