A bustling purveyor of left-arm medium-fast swing bowling, Payne is a Gloucestershire stalwart - although an under-sung one - who holds the county's record for best List A figures. As a 19-year-old, he took 7 for 29 - including five wickets in the final over - against Essex in a 40-over game in Chelmsford in 2010.

Payne was one of the bright spots of England's Under-19 World Cup campaign that year, but unlike his other age-group team-mates Ben Stokes, Joe Root, Jos Buttler and James Vince, he wasn't able to convert the start into an international career. He got his first call-up to the England side at the age of 30 as a Covid replacement, and played his only ODI a year later, in 2022, against Netherlands.

Payne helped Gloucestershire clinch their first trophy in 11 years when he dismissed both Sam Curran and Gareth Batty in the last over of the 2015 Royal London One-Day Cup final against Surrey. He is also one of the mainstays of Welsh Fire's attack in the Hundred, particularly for his impressive numbers in the powerplay, and was part of Perth Scorchers' winning side in the 2022-23 Big Bash.

He made a memorable first-class debut in 2011, scoring an unbeaten 46 from No. 10 and taking 5 for 76 in a seven-wicket win over Derbyshire. He also took 6 for 26 in a big win over Essex and finished the season with 42 wickets. The next season was also productive, but he faltered in 2013 and was troubled by injuries for a while thereafter, although he did help Gloucestershire to the quarter-final of the Royal London Cup in 2014, taking 17 wickets at 16.41. In 2016, he took another 43 wickets in the Championship and over the next five years, he became the undisputed leader of the attack under Richard Dawson.

The finest performance of Payne's first-class career came in 2021, when he took career-best match figures of 11 for 87 in a crushing win over Middlesex at Lord's.