Tall with ginger hair, David Brain was a left-arm seam bowler, generally over the wicket, and an aggressive if ungainly tailend batsman who had a meteoric career in international cricket. He was regarded as little more than a good club player who was omitted from Zimbabwe's World Cup squad in 1992, but the following season he won a place in the Test team and bowled most impressively against New Zealand. He was superb on the tour of Pakistan in 1993-94, spearheading the attack in taking 12 wickets at 15.33 in two Tests. He played in Zimbabwe's first Test victory, over Pakistan at home the following season, but he was already heavily involved in the family hardware business when his international career started, and the conflict between cricket and profession saw him fade from the scene soon afterwards.
John Ward