Caption	A bowler bowling to a batsman. The paler strip is the cricket pitch. The two sets of three wooden stumps on the pitch are the wickets. The two white lines are the creases.
Union	International Cricket Council
Nickname	"The Gentleman's game"
First	16th century (modern)
Team	11 players per sidesubstitute fielders (only) are permitted in cases of injury or illness
Mgender	Single
Category	Team, Bat-and-ball
Ball	Cricket ball, cricket bat, wicket: stumps, bails
Venue	Cricket field
Olympic	1900 Summer Olympics only

Cricket is a bat-and-ball team sport. Many variations exist, with its most popular form played on an oval-shaped outdoor arena known as a cricket field at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard (20.12 m) long pitch that is the focus of the game. A game (or match) is contested between two teams of eleven players each. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the runs scored by the batting team. A run is scored by the striking batsman hitting the ball with his bat, running to the opposite end of the pitch and touching the crease there without being dismissed. The teams switch between batting and fielding at the end of an innings.

There are also variations in the length of a game of cricket. In professional cricket this ranges from a limit of 20 overs per side (Twenty20) to a game played over 5 days (Test cricket, which is the highest level of the game). Depending on the form of the match being played, there are different rules that govern how a game is won, lost, drawn or tied. The rules of two-innings games are known as the Laws of Cricket and maintained by the ICC and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC); additional Standard Playing Conditions for Test matches and One Day Internationals augment these laws. In one version of Indoor Cricket, matches include just 6 players per side and include two 12-over innings.

Cricket was first documented as being played in southern England in the 16th century. By the end of the 18th century, it had developed to the point where it had become the national sport of England. The expansion of the British Empire led to cricket being played overseas and by the mid-19th century the first international matches were being held. Today, the game's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), has 105 member countries. With its greatest popularity in the Test playing countries, cricket is the world's second most popular sport after Association football.

History

, was the site for cricket's earliest definite reference]] Early cricket was at some time or another described as "a club striking a ball (like) the ancient games of club-ball, stool-ball, trap-ball, stob-ball". Cricket can definitely be traced back to Tudor times in early 16th-century England. Written evidence exists of a game known as creag being played by Prince Edward, the son of Edward I (Longshanks), at Newenden, Kent in 1301 and there has been speculation, but no evidence, that this was a form of cricket.

A number of other words have been suggested as sources for the term "cricket". In the earliest definite reference to the sport in 1598, it is called creckett. Given the strong medieval trade connections between south-east England and the County of Flanders when the latter belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy, the name may have been derived from the Middle Dutch krick(-e), meaning a stick (crook); or the Old English cricc or cryce meaning a crutch or staff. In Old French, the word criquet seems to have meant a kind of club or stick. In Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, he derived cricket from "cryce, Saxon, a stick". Another possible source is the Middle Dutch word krickstoel, meaning a long low stool used for kneeling in church and which resembled the long low wicket with two stumps used in early cricket. According to Heiner Gillmeister, a European language expert of Bonn University, "cricket" derives from the Middle Dutch phrase for hockey, met de (krik ket)sen (i.e., "with the stick chase"). Dr Gillmeister believes that not only the name but the sport itself is of Flemish origin.

In 1598, indicate that adults had started playing it and the earliest reference to inter-parish or village cricket occurs soon afterwards. In 1624, a player called Jasper Vinall was killed when he was struck on the head during a match between two parish teams in Sussex.

in 1859]]During the 17th century, numerous references indicate the growth of cricket in the south-east of England. By the end of the century, it had become an organised activity being played for high stakes and it is believed that the first professionals appeared in the years following the Restoration in 1660. A newspaper report survives of "a great cricket match" with eleven players a side that was played for high stakes in Sussex in 1697 and this is the earliest known reference to a cricket match of such importance.

