Born On This Day: 24th December

David Balcombe was born in London in 1984. He was a pace bowler and useful lower-order batsman, who played for Surrey 2nd XI in 2004, for Durham University in first-class matches from 2005-2007, and then for Hampshire 2nd XI from 2005.

He made his first-class debut for Hampshire in a heavy defeat v Kent in September 2007, taking two wickets and scoring 25 & 29, and in the next match took 3-58 v Yorkshire. After relatively few appearances, he went on loan to Kent in 2011, where he took 33 first-class wickets at 17.81. He returned to Hampshire, and in 2012 enjoyed his best season with 64 wickets at 26.10 including his best figures of 8-71 v Gloucestershire at the Rose Bowl.

Balcombe, James Vince and Liam Dawson were awarded their county caps early in 2013, but in that year and the following, Balcombe took just 27 more first-class wickets, before returning to his first county, Surrey, for one last year, playing only for their 2nd XI.

During his career, he played very occasionally in white-ball cricket – 14 limited-overs matches and three T20s. 2012 was his best season with the bat, averaging almost 20 in first-class cricket with a career highest of 73 v Leicestershire, sharing a 10th wicket partnership of 168 in a losing cause, with Chris Wood.

In his final first-class match for Hampshire v Gloucestershire in 2014, Balcombe (65*) and James Tomlinson shared a 10th wicket partnership of 115, which was the county’s highest ever by their numbers 10 & 11.

Also today: Ian Shield (1939)