Paul Horton

Paul James Horton (born 20 September 1982 in Sydney, Australia) is a cricketer for Leicestershire County Cricket Club in England and Matabeleland Tuskers in Zimbabwe.

Born 20 September 1982 in Sydney, Australia, Horton was raised in the city before moving to Liverpool, England, (the native home of his parents) as a teenager. His first season of cricket in England was played at Winstanley Park, a team based in Billinge, Wigan, with which he impressed and got noticed by the Lancashire youth. The following season he played his club cricket at Sefton Park CC in Liverpool, as this league was of a higher standard. He then joined the Lancashire youth set up and captained the U17 and U19 teams.

Horton joined the Lancashire first team squad in 2003. He came close to scoring his maiden first class century in July 2005 when he scored 99 batting at number four against Essex in a drawn match; he was dismissed by Grant Flower two overs before the end of the day. After failing to cement a place in the Lancashire team Horton spent the winter of 2006/07 playing grade cricket in Australia to improve his batting. He spent the season playing for Ginninderra Cricket Club in Canberra. He also represented the Canberra Comets in the second tier Cricket Australia Cup which is a state second XI competition one level below first class status. After several seasons of impressing in second XI cricket, Horton finally broke through and established himself in the first team.

In May 2007 Horton hit his maiden century for Lancashire with 139 in a County Championship match against Worcestershire; his effort came on the final day of a drawn match and he spent 12 overs marooned in the 90s. A few weeks later in August, Horton bettered that with a 149 against their great rivals Yorkshire; this came in a partnership of 258 with Stuart Law for Lancashire's highest partnership for any wicket in first-class cricket against Yorkshire, beating the previous record of 247 set by Graham Lloyd and Ian Austin in 1997. Also in August the same year, Horton set another career best of 152 against Hampshire in a drawn match. A successful 2007 season for Horton was recognised by the club when he received his Lancashire Cap and was named Lancashire Player of the Year at the end of the season. He finished the season with 1,034 championship runs at an average of 49.23. As a result of his on field exploits, Horton was named the BBC North West Sports Awards Newcomer for 2007.