Over the years, England have poached plenty of star cricketers from other nations.
Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen were both born in South Africa, yet went on to play in 204 combined Test matches for England.
Even incumbent Test skipper Ben Stokes could have turned out for a rival, having been born in New Zealand but only moved to West Cumbria at the age of 12 after his father, Gerard, took up the head coaching role for the Workington Town’s rugby league team.
But last Saturday, the architect of England’s historic loss to Australia in the ICC Champions Trophy was one of their own.
Josh Inglis was born in Leeds and played representative cricket for Yorkshire for four seasons.
Such was his success as a youngster, Inglis, who attended St Mary’s Comprehensive in Menston, was awarded sportsman of the year when he was in Year 8.
It was only fitting that the award was presented by Leeds-based rockers Kaiser Chiefs, whose iconic anthem ‘I Predict A Riot’ is blared out at Leeds United’s home matches at Elland Road.
However, Inglis’ world was turned upside down when, at age 14, his parents Sarah and Martin decided they would move to family to Western Australia.
Slowly but surely, Inglis rose through the ranks in west Australian cricket and eventually made the nation’s national performance squad, the equivalent of the England Lions.
Inglis, a wicketkeeper, went on to make his debut for a Cricket Australia XI against the West Indies during their tour of the continent in December 2015.
Despite turning out for Australian representative teams, Inglis’ heart still lay with England and revealed as much in a 2017 interview with the Daily Mail.
“I still support England and it’s a weird situation to be in, because I am trying to play for Australia,” Inglis said.
“Because I was living in England for so long it’s hard to support someone else; to support another country if you’ve not been born there.”
Inglis added: “Players with dual nationalities are quite common in international cricket and it creates interest, I suppose, but to be honest I would play for Kenya if I could.
“I just want to play cricket at the highest level possible. I don’t think I would move back to England now and, while you can never completely discount things, I guess I made the decision to play for Australia a couple of years go. I am committed to taking my career as far as I can.
“This is my job. People move jobs, move companies and wouldn’t get any s*** for it, but if you move country as a sportsman you are in the spotlight.”
Just over six years on from his Cricket Australia XI debut, Inglis represented the nation in a T20I clash against Sri Lanka and smacked 23 off 18 on debut.
An ODI debut followed just four months later against the same opponents, although he only scored five runs from 10 deliveries.
However, Inglis’ Test debut was far more memorable.
Inglis became the 470th Australian to represent the nation at Test level in Australia’s first of three Tests against, of all opponents, Sri Lanka in January.
The 29-year-old tonked 102 from 94 deliveries in a blistering innings that included ten fours and one six.
It marked the second-fastest Test hundred by a debutant and the 16th Aussie to score a ton in their Test debut.
Yet it took a match-winning century against his birth nation for him to enter the wider cricket consciousness.
England had set Australia a target of 352 thanks to Ben Duckett‘s sensational innings of 165 from 143 deliveries, which set the record for the highest score in Champions Trophy history.
It looked like England would cruise to victory when they had Australia at 27/2.
But some outstanding work from Inglis and wicketkeeper Alex Carey swung the momentum in favour of the Aussies as the pair combined for a 146-run partnership.
Carey was eventually dismissed, but it heralded the arrival of big-hitting Glenn Maxwell.
Australia eventually chased down England’s target with 15 balls to spare, with victory sealed thanks to Inglis smacking a Mark Wood delivery over the rope.
Inglis walked back to the pavilion alongside Maxwell having finished the innings unbeaten on 120.
Although Inglis may have enjoyed a celebratory beverage once he got back to the dressing room, there was something more pressing on his mind.
That was, of course, checking the Coventry City score.
Inglis is a passionate Sky Blues fan thanks to his father, who was born in Coventry.
He would have been beaming with delight having come off the field to see Frank Lampard‘s side had beaten Preston North End 2-1, making it seven wins from their last eight Championship fixtures.
As for the England dressing room, they must have been left ruing a talent they let slip right through their fingers.