The game underwent major development in the 18th century and became the national sport of England. Betting played a major part in that development with rich patrons forming their own "select XIs". Cricket was prominent in London as early as 1707 and large crowds flocked to matches on the Artillery Ground in Finsbury. The single wicket form of the sport attracted huge crowds and wagers to match. Bowling evolved around 1760 when bowlers began to pitch the ball instead of rolling or skimming it towards the batsman. This caused a revolution in bat design because, to deal with the bouncing ball, it was necessary to introduce the modern straight bat in place of the old "hockey stick" shape. The Hambledon Club was founded in the 1760s and, for the next 20 years until the formation of MCC and the opening of Lord's Old Ground in 1787, Hambledon was both the game's greatest club and its focal point. MCC quickly became the sport's premier club and the custodian of the Laws of Cricket. New Laws introduced in the latter part of the 18th century included the three stump wicket and leg before wicket (lbw).

had a Test average of 99.94 and an overall first-class average of 95.14, records unmatched by any other player.]] The 19th century saw underarm bowling replaced by first roundarm and then overarm bowling. Both developments were controversial. Organisation of the game at county level led to the creation of the county clubs, starting with Sussex CCC in 1839, which ultimately formed the official County Championship in 1890. Meanwhile, the British Empire had been instrumental in spreading the game overseas and by the middle of the 19th century it had become well established in India, North America, the Caribbean, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. In 1844, the first international cricket match took place between the United States and Canada (although neither has ever been ranked as a Test-playing nation).

In 1859, a team of England players went on the first overseas tour (to North America) and in 1862, an English team made the first tour of Australia. In 1876–77, an England team took part in the first-ever Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against Australia.

W G Grace started his long career in 1865; his career is often said to have revolutionised the sport. The rivalry between England and Australia gave birth to The Ashes in 1882 and this has remained Test cricket's most famous contest . Test cricket began to expand in 1888–89 when South Africa played England. The last two decades before the First World War have been called the "Golden Age of cricket". It is a nostalgic name prompted by the collective sense of loss resulting from the war, but the period did produce some great players and memorable matches, especially as organised competition at county and Test level developed.

The inter-war years were dominated by one player: Australia's Don Bradman, statistically the greatest batsman of all time. It was the determination of the England team to overcome his skill that brought about the infamous Bodyline series in 1932–33, particularly from the accurate short-pitched bowling of Harold Larwood. Test cricket continued to expand during the 20th century with the addition of the West Indies, India, and New Zealand before the Second World War and then Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh in the post-war period. However, South Africa was banned from international cricket from 1970 to 1992 because of its government's apartheid policy.

Cricket entered a new era in 1963 when English counties introduced the limited overs variant. As it was sure to produce a result, limited overs cricket was lucrative and the number of matches increased. The first Limited Overs International was played in 1971. The governing International Cricket Council (ICC) saw its potential and staged the first limited overs Cricket World Cup in 1975. In the 21st century, a new limited overs form, Twenty20, has made an immediate impact.

Rules and Game-play

.]] A cricket match is played between two teams (or sides) of eleven players each on a field of variable size and shape. The ground is grassy and is prepared by groundsmen whose jobs include fertilising, mowing, rolling and levelling the surface. Field diameters of are usual. The perimeter of the field is known as the boundary and this is sometimes painted and sometimes marked by a rope that encircles the outer edge of the field. The Laws of Cricket do not specify the size or shape of the field but it is often oval – one of cricket's famous venues is called The Oval.

The key action takes place in a specially prepared area of the field (generally in the centre) that is called the pitch. A run is scored when the batsman has run the length of the pitch after hitting the ball with his bat, although as explained below there are many ways of scoring runs. If the batsmen are not attempting to score any more runs, the ball is dead and is returned to the bowler to be bowled again.

Before play commences, the two team captains toss a coin to decide which team shall bat or bowl first.

The bowling side seeks to dismiss the batsmen by various means until the batting side is all out, whereupon the side that was bowling takes its turn to bat and the side that was batting must take the field.

In professional matches, there are 15 people on the field while a match is in play. Two of these are the umpires who regulate all on-field activity. Two are the batsmen, one of whom is the striker as he is facing the bowling; the other is called the non-striker. The roles of the batsmen are interchangeable as runs are scored and overs are completed. The fielding side has all 11 players on the field together. in length between the wickets and is wide. It is a flat surface and has very short grass that tends to be worn away as the game progresses. The "condition" of the pitch has a significant bearing on the match and team tactics are always determined with the state of the pitch, both current and anticipated, as a deciding factor.

