WITH the county cricket season getting underway this weekend, Dorset-born pace bowler David Payne put himself in the national spotlight this week, when he dismissed England batsman Jonathan Trott on his eagerly-awaited return.

Warwickshire’s Trott, who had not walked to the middle since he flew home early from England’s winter Ashes tour, was trapped lbw to Gloucestershire seamer Payne in a pre-season contest at Edgbaston.

Payne, who plied his trade in the Dorset Premier League before being plucked into professional cricket, told Echosport: “I got a bit greedy and tried to swing the ball back into him with my first ball, and like Jonathan does, he clipped me off his legs for a couple. He played it very well and it was like he had never left.

“From then on it wasn’t swinging much so I decided just to try and nip the ball across him and be patient outside the off stump.

“With the last ball of my spell I decided I was going to swing it back at him again, I got the line right and it started outside the off stump, swung back nicely and he left it. It struck him on the pad and it was probably hitting between middle and off stump.”

When the umpire raised his finger to dismiss Trott for just four runs, left-arm seamer Payne reflected on one of his biggest scalps to date.

He added: “When you get big players out like that you often think about who your biggest wicket is, and for me, Trott would be well up there.

“Regarding who he is and his record in red ball cricket, he could possibly be my best scalp to date.

“It’s obviously weird to be the next person he faced after Mitchell Johnson but international players crop up in county cricket fairly regularly and we just have to make sure we are ready for them.”