Due to his England commitments, Nottinghamshire members haven’t seen as much of Stuart Broad as they would have liked. Nevertheless, the tall, blonde fast bowler managed to reward them by performing a history-breaking moment in front of his home supporters last summer.

For the first time ever, Trent Bridge witnessed its first Test match hat-trick and it was suitably fitting that the man to do it was playing on his home ground. Stuart’s achievement in sending back India’s MS Dhoni, Harbajhan Singh and Praveen Kumar helped him win the man of the match award and sped England to a comprehensive victory.

 Stuart, son of former Notts opening batsman Chris Broad, switched counties in 2008, completing the short journey from Grace Road to Trent Bridge. Since then he has enjoyed a meteoric rise up the world’s rankings and is now one of the most respected all-rounders in the game. In 2010 he was part of the England side which won the ICC World Twenty20 competition in the Caribbean and later that year he scored his first Test century, scoring 169 against Pakistan at Lord’s.

Whilst his county appearances have been limited due to the demands of international cricket, he has turned in several outstanding performances when availability has allowed. In his first ten championship games for Notts he picked up 54 wickets, including career-best figures of 8-52 against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

An aggressive right-arm new ball bowler and stylish left-handed batsman, his leadership qualities have already been recognised by the ECB with his appointment as England’s Twenty20 captain ahead of their trophy defence in Sri Lanka in 2012.