How Matthew Potts - the hothead who once brawled with team-mates - became indispensable for England

When called up for the recent New Zealand series, Matthew Potts was asked how he would approach a maiden Test appearance that had seemed so unlikely just a few months earlier.

His response? “I am honestly looking to change nothing about what’s got me here. Run in and bowl hard”

Those words epitomised Potts' no-nonsense approach to life, and cricket, and the results justified the approach. In three Tests he claimed 14 wickets, at an average of 23.28. No Englishman claimed more victims, and it has cemented his place in the side. Ollie Robinson, England's player of the series against India last year but whose progress since has been stymied by fitness problems, now finds himself back in the queue for a starting berth.

There is little glamour in Potts’s bowling. Not possessing the skillful hoop of James Anderson, the express pace of Jofra Archer or the brutal belligerence of Ben Stokes, he has expertly transferred the unflashy skills that yielded 35 County Championship wickets at 18.57 earlier this season into the international arena.

By relentlessly questioning batsmen and generating awkward bounce from flat pitches - despite averaging just 81mph - he frequently caused problems against New Zealand where others could not, hitting a good line and length with 42 per cent of his deliveries, more than any pace bowler in the series aside from Tim Southee.

“What we’ve worked on at Durham is trying to find a way to challenge both edges of the bat by being relentless with his lines and lengths, and also working on the ball wobbling and nipping around a bit,” said the county's bowling coach Neil Killeen, who has worked with Potts for close to a decade.

“In the past, he bowled what I would call pretty lines, just outside off stump