Sam Hain had been tipped for the top long before, aged 18 years and 336 days, he broke Ian Bell's records to become the youngest man to score a first-class and County Championship century for Warwickshire. It was only his fifth first-class innings. Later in that same 2014 season, Hain also became the youngest Warwickshire player (at 19 years and 57 days) to score a first-class double-century for the club. On both occasions, Northants were the opponents. He finished the season with four first-class centuries - including one on debut at Lord's - as Warwickshire's highest run-scorer in the Championship campaign and as the third youngest man in the history of the County Championship to have made a double-century.

Born in Hong Kong to two British parents, Hain was brought up, for the most part, in Australia and fast-tracked into their Under-19 side as a 16-year-old.

But his life was changed forever when, on an exchange scheme at Loretto School in Edinburgh, he was spotted by former Warwickshire captain Michael Powell, who was coaching there. Hain was sent for trials at Warwickshire where former England allrounder Rikki Clarke rated his new colleague's batting in the nets as the best he had ever seen. Hain made his debut for the club's 2nd XI that year and impressed sufficiently to win Warwickshire's most promising young player award. He continued his progress by topping the county's Championship batting averages - for regular players, at least - in 2015. He qualifies for England at the end of the 2016 county season.

He dispelled any doubts about his allegiance to England after scoring his maiden century, saying: "I'm a fair dinkum pom, to say the least. The Australia Under-19 thing happened, but I was always set to play in England, ever since I was 14."

George Dobell