Big Bash star Tim Bresnan continues to fly under the radar

The Yorkshire first-team coach tweeted: “Ashes x2, T20 World Cup, Championships x2, now Big Bash. That doesn’t happen by accident. Awesome Bres!”

In a nutshell, Gale was spelling out the silverware won by Yorkshire all-rounder Tim Bresnan, who added a Big Bash title to his private collection as part of the Perth Scorchers side that beat Sydney Sixers at the WACA on Saturday.

Bresnan captured 3-40 from his four overs as Sydney scored 141-9, bowling tremendously in the closing stages.

He was not required with the bat as Perth romped home with nine wickets and 25 balls to spare, Matthew Klinger finishing on 71 and Ian Bell 31.

Two days after his appointment as Yorkshire’s new vice-captain, it was another proud moment in Bresnan’s career.

When you stop to think about that career and Andrew Gale’s appreciative tweet, you remember once more the strength and scope of Bresnan’s CV.

At 31, he seems to have been around forever and a day; it was way back in 2001 that he made his debut at the age of 16 years and 102 days, the youngest to play first-team cricket for Yorkshire since Paul Jarvis some two decades earlier.

Not many can boast two Ashes medals and two County Championship medals, while Bresnan is also one of just 11 Englishmen who have won the World T20.

Nor would you bet against further space being needed on the mantelpiece before the boots are hung up several years hence; under the new coach/captain partnership of Gale and Gary Ballance, Yorkshire will be confident of reclaiming the Championship that they lent to Middlesex last summer.

For a man with a CV as striking as Bresnan’s, he perhaps tends to slip under the radar when people reflect on the quality English players of his era.

He played 142 times for his country in all formats, and although his international days would appear to be over, he played his part in one of the most successful periods in England’s recent history.

A no-frills character with a down-to-earth manner, Bresnan has never sought the limelight nor basked in it whenever it has fallen on his shoulders.

If anything, he tends to make light of his achievements with a self-deprecating joke; he has always seemed more comfortable being “one of the lads” than being singled out for special praise.

Perhaps, too, as the type of player who simply gets on with the job, his contributions can go unnoticed by those who recognise more superficial qualities.

Strong and big-hearted, he is the sort of bowler who runs in all day, the type of batsman who adapts instinctively to the team’s needs, and a fielder with a great pair of hands.

Once described as having “the air of a man with an emergency cheese sandwich in his back pocket”, Bresnan is athletic, too, and he bowls what is commonly known as a “heavy” ball.

He is the sort of player who is much appreciated by fellow professionals, who recognise that he is, first and foremost, a team man.

Bresnan’s international days may be behind him but his cricket, if anything, is still developing.

As a batsman, he has come on leaps and bounds in recent times, helped by the fact that he is getting more opportunities to bat at county level.

Three of his six first-class hundreds have come in the last two years, including an unforgettable innings of 142 not out against Middlesex at Lord’s last September.

With the title on the line, and with his team under significant pressure, Bresnan dug them out of a hole only to undeservedly end up on the losing side.

It was an innings that somehow summed him up.

One of his greatest attributes, of course, is his versatility.

If Gale needs him to bat in the top-order in a Championship game, for example, he could do it; if he needs him to win a one-day or T20 match with bat or ball, he could do that, too.

The vice-captaincy rewards his wide-ranging abilities and his standing and status in the Yorkshire dressing room.

It is a status highlighted by that impressive CV, a CV that may well look even more impressive in the coming years.