Wisden overview
Born in Devon, reared in Bristol and an England A tourist before he had played a first-class game, Read is at home keeping to the seamers, but less clever standing up to the spinners - a possible legacy of keeping wicket on the green strips at Trent Bridge. A back-foot fighter with a productive whip-pull, he bats as high as No. 6 in the Nottinghamshire middle order, and was picked by England against New Zealand in 1999, infamously ducking into a Chris Cairns slower ball. He made the one-day team that winter in South Africa and, despite a below-par performance behind the stumps, showed composure with the bat, memorably mowing Shaun Pollock for six to reignite a run-chase. Read lost ground after his debut, dropping behind Paul Nixon and then James Foster in the race to become England's next keeper, but he was back at the top of the pile when Alec Stewart finally hung up his one-day gloves in 2003. Lawrence Booth

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