A powerfully built allrounder, Tim Bresnan had been tipped for higher honours since he became the youngest player in 20 years to represent Yorkshire when he debuted in 2001. He quickly progressed to the England Under-19 set-up and was part of the team in 2002 and 2003 - playing in two World Cups - the same years that he won the NBC Denis Compton Award for most promising Yorkshire player. All the potential took a few years to develop, but 2005 was an important year for Bresnan as he was given more responsibility in a transitional Yorkshire team. He was surprisingly overlooked for the England Academy, but started 2006 with a string of impressive performances with bat and ball, leading to a call-up to England's new-look one-day squad to face Sri Lanka. However, he fell victim to the flashing blades of Jayasuriya and Co., then suffered injury in the second half of the season as he lost his place for the series against Pakistan.