Wisden overview
A combination of injuries, harsh treatment by the selectors, and the weight of expectations of a Yorkshire public yearning for a successor to Fred Trueman combined to ensure that Paul Jarvis failed to live up to the early promise that prompted his county to make him their youngest-ever player. Short and wiry, with a rapid approach to the crease and a quick arm action, Jarvis made his debut at Scarborough in 1981, only 75 days past his sixteenth birthday. But a serious back strain interrupted his England career after only four Tests, and in 1989, frustrated by his lack of progress, he signed up for the unofficial tour of South Africa, thereby incurring a three-year ban from Test cricket. He was instantly recalled when he'd served his time, for the 1992-93 India trip, but had drifted out of contention by the following summer. Christopher Martin-Jenkins

Adapted by Wisden from World Cricketers: A Biographical Dictionary (Oxford, 1996).

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