Date of birth – 30 November 1984 Leicester
Nottinghamshire First Class Debut – 3 July 2002 v West Indies A (Trent Bridge)
Samit Patel has been a mainstay of the Nottinghamshire side since making his debut in 2002. Since the retirement of Chris Read he has become the longest serving player on the county’s books and also one of their most inspirational performers.
The all-rounder inevitably is the one to produce when the pressure is on, particularly in front of the television cameras. Patel is the only player to have won man-of the-match awards in both a Lord’s final and a T20 Blast final, the latter coming during a stellar 2017.
His performances that year, which included back-to-back double hundreds in the county championship – the only Notts player to achieve the feat – saw him presented with a trio of prestigious awards as Nottinghamshire Player of the Year, the Professional Cricket Association’s Most Valuable Player and also their Player of the Year.
He is the Outlaws ‘MrT20’ statistically, having played more matches, scored more runs and taken more wickets, than anyone else in the format, so it was fitting that his undefeated 64 helped his side lift the Blast trophy for the first time.
His knack for the big occasion remained undimmed in 2019, hitting a defiant unbeaten century as wickets fell around him in a must-win 50-over clash against Northamptonshire.
And in 2020, Patel's big-match street-smarts were crucial in shepherding the Outlaws to a nailbiting T20 quarter-final victory over Leicestershire.