Each wicket consists of three wooden stumps placed in a straight line and surmounted by two wooden crosspieces called bails; the total height of the wicket including bails is and the combined width of the three stumps is . displaying the stadium, ground and pitch]] Four lines, known as creases, are painted onto the pitch around the wicket areas to define the batsman's "safe territory" and to determine the limit of the bowler's approach. These are called the "popping" (or batting) crease, the bowling crease and two "return" creases.

consists of three stumps that are hammered into the ground, and topped with two bails.]] The stumps are placed in line on the bowling creases and so these must be apart. A bowling crease is long with the middle stump placed dead centre. The popping crease has the same length, is parallel to the bowling crease and is in front of the wicket. The return creases are perpendicular to the other two; they are adjoined to the ends of the popping crease and are drawn through the ends of the bowling crease to a length of at least .

When bowling the ball, the bowler's back foot in his "delivery stride" must land within the two return creases while his front foot must land on or behind the popping crease. If the bowler breaks this rule, the umpire calls "No ball".

The importance of the popping crease to the batsman is that it marks the limit of his safe territory for he can be stumped or run out (see Dismissals below) if the wicket is broken while he is "out of his ground".

Bat and ball

, front and back.]] The essence of the sport is that a bowler delivers the ball from his end of the pitch towards the batsman who, armed with a bat is "on strike" at the other end.

The bat is made of wood (usually White Willow) and has the shape of a blade topped by a cylindrical handle. The blade must not be more than wide and the total length of the bat not more than .

The ball is a hard leather-seamed spheroid with a circumference of . The hardness of the ball, which can be delivered at speeds of more than , is a matter for concern and batsmen wear protective clothing including pads (designed to protect the knees and shins), batting gloves for the hands, a helmet for the head and a box inside the trousers (to protect the crotch area). Some batsmen wear additional padding inside their shirts and trousers such as thigh pads, arm pads, rib protectors and shoulder pads.

Umpires and scorers

The game on the field is regulated by two umpires, one of whom stands behind the wicket at the bowler's end, the other in a position called "square leg", a position 15–20 metres to the side of the "on strike" batsman. When the bowler delivers the ball, the umpire at the wicket is between the bowler and the non-striker. The umpires confer if there is doubt about playing conditions and can postpone the match by taking the players off the field if necessary, for example rain or deterioration of the light. Off the field and in televised matches, there is often a third umpire who can make decisions on certain incidents with the aid of video evidence. The third umpire is mandatory under the playing conditions for Test matches and limited overs internationals played between two ICC full members. These matches also have a match referee whose job is to ensure that play is within the Laws of cricket and the spirit of the game.

Off the field, the match details including runs and dismissals are recorded by two official scorers, one representing each team. The scorers are directed by the hand signals of an umpire. For example, the umpire raises a forefinger to signal that the batsman is out (has been dismissed); he raises both arms above his head if the batsman has hit the ball for six runs. The scorers are required by the Laws of cricket to record all runs scored, wickets taken and overs bowled. In practice, they accumulate much additional data such as bowling analyses and run rates.

Innings

The innings (ending with 's' in both singular and plural form) is the term used for the collective performance of the batting side. In theory, all eleven members of the batting side take a turn to bat but, for various reasons, an "innings" can end before they all do so.

Depending on the type of match being played, each team has one or two innings apiece. The term "innings" is also sometimes used to describe an individual batsman's contribution ("he played a fine innings").

The main aim of the bowler, supported by his fielders, is to dismiss the batsman. A batsman when dismissed is said to be "out" and that means he must leave the field of play and be replaced by the next batsman on his team. When ten batsmen have been dismissed (i.e., are out), then the whole team is dismissed and the innings is over. The last batsman, the one who has not been dismissed, is not allowed to continue alone as there must always be two batsmen "in". This batsman is termed "not out".

An innings can end early for three reasons: because the batting side's captain has chosen to "declare" the innings closed (which is a tactical decision), or because the batting side has achieved its target and won the game, or because the game has ended prematurely due to bad weather or running out of time. In each of these cases the team's innings ends with two "not out" batsmen, unless the innings is declared closed at the fall of a wicket and the next batsman has not joined in the play.

