No one knew why Patrick Foster wasn’t performing better – he should, by rights, have been the star player for his club. Foster had been signed by Northamptonshire in his teens, developing through their academy and second XI. As a student at Durham University, he was mentored by Graeme Fowler and by his early 20s he had played against and alongside the likes of Virat Kohli, Josh Lalor and Dawid Malan. Even now, his teammates at Oxford’s Horspath CC would still see the occasional flash of the former professional’s undeniable talent; the problem was, he didn’t seem to be trying.
The 27-year-old Foster batted recklessly, like someone working off their anger issues, or trying to get out as quickly as possible. Bowling – his specialism – seemed a chore, and he was unengaged in the field, preferring to stay out on the boundary. There didn’t seem much team spirit about him either. The young man spent most of the lunch and tea breaks on his phone, and his commitment was increasingly flaky. For someone who had once been desperate to play cricket for a living, he always seemed to have a reason why he couldn’t make the next fixture.
