A self-confessed late bloomer, Brent Arnel made his domestic debut for Northern Districts at the age of 27, and four years later was playing for the New Zealand cricket team.

As a youngster, this speedster’s ability to rake up serious pace saw him competing against players much older to him, but despite his gift, the rookie’s dilemma of continuing with his passion saw him losing precious years of his cricketing career. He finally arrived on the domestic scene in 2006 and with 33 wickets in the State Championship in the following season, Arnel slowly started becoming a known figure in domestic circles. Arnel’s stupendous rise continued as he made it to the New Zealand ‘A’ side and with impressive performances in India and against the England Lions, earned the coveted call-up to the New Zealand Test side for the 2009 tour to India. However, he had to wait for a year to make his Test debut but couldn’t have asked for a better start, scalping Australia’s Phil Hughes off just his fifth ball.