Wisden overview
Northamptonshire born and bred, David Capel was among the more plausible of the 50 or so English all-rounders billed as "the next Ian Botham" in the late 1980s. Capel was a highly effective medium-paced swing bowler and a batsman capable of high, quick scores when in the mood. Unfortunately, he thought he was a batsman who bowled whereas England wanted a wicket-taker most of all. A thoughtful man and an intense cricketing theoretician, Capel was an improbable successor to the swaggering, impulsive Botham in terms of character, and his cricket was not quite up to the job either. Nor was his body: eventually, his time off injured began to outweigh his fit days. On the furiously contested 1989-90 tour of West Indies, Capel was – bizarrely – the only player on either side warned for intimidatory bowling, perhaps the greatest compliment he was ever paid. Matthew Engel

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