In limited overs cricket, there might be two batsmen still "not out" when the last of the allotted overs has been bowled.

Overs

The bowler bowls the ball in sets of six deliveries (or "balls") and each set of six balls is called an over. This name came about because the umpire calls "Over!" when six balls have been bowled. At this point, another bowler is deployed at the other end, and the fielding side changes ends while the batsmen do not. A bowler cannot bowl two successive overs, although a bowler can bowl unchanged at the same end for several overs. The batsmen do not change ends and so the one who was non-striker is now the striker and vice-versa. The umpires also change positions so that the one who was at square leg now stands behind the wicket at the non-striker's end and vice-versa.

Team structure

A team consists of eleven players. Depending on his or her primary skills, a player may be classified as a specialist batsman or bowler. A well-balanced team usually has five or six specialist batsmen and four or five specialist bowlers. Teams nearly always include a specialist wicket-keeper because of the importance of this fielding position. Each team is headed by a captain who is responsible for making tactical decisions such as determining the batting order, the placement of fielders and the rotation of bowlers.

A player who excels in both batting and bowling is known as an all-rounder. One who excels as a batsman and wicket-keeper is known as a "wicket-keeper/batsman", sometimes regarded as a type of all-rounder. True all-rounders are rare as most players focus on either batting or bowling skills.

Bowling

bowler Muttiah Muralitharan, the highest wicket taker in both Test and ODI forms of cricket bowls to Adam Gilchrist.]]The bowler reaches his delivery stride by means of a "run-up", although some bowlers with a very slow delivery take no more than a couple of steps before bowling. A fast bowler needs momentum and takes quite a long run-up, running very fast as he does so.

The fastest bowlers can deliver the ball at a speed of over and they sometimes rely on sheer speed to try and defeat the batsman, who is forced to react very quickly. Other fast bowlers rely on a mixture of speed and guile. Some fast bowlers make use of the seam of the ball so that it "curves" or "swings" in flight. This type of delivery can deceive a batsman into mistiming his shot so that the ball touches the edge of the bat and can then be "caught behind" by the wicketkeeper or a slip fielder.

At the other end of the bowling scale is the "spinner" who bowls at a relatively slow pace and relies entirely on guile to deceive the batsman. A spinner will often "buy his wicket" by "tossing one up" (in a slower, higher parabolic path) to lure the batsman into making a poor shot. The batsman has to be very wary of such deliveries as they are often "flighted" or spun so that the ball will not behave quite as he expects and he could be "trapped" into getting himself out.

In between the pacemen and the spinners are the "medium pacers" who rely on persistent accuracy to try and contain the rate of scoring and wear down the batsman's concentration.

All bowlers are classified according to their looks or style. The classifications, as with much cricket terminology, can be very confusing. Hence, a bowler could be classified as LF, meaning he is a left arm fast bowler; or as LBG, meaning he is a right arm spin bowler who bowls deliveries that are called a "leg break" and a "Googly".

During the bowling action the elbow may be held at any angle and may bend further, but may not straighten out. If the elbow straightens illegally then the square-leg umpire may call no-ball: this is known as "throwing" or "chucking", and can be difficult to detect. The current laws allow a bowler to straighten his arm 15 degrees or less.

Fielding

for a right-handed batsman]]

All eleven players on the fielding side take the field together. One of them is the wicket-keeper aka "keeper" who operates behind the wicket being defended by the batsman on strike. Wicket-keeping is normally a specialist occupation and his primary job is to gather deliveries that the batsman does not hit, so that the batsmen cannot run byes. He wears special gloves (he is the only fielder allowed to do so), a box over the groin, and pads to cover his lower legs. Owing to his position directly behind the striker, the wicket-keeper has a good chance of getting a batsman out caught off a fine edge from the bat. He is the only player who can get a batsman out stumped.

Apart from the one currently bowling, the other nine fielders are tactically deployed by the team captain in chosen positions around the field. These positions are not fixed but they are known by specific and sometimes colourful names such as "slip", "third man", "silly mid on" and "long leg". There are always many unprotected areas.

The captain is the most important member of the fielding side as he determines all the tactics including who should bowl (and how); and he is responsible for "setting the field", though usually in consultation with the bowler.

