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Five more to watch Wisden CricInfo staff - January 11, 2002
The names may not be familiar now ... but they soon will be. After the first five last week, we finish our series with five more young players who should make their mark on the cricket world in 2002
Paul Rofe (Australia)
Age 21 Born Adelaide, 16 January 1981 The number of flourishing young batsmen in Australia tends to obscure a general dearth in bowling talent: the continuing advance of this former Australian Under-19 player and alumnus of the AIS Cricket Academy and MRF Pace Foundation is thus of unusual significance. The tall, lanky Rofe gets close to the stumps, musters impressive pace from an economical action, and on occasions looks genuinely slippery. Bowling on the benign surfaces of the Adelaide Oval, whose short square boundaries also punish any lapses in length, he has also conceded only 2.35 an over in taking 21 wickets at less than 25 this season. Free of the injuries which have checked the careers of South Australian team-mates Brett Swain, Mark Harrity and Paul Wilson, he might be a Test player in three years. Gideon Haigh
Mark Wagh (England)
Age 25 Born Birmingham, 20 October 1976 The main strength of Mark Wagh (pronounced "Waugh") is his ability to score boundaries. He has wonderful style and shot-making ability, with a lovely on-drive. I would argue that he needs to tighten up his defence and to be more careful in shot-selection, but when he plays as he can my argument holds little water. He is a deep thinker on the game, he practises assiduously and is always working to improve. Bob Woolmer
Ryan Hinds (West Indies)
Age 19
Born Holders Hill, Barbados, February 17, 1981
Ryan Hinds, no relation of Wavell, is living proof that the calypso spirit hasn't been completely exorcised from West Indian cricket. He will be 21 in February, and yet he is already considered one of the best allrounders in the Caribbean. He is poised and upright at the crease - with a technique that can make high-class bowling look distinctly ordinary. And as an orthodox left-arm spinner he possesses sufficient guile to have grabbed a Busta-Cup-record 9 for 68 for Barbados against the Leeward Islands, one week short of his 20th birthday. He has so far played a supporting role in two one-day internationals, but with the Caribbean crying out for heroes, no-one should be surprised if he springs to prominence against India later this season. Andrew Miller
Ajay Ratra (India)
Age 20 Born Faridabad, December 13 1981 The best set of gloves in India after Nayan Mongia. The lack of a reliable keeper over the last year has taken him to the threshold of the national team. Built like a wafer, but blessed with natural agility and high powers of concentration, he is also a handy bat, and once scored 224* in an inter-state Colts match. Has come up steadily through the grades and was captain of India Under-19s last year. Rahul Bhattacharya
Chris Tremlett (England)
Age 20 Born Southampton, September 2 1981 Chris Tremlett's potential stood out from the moment he dismissed Mark Richardson (Test average: 54) with his first ball in first-class cricket as part of an opening gambit of 4 for 16 against New Zealand A in July 2000. A strapping, upright seamer whose strengths are nagging accuracy and the extra bounce that is commensurate with his 6ft 7ins (no surprise then that his role model is Glenn McGrath), Tremlett comes from good stock: his father Tim played for Hampshire and his grandfather Maurice won three Test caps in the 1940s. He was the youngest bowler in the first Academy squad, and with time running out for Darren Gough and Andy Caddick, Tremlett has a big year ahead. Rob Smyth
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