“Tommo” is a left-arm fast-medium bowler and left-hand batsman.

He was born in Winchester and played for Wiltshire in 2001 before his first-class debut for British Universities v Northants at Northampton 2002.

He joined Hampshire and made his debut v India at The Rose Bowl in 2002.

He won his Hampshire cap in 2008 when his teammates chose him as their Player of the Year having finished the summer as the top First Class wicket-taker in the country with 67 scalps. In that season he recorded his best figures of 8-46 v Somerset at Taunton.

He can be a useful night watchman and tail-end batsman and has a best score of 51 v Gloucestershire (2014).

In 2011, he played mostly towards the end of the season and was seen, by many, as playing a big part in Hampshire's upturn in fortunes in the LV= County Championship. He took seven match wickets against Warwickshire at Edgbaston and established himself as an ever-present in the run in to the campaign.

He was also pivotally involved in one of the most absorbing Championship matches of the 2012 season against Essex at Chelmsford where his 5-86 helped Hampshire steal a tense victory by just two runs.

After signing a new two-year contract at the start of 2013, Tomlinson picked up 53 wickets in the Championship to be named Hampshire's 2013 Bowler of the Year. An equally consistent season in 2014, which saw him also contribute with wickets in the Royal London One-Day Cup, saw Tomlinson named the joint 2014 Bowler of the Year at the end of the season. 

Tomlinson enjoyed a strong start to 2015, which included impressive figures of 4-37 in the opening match of the campaign against Sussex at the Utilita Bowl, but the left-armer found his first-team chances limited with eight appearances in 2015.

More: 

• See James's profile on ESPN CricInfo
• See a list of matches and detailed statistics for James on Cricket Archive 
• Research James's career achievements on Player Oracle