In all forms of cricket, if a fielder gets injured or becomes ill during a match, a substitute is allowed to field instead of him. The substitute cannot bowl, act as a captain or keep wicket. The substitute leaves the field when the injured player is fit to return.

Batting

"taking guard" in 1883. His pads and bat are very similar to those used today. The gloves have evolved somewhat. Many modern players utilise more defensive equipment than was available to Grace, notably helmets and arm guards.]] At any one time, there are two batsmen in the playing area. One takes station at the striker's end to defend the wicket as above and to score runs if possible. His partner, the non-striker, is at the end where the bowler is operating.

Batsmen come in to bat in a batting order, decided by the team captain. The first two batsmen – the "openers" – usually face the hostile bowling from fresh fast bowlers with a new ball. The top batting positions are usually given to the most competent batsmen in the team, and the non-batsmen typically bat last. The pre-announced batting order is not mandatory and when a wicket falls any player who has not yet batted may be sent in next.

If a batsman "retires" (usually due to injury) and cannot return, he is actually "not out" and his retirement does not count as a dismissal, though in effect he has been dismissed because his innings is over. Substitute batsmen are not allowed.

A skilled batsman can use a wide array of "shots" or "strokes" in both defensive and attacking mode. The idea is to hit the ball to best effect with the flat surface of the bat's blade. If the ball touches the side of the bat it is called an "edge". Batsmen do not always seek to hit the ball as hard as possible, and a good player can score runs just by making a deft stroke with a turn of the wrists or by simply "blocking" the ball but directing it away from fielders so that he has time to take a run.

There is a wide variety of shots played in cricket. The batsman's repertoire includes strokes named according to the style of swing and the direction aimed: e.g., "cut", "drive", "hook", "pull".

Note that a batsman does not have to play a shot and can "leave" the ball to go through to the wicketkeeper, providing he thinks it will not hit his wicket. Equally, he does not have to attempt a run when he hits the ball with his bat. He can deliberately use his leg to block the ball and thereby "pad it away" but this is risky because of the leg before wicket rule.

In the event of an injured batsman being fit to bat but not to run, the umpires and the fielding captain may allow another member of the batting side to be a runner. The runner's only task is to run between the wickets instead of the injured batsman. The runner is required to wear and carry exactly the same equipment as the incapacitated batsman. It is possible for both batsmen to have runners.

Runs

batsman intends to send the ball when playing various cricketing shots. The diagram for a left-handed batsman is a mirror image of this one.]] The primary concern of the batsman on strike (i.e., the "striker") is to prevent the ball hitting the wicket and secondarily to score runs by hitting the ball with his bat so that he and his partner have time to run from one end of the pitch to the other before the fielding side can return the ball. To register a run, both runners must touch the ground behind the crease with either their bats or their bodies (the batsmen carry their bats as they run). Each completed run increments the score.

More than one run can be scored from a single hit; but, while hits worth one to three runs are common, the size of the field is such that it is usually difficult to run four or more. To compensate for this, hits that reach the boundary of the field are automatically awarded four runs if the ball touches the ground en route to the boundary or six runs if the ball clears the boundary on the full. The batsmen do not need to run if the ball reaches or crosses the boundary. is a legendary Indian batsman who holds multiple records, including highest number of runs and centuries scored in both Test and ODI forms of Cricket.]]

Hits for five are unusual and generally rely on the help of "overthrows" by a fielder returning the ball. If an odd number of runs is scored by the striker, the two batsmen have changed ends, and the one who was non-striker is now the striker. Only the striker can score individual runs, but all runs are added to the team's total.

The decision to attempt a run is ideally made by the batsman who has the better view of the ball's progress, and this is communicated by calling: "yes", "no" and "wait" are often heard.

Running is a calculated risk because if a fielder breaks the wicket with the ball while the nearest batsman is out of his ground (i.e., he does not have part of his body or bat in contact with the ground behind the popping crease), the batsman is run out.

A team's score is reported in terms of the number of runs scored and the number of batsmen that have been dismissed. For example, if five batsmen are out and the team has scored 224 runs, they are said to have scored 224 for the loss of 5 wickets (commonly shortened to "224 for five" and written 224/5 or, in Australia, "five for 224" and 5/224).

