Part One
Phil DeFreitas made his first class debut on the 1st May 1985, aged 19, against Oxford University and despite being out for a duck in his innings he was instumental in skittling Oxford out for 24, taking 3-3 and giving early indication of his promise. Much of his first season was spent alternating between the 2nd XI and the Sunday League Team but he did make his County Championship debut on 31st July against Lancashire, batting at 10 he scored 30 not out and took 5-39 in the second innings (he took 1-71 in the first). This performance was enough to keep him in the Leicestershire side for the rest of the season and his total of 8 games yeilded, 117 runs from 11 innings @ 14.62 and 21 wickets @ 29.47. His performances in his debut against Lancashire remained his best performances that season. His one day appearances that season, 13 in total, hardly marked him as an all-rounder in the making with 43 runs coming at 8.60 although his 13 wickets at 24.23 did show promise for a 19 year old. 1986 was a key year for DeFreitas because he started it as a promising 20 year old and ended the year touring Australia with the England test side. DeFreitas' batting had improved enough to score 630 county championship runs including 3 half centuries and a maiden century against Kent, he also took 89 wickets in his ever present campaign. His averages for the season, 24.23 with the bat and 22.21 with the ball ensure that he was burdened with the tag of 'the new Botham'. The Ashes wining tour to Australia saw DeFreitas make his test debut at 20 and end the series with 4 caps, a place in history and the cricket world at his feet as England's next all rounder.

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Steven