Rachel Trezise, from Rhondda, wins through for her collection of short stories, Fresh Apples, while Zimbabwean-based schoolteacher IanHolding is shortlisted for his first novel, Unfeeling.
But, from gangling youth to gangling adult, he had often played fourth fiddle to the likes of Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Ian Bishop, Patrick Patterson and Curtly Ambrose.