Extras

Additional runs can be gained by the batting team as extras (called "sundries" in Australia) due to errors made by the fielding side. This is achieved in four ways: #No ball: a penalty of one extra that is conceded by the bowler if he breaks the rules of bowling either by (a) using an inappropriate arm action; (b) overstepping the popping crease; (c) having a foot outside the return crease. In addition, the bowler has to re-bowl the ball. In limited overs matches, a no ball is called if the bowling team's field setting fails to comply with the restrictions. In shorter formats of the game (20–20, ODI) the free hit rule has been introduced. The ball following a front foot no-ball will be a free-hit for the batsman, whereby he is safe from losing his wicket except for being run-out. #Wide: a penalty of one extra that is conceded by the bowler if he bowls so that the ball is out of the batsman's reach; as with a no ball, a wide must be re-bowled. #Bye: extra(s) awarded if the batsman misses the ball and it goes past the wicketkeeper to give the batsmen time to run in the conventional way (note that one mark of a good wicketkeeper is one who restricts the tally of byes to a minimum). #Leg bye: extra(s) awarded if the ball hits the batsman's body, but not his bat, while attempting a legitimate shot, and it goes away from the fielders to give the batsmen time to run in the conventional way.

When the bowler has bowled a no ball or a wide, his team incurs an additional penalty because that ball (i.e., delivery) has to be bowled again and hence the batting side has the opportunity to score more runs from this extra ball. The batsmen have to run (i.e., unless the ball goes to the boundary for four) to claim byes and leg byes but these only count towards the team total, not to the striker's individual total for which runs must be scored off the bat.

Dismissals (outs)

of India successfully stumps a South African batsman out during a match played in Chennai in 2008.]] There are ten ways in which a batsman can be dismissed and some are so unusual that only a few instances of them exist in the whole history of the game. The common forms of dismissal are "bowled", "caught", "leg before wicket" (lbw), "run out", and "stumped". The unusual methods are "hit wicket", "hit the ball twice", "obstructed the field", "handled the ball" and "timed out".

Before the umpire will award a dismissal and declare the batsman to be out, a member of the fielding side (generally the bowler) must "appeal". This is invariably done by asking (or shouting) the term "Howzat?" which means, simply enough, "How is that?" If the umpire agrees with the appeal, he will raise a forefinger and say "Out!". Otherwise he will shake his head and say "Not out". Appeals are particularly loud when the circumstances of the claimed dismissal are unclear, as is always the case with lbw and often with run outs and stumpings.

#Bowled: the bowler has hit the wicket with the ball and the wicket has "broken" with at least one bail being dislodged (note that if the ball hits the wicket without dislodging a bail it is not out). #Caught: the batsman has hit the ball with his bat, or with his hand which was holding the bat, and the ball has been caught before it has touched the ground by a member of the fielding side. #Leg before wicket (lbw): first and foremost, the ball must, in the opinion of the on-field umpire, be going on to hit the stumps if the ball had not hit the pad of the batsman first. If the batsman plays an attempted shot to the delivery, then the ball must hit the batsman's pad in line with the stumps and be going on to hit the stumps for the batsman to be given out. If the batsman does not attempt to play a shot, then the ball does not have to hit the pad in line with the stumps but it still must be going on to hit the stumps. If the ball pitches outside the leg stump, then the batsman cannot be given out under any circumstances. #Run out: a member of the fielding side has broken or "put down" the wicket with the ball while a batsman was out of his ground; this usually occurs by means of an accurate throw to the wicket while the batsmen are attempting a run. #Stumped is similar except that it is done by the wicketkeeper after the batsman has missed the bowled ball and has stepped out of his ground, and is not attempting a run. #Hit wicket: a batsman is out hit wicket, if he dislodges one or both bails with his bat, person, clothing or equipment in the act of receiving a ball, or in setting off for a run having just received a ball. #Hit the ball twice is very unusual and was introduced as a safety measure to counter dangerous play and protect the fielders. The batsman may legally play the ball a second time only to stop the ball hitting the wicket after he has already played it. #Obstructed the field: another unusual dismissal which tends to involve a batsman deliberately getting in the way of a fielder. #Handled the ball: a batsman must not deliberately touch the ball with his hand, for example to protect his wicket (note that the bowled ball often hits the batsman's hand while it is holding the bat but this is not out; though he can of course be caught off his hand). #Timed out usually means that the next batsman did not arrive at the wicket within three minutes of the previous one being dismissed.

