by Adrian Runswick

David Capel was a very useful cricketer.

An average of 15 with bat and 50 with ball in the 15 Tests he played underlines the lack of class at the highest level. It is staggering to even note that he played as many as 15 Tests.
And he did scarcely better in his 23 ODIs.

Yet, when he batted his way to 53 in his first ever Test innings, against Pakistan at Headingley, scored out of a total of 136, and followed it up with a 200-minute resistance amounting to 28, the obsession for finding the new Ian Botham was stirred to a frenzy. Because Capel was an useful medium-pacer as well.

A pair at Lahore and a total of 3 runs in 2 innings in the fractious Gatting-Rana Faisalabad Test did temper the excitement a little when he went on the Pakistan tour. He was also the fielder Gatting was moving when the row erupted.
Following that, a fighting 98 and his maiden wicket in Karachi once again made him hot property.

The rest of his career was an uphill struggle against expectations that were magnified thousand-fold in comparison to his abilities.
He did have his moments though, dismissing Viv Richards thrice and playing a minor but important role in the defeat of West Indies in Jamaica in 1989-90. Graham Gooch did field a four-man seam attack and Capel was the fourth of them.

For Northamptonshire he was a very useful all-rounder. A first-class record of 12,202 runs and 546 wickets underline how valuable he was.
Subsequently he ran the academy at Northamptonshire. When appointed coach in 2006, he did a fairly good job. Under him they made the Twenty20 finals in 2009 and almost got back to Division One in 2011.

David Capel was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2018, and passed away on 2 Sep 2020. He was just 57.