Josh de Caires went into his opening first-class match of the season as a young batsman, with a strong resemblance to his famous father, trying to make his own way in the game having just “scraped” a first from Leeds University.
Back in June, De Caires, the son of former England captain Michael Atherton, had just a single first-class wicket, although his part-time off-spin had been useful for Middlesex in the Vitality Blast, contributing to his selection as an all-rounder in the County Championship team.
In the space of just a few weeks, De Caires’s career turned on its head. He is now the proud owner of seven and eight-wicket hauls, and 10 in a match, with that part-time off-spin becoming increasingly full-time.
His eight for 106 against Essex last week are the best figures for any bowler this season. In Middlesex’s game this week, he picked up two of the first three Lancashire wickets to fall – Keaton Jennings and Phil Salt, no less – and only two spinners, Simon Harmer and Liam Dawson, have more than his 23 Division One wickets this year. Dawson and Sussex’s Jack Carson are the only England-qualified spinners with more wickets in either division. Remarkably, he already has as many first-class seven-wicket hauls as Graeme Swann.
“I never imagined this,” De Caires tells Telegraph Sport. “I backed myself and I knew I had some skills with the ball, but didn’t think I’d get anywhere near a seven-for or an eight-for this year. One of my mates texted me saying, ‘Imagine the odds you’d have got a couple of years ago on getting a 10-fer before a first-class hundred’. It would have been ludicrously long.”
Growing up, De Caires was not much of a bowler. Looking back at age-group scorecards, he would bowl a few overs here and there, but was selected for his top-order batting. He “always bowled in the nets, and loved it” but describes himself as “pretty much self-taught”. That is until Ian Salisbury, one of his father’s former England team-mates, joined the Middlesex staff this season, and was “a huge help”.
“I have always enjoyed the challenge, bowling at good batters in a game is a bit like a puzzle,” he says. “It’s enjoyable to try to work someone out like that.
“It’s funny, I felt that my batting had really improved at the start of the year. It still has, but probably when you are batting 8-9 it’s hard to show that off.
“Hopefully in the next year or so I can keep my place with my bowling, but I want to perform with the bat, too, and become a genuine all-rounder.”
De Caires, who carries his mother’s surname and that of his Guyanese great grandfather Frank, who was a Test cricketer for West Indies, is not getting ahead of himself. The 21-year-old acknowledges that both pitches he has enjoyed success on have been turners tailored for spinners Harmer and Dawson. But he is seeing vast, fast improvements and, if his upward trajectory continues in the final three games of the season, he could be an outside shot for a Lions camp this winter.
Before the game against Hampshire, he had bowled 46 first-class overs; in the first innings at the Ageas Bowl, he bowled 47.3. In the first innings at Chelmsford this week, it was 39.2. He got Tom Westley out with a beauty, saying, “I’ve never done that before, and don’t think I’ll ever bowl a ball like that again”. Harmer was impressed, and they had a “really useful chat where he gave me a few pointers” after the game. De Caires is not even certain he would have played the game if Jayant Yadav, the Indian off-spinner Middlesex signed, had got his visa in time.
“I’m definitely improving,” he said. “The two games I’ve taken wickets in, you get better and learn so much if you bowl that many overs in a game. Definitely from the start of the year to now, even after the Hampshire game I am a considerably better bowler; slightly more action on the ball. I can see visible, marked improvements.”
This is a path followed by Englishmen before, notably Moeen Ali and Will Jacks. And, perhaps as a rite of passage, he suffered the same injury as Moeen this summer, with his spinning finger split by the sharp seam of the white Kookaburra ball.
“It ripped right off, and I had 36 hours of mad remedies, asking anyone what to do,” he says. “Mo actually gave my old man some cream that he said he found really useful, so I have that if it goes again. My body is adjusting to bowling more overs and long spells which it hasn’t been used to. Hopefully over the winter I can condition it a bit better and be more prepared.”
This week is De Caires is his first Championship match at Old Trafford, a ground steeped in family history, although his father had retired by the time he was born, and he grew up in Hertfordshire.
“There’s obviously a bit of nostalgia around it,” he says. “I played a second team four-day game there a couple of years ago and I remember my only thought being I’d love to bat there every week. It was flat as anything. It’s always cool to play there, and it’ll be nice to play a first-class game there. Harmer said that it’s a lovely place to bowl spin, too, so hopefully I can do some damage. More importantly we need some points as we are at the wrong end of the table.”
De Caires has noticed that when he does well, “son of” tends to trend on social media, but this season he is beginning to make a name for himself, just not in the way either him or his father might have imagined.
“He’s very good at keeping his space,” De Caires says. “I am not sure I will ever outgrow the tag, but it’s not something I’m too concerned or fussed about. It’s something I’m obviously immensely proud of my dad for, but I’m happy just getting on with my game.”
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