Wisden overview
Amiable and intelligent, Paul Downton was a thoroughly good-natured presence in the England dressing room in the 1980s when he succeeded the equally popular Bob Taylor as regular wicket-keeper. It was only in the main business that Downton fell down: though he was athletic and occasionally spectacular, he made too many errors to be a truly high-class wicket-keeper, and his 30 Tests were testament to the lack of alternatives as much as Downton's merits. His batting should have been a factor but though he was considered an adequate No. 7 and a very solid No. 8, his average ended little above that of the supposed tailender Taylor. Downton's career at Middlesex ended horribly after he was hit in the eye by a bail at Basingstoke in 1990. Matthew Engel

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd