Cricket writer Colin Bateman noted that "DeFreitas was an explosive hitter when the mood took him, an aggressive pace bowler, inclined to pitch everything short and a spectacular fielder".

[3] DeFreitas made his first-class debut for Leicestershire in 1985 against Oxford University and recorded the startling bowling analysis of 3.4–2–3–3 as the students collapsed to a humiliating 24 all out.

The following year he had a wonderful season, taking what was to remain a career high of 94 wickets and scoring his maiden century (at number 9) against Kent, and he was selected for the successful Ashes tour in 1986/87.

[1] In the course of his 21 seasons in first-class cricket, DeFreitas had a somewhat nomadic county career, playing for Leicestershire from his debut in 1985 until 1988, then Lancashire from 1989 to 1993, and Derbyshire from 1994 to 1999.

With Lancashire he was part of the team that won both the Benson and Hedges Cup and the NatWest Bank Trophy in 1990, and he was man of the match in the final of the latter.

This meant that had England not beaten the Australians that summer, there would be no remaining Englishmen in first-class cricket who had played in a victorious Ashes side, but this did not happen.

His top Test score of 88 was achieved during the same tour, during which he hammered Craig McDermott for 42 runs off three overs with the new ball, helped England to a win against Australia in Adelaide, and earned him the Man of the Match award.

During his first match in the tournament against West Indies played in Pakistan, while attempting to bowl DeFreitas had to stop in the middle of his run-up in order to vomit.

He performed creditably despite a persistent groin strain in the Cricket World Cup of 1992 but form was beginning to desert him by this stage.

As of 2022, DeFreitas remains one of only four England players – along with Botham, Graham Gooch and Allan Lamb – to have played in more than one Cricket World Cup final.