In the vast majority of cases, it is the striker who is out when a dismissal occurs. If the non-striker is dismissed it is usually by being run out, but he could also be dismissed for obstructing the field, handling the ball or being timed out.

A batsman may leave the field without being dismissed. If injured or taken ill the batsman may temporarily retire, and be replaced by the next batsman. This is recorded as retired hurt or retired ill. The retiring batsman is not out, and may resume the innings later. An unimpaired batsman may retire, and this is treated as being dismissed retired out; no player is credited with the dismissal. Batsmen cannot be out bowled, caught, leg before wicket, stumped or hit wicket off a no ball. They cannot be out bowled, caught, leg before wicket, or hit the ball twice off a wide. Some of these modes of dismissal can occur without the bowler bowling a delivery. The batsman who is not on strike may be run out by the bowler if he leaves his crease before the bowler bowls, and a batsman can be out obstructing the field or retired out at any time. Timed out is, by its nature, a dismissal without a delivery. With all other modes of dismissal, only one batsman can be dismissed per ball bowled.

Innings closed

An innings is closed when: # Ten of the eleven batsmen are out (have been dismissed); in this case, the team is said to be "all out" # The team has only one batsman left who can bat, one or more of the remaining players being unavailable owing to injury, illness or absence; again, the team is said to be "all out" # The team batting last reaches the score required to win the match # The predetermined number of overs has been bowled (in a one-day match only, commonly 50 overs; or 20 in Twenty20) # A captain declares his team's innings closed while at least two of his batsmen are not out (this does not apply in one-day limited over matches)

Results

If the team that bats last is all out having scored fewer runs than their opponents, the team is said to have "lost by n runs" (where n is the difference between the number of runs scored by the teams). If the team that bats last scores enough runs to win, it is said to have "won by n wickets", where n is the number of wickets left to fall. For instance a team that passes its opponents' score having only lost six wickets would have won "by four wickets".

In a two-innings-a-side match, one team's combined first and second innings total may be less than the other side's first innings total. The team with the greater score is then said to have won by an innings and n runs, and does not need to bat again: n is the difference between the two teams' aggregate scores.

If the team batting last is all out, and both sides have scored the same number of runs, then the match is a tie; this result is quite rare in matches of two innings a side. In the traditional form of the game, if the time allotted for the match expires before either side can win, then the game is declared a draw.

If the match has only a single innings per side, then a maximum number of deliveries for each innings is often imposed. Such a match is called a "limited overs" or "one-day" match, and the side scoring more runs wins regardless of the number of wickets lost, so that a draw cannot occur. If this kind of match is temporarily interrupted by bad weather, then a complex mathematical formula, known as the Duckworth-Lewis method after its developers, is often used to recalculate a new target score. A one-day match can also be declared a "no-result" if fewer than a previously agreed number of overs have been bowled by either team, in circumstances that make normal resumption of play impossible; for example, wet weather.

Distinctive elements

Individual focus

For a team sport, cricket places individual players under unusual scrutiny and pressure. Bowler, Batsman, and fielder all act essentially independent of each other. While team managements can signal bowler or batsman to pursue certain tactics, the execution of the play itself is a series of solitary acts. Cricket is more similar to baseball than many other team sports in this regard: while the individual focus in cricket is slightly mitigated by the importance of the batting partnership and the practicalities of running, it is enhanced by the fact that a batsman may occupy the wicket for a long time.

Spirit of the Game

Cricket is a unique game where in addition to the laws, the players have to abide by Spirit of the Game. The standard of sportsmanship has historically been considered so high that the phrase "it's just not cricket" was coined in the 19th Century to describe unfair or underhanded behaviour in any walk of life. In the last few decades though, cricket has become increasingly fast-paced and competitive, increasing the use of appealing and sledging, although players are still expected to abide by the umpires