As the boy racer of the Hampshire squad, David Griffiths has a real thirst for speed.

He was bowling around 85mph on his debut for us in the Twenty20 Cup on Sunday and his love of all things fast extends to cars.

Dimitri Mascarenhas and Chris Benham both have Focus STs from Hendy Ford and because they are so powerful Griff now wants one.

An orange Focus ST is the dream car for Griff because he is a boy racer at heart, as well as being a fine fast bowler.

He gets a lot of stick in the Hampshire dressing room because of his obsession with fast cars - and because he says 'amazing' all the time - but he has a great sense of humour and we were all genuinely delighted for him when he took 3-13 on his debut against Essex.

I'm not sure he knew how to take the banter that flew around the dressing room when he first joined the first- team squad a few years ago.

He probably owns the key to the Isle of Wight so coming to the mainland and into a dressing room with the likes of Shaun Udal and others must have been quite a shock, but he has really taken to it and can dish it out with the best of them now.

I've known Griff for most of my five years at Hampshire. He stayed in my house while I was in South Africa a few winters ago and I'm still getting the £4- a-minute casino-line phone bills in the post!

In the last couple of years he has hardly played at all because of a stress fracture of the back and it's thanks to our former physio Patrick Farhart and more recently Andrew Nealon, as well as Griff himself, that he is now playing again.

He always has a smile on his face and has worked really hard and shown a lot of character to come back from what was a career-threatening injury.

This season, Griff can be found on the treatment table when he breaks a finger nail so Nealo' has had to remind him that he is now fully fit!

He certainly showed that on Sunday.

Griff's other nickname is Sog - or Son of Goober - because he is always with Chris Tremlett.

But as a bowler he is very different.

At 5ft 10in, Griff is relatively short for a fast bowler but is still seriously quick.

Fast bowlers generate most of their pace from a strong backside so Griff has been working a lot on his gluteus muscles in recent years.

Brett Lee is a classic example of a fast bowler who makes up for a lack of height with strong 'glutes' and, without giving too much away, Griff also has a lot of variations that he executes very well.

He works really hard, is always willing to learn and is also a very good batsman. He's especially good against spin and also moves well in the field.

He's a genuine athlete.