Bas de Leede stands in the middle of Himbleton cricket club, glowing in September’s last-gasp evening light. He has been driven there by Sam the photographer, who took one look at the Premier Inn off the M5 where De Leede was staying with Durham, and sought something more rustic.
The next day, he’s at a rainy New Road, part of the vibrant Durham side who have stormed to Division One promotion and can clinch the Division Two title in their penultimate game against Worcestershire. In between nibbling his nails in the field, he takes the one wicket to fall on a truncated day. At the end of the game, he flies out to India to join the rest of the Dutch World Cup squad.
