Paul Hutchison looked tailor-made for the big-time when he burst on to the county scene in 1997.

On his first-class debut for Yorkshire against Pakistan A', the left-arm seamer claimed 7-38 and he followed up with 7-50 in his first county championship game.

They were the best figures by a Yorkshireman on his championship debut since the legendary Wilfred Rhodes took 7-24 in 1898 and at the end of the season, Hutchison was called up for the England A' tour of Sri Lanka and Kenya where he topped the bowling averages.

The following year, he claimed 59 wickets in 17 matches and it seemed certain Hutchison, who was caught on camera as an 11-year-old proclaiming his dream to play for Yorkshire and England, would fulfil his destiny. Then the injuries kicked in.

First a serious back problem forced him to re-model his action; then a seemingly endless series of setbacks limited him to just 31 first-class games for Yorkshire, Sussex and Middlesex in the next eight years.

Hutchison finally called time at the end of last season and now works for the family business, Hutchison & Son, Gentlemen's Bespoke Tailors, based in Pudsey, near Leeds.

His Yorkshire cricket pedigree is an open sesame' in his new career.

"The business was founded by my grandfather in 1955," says Hutchison, 29, who plays for East Bierley in the Bradford League and also turns out for the MCC here and overseas.

"My father followed in his footsteps, so it was a natural progression for me.

"We make around 25 suits a week, and I do the initial measurements and then check the fitting later. Needless to say, appointments usually start with a chat about cricket.

"Of course, it was a wrench to leave the first-class game and it's so frustrating to think that I never reached my peak. When I suffered the back injury I was ready to move on to another level with Yorkshire and England ... but it never happened.

"I was a pro for 12 years and yet I only played 62 first-class games. That tells its own story.

"When I left Middlesex last year I was ready to pack in altogether. But Gavin Hamilton, my old Yorkshire team-mate, is captain at East Bierley and he persuaded me to carry on.

"He reminded me that there will be a lot of years when I won't be able to play at all, so why finish when I can still perform at a decent level?

"Now that I'm back home in Yorkshire with my wife and young son, I have a different set of priorities. But sometimes I can't help wondering what might have been."

Despite his injury problems, Hutchison played in the 1999 Benson & Hedges Super Cup Final and was part of the eight-man pace battery that powered Yorkshire to the championship in 2001, their first title for 33 years.

And while he and many of his contemporaries have exited the Broad Acres, Hutchison is backing his old club to prosper once more.

"This is a great cricketing county," he said.

"There are a lot of good players around; they will re-build, and I'm sure they will win another championship before too long."