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The Yorkshire-born fast bowler still supports his hometown football team, Barnsley, and also Premiership side Tottenham. Football was Darren's favourite sport as a youngster, and he had trials as a midfielder with Rotherham United. But he decided to make cricket his career.
He started playing cricket as a boy when his Dad gave him an Ian Botham bat. Although his parents weren't particularly sporty themselves, they encouraged and supported Darren in playing cricket and football.
Darren joined Yorkshire in 1987 on a Youth Training Scheme and two years later, aged 19, made his first-class debut for the county. He took five wickets in his first match (which was at Lord's) and was selected on an England youth tour to the West Indies in 1989-90.
He made an immediate impression on his England senior debut in 1994 by taking six wickets in the Third Test against New Zealand. By the end of 2000, he had taken over 180 wickets playing for his country.
His nicknames are Lege (short for Legend!), Rhino and Dazzler. Apparently he was christened Dazzler when he was 16 by the daughters of Yorkshire's former director of cricket - something to do with his dazzling blue eyes!
In January 1999, he became the first England bowler to take an Ashes hat-trick for a hundred years and was subsequently named Wisden Cricketer of the year.
At the beginning of 2000, Darren became one of the first England players contracted to the ECB and so played only three games for Yorkshire. Later that summer, he was named Man of the Series when England beat the West Indies for the first time in 31 years.
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