It was said of Chris Schofield when he was younger that he thought rather too much of himself. He admits that he was cocky and aggressive, but as it turned out, he needed that self-belief, because without it he would have never rebuilt his career from the ruins of 2005.
While England were winning the Ashes, Schofield - once of Lancashire and England, now wanted by neither - scraped a living driving the length and breadth of the country to play second XI and Minor Counties cricket for anybody who would have him, while helping a mate with his decorating business.
Others might have given up. Schofield even says he would have looked for a nine-to-five job - "Not that I'm qualified to do anything but cricket" - had Surrey not offered him a one-year contract late last year.
Now Schofield is back on his feet. He is not yet winning County Championship matches for his new club, but he is doing rather well. He has put in several useful performances with the ball in one-day games and finished as the leading wicket-taker in the group stages of the Twenty20 Cup, his 17 wickets coming at six runs an over.
Perhaps the best thing is that he has ended up at a club that knows how to look after a leg-spin bowler. Not every county does. Surrey will soon need a full-time replacement for Ian Salisbury, the only other leg-spinner to have played for England in the past 35 years.
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Looking back, Schofield, who was born in Rochdale, realises that he should have left Lancashire long before they let him go at the end of the 2004 season. His bowling had been going nowhere for some time and Lancashire were no longer interested in developing it. They had other spinners and the only way he could get in the side was as a batsman. In his last season he bowled just 26 overs in the championship but scored 99 against Warwickshire and 69 against Surrey as a No 6.
"I couldn't get the ball in my hand," he recalled. "My bowling wasn't progressing. I'd lost my way and my confidence was gone. I should have opened my eyes and realised a change would do me good. But I kept thinking things would change and didn't want to leave a club I loved."
In the end the relationship broke down amid acrimony, with Schofield successfully suing Lancashire over the manner in which they dismissed him, but by the time the court case was settled in his favour the 2005 season had begun. Without a first-class county he settled on playing for Littleborough in the Central Lancashire League and Cheshire in the Minor Counties Championship. He turned it into a minor triumph: he shone with bat and ball, Littleborough finished as champions and so, jointly, did Cheshire. Schofield finished on the losing side only three times all summer.
He also turned out for Durham, Sussex and Derbyshire second XIs. He knew Martyn Moxon and Peter Moores, then respectively coaches at Durham and Sussex, from touring with England A teams, but neither offered him a contract. Last season followed a similar pattern, except that he switched to playing for Todmorden and Suffolk.
"It was a massive roller-coaster ride," he said. "I came south to play with Suffolk, hoping I might get a bit more media coverage, but thinking that if I didn't get a contract [with a first-class county] I would probably call it a day. I kept my home up north and did a lot of travelling. I was pretty much playing day in, day out. I did 22 days in a row at one point, but the more I bowled, the more my confidence came back. I was bowling around 30 overs a game and it makes a difference, especially when the captain gives you the ball and says, 'Do the business'."
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The turning point came when Schofield took 13 wickets for Suffolk against Hertfordshire. In the opposition, and twice dismissed by Schofield, was the former Surrey batsman David Ward, who passed word about Schofield's effort to Nadeem Shahid, the Surrey second XI captain. "He was obviously talented and I was told his behav-iour had been good and he'd been doing the right things," Shahid said. "As soon as he played for us, it was clear his attitude and energy were top-drawer."
By September, Schofield was in Surrey's first XI and in two championship games claimed eight wickets. It was in effect a trial and he came through in impressive fashion. The offer of a contract for 2007 followed. "I could tell straightaway he would be a very good one-day player," Shahid said. "He is a bubbly guy and maybe that makes him better suited to one-day cricket, but we gave him a couple of four-day games to see how he went under the pressure and he was okay."
Schofield's best years ought to be ahead of him. He says that in four years' time he would like to be playing regular county cricket and pushing for a return to the England side. The first ambition is realistic, if not the second. When England next select a leg-spinner, it will almost certainly be Adil Rashid, of Yorkshire, but if Rashid is not to endure the miseries in the Test arena of a Schofield or a Salisbury, he must be handled much better than they were.
In 2000, when Schofield was chosen for two home Tests against Zimbabwe, England were dreaming of a matchwin-ning leg-spinner to rival Shane Warne. Schofield had shown great promise on an England A tour of Bangladesh and New Zealand, but he was only 21 and early-season pitches in England were never going to offer him much assistance.
He wasn't called on to bowl at Lord's, where England's seam-ers ran riot and finished wicketless in 18 overs at Trent Bridge, but scored 57. Schofield, who was also awarded an England contract, was ill-equipped for his sudden elevation. "People say I was too young, and I was. I played all my good cricket abroad with England Under19s and on A tours. They threw me in the deep end and expected a little too much. I could have done things differently. I didn't work hard enough. I should have grown up, got off my arse and done something about it."
England's leg-spinners
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Ian Salisbury
Played 15 Tests between 1992 and 2000, taking 20 wickets at 76.9 each. Played only seven times overseas
Chris Schofield
Two Test caps, both at home against Zimbabwe in 2000, at the age of 21. Finished wicketless but scored 57 at Trent Bridge
Robin Hobbs
Seven appearances between 1967 and 1971 in which he claimed 12 wickets at 40.1 apiece. Only two appearances outside England
Doug Wright
Played 34 Tests from 1938 to 1951. Took 108 wickets but they cost him 39.1 runs each. His only major match-winning performance was 10-175 against South Africa at Lord's in 1947
The next one?
Adil RashidAged 19, he has taken 49 wickets in 14 fi rst-class matches, including six wickets on his debut for Yorkshire in 2006. He also shone for the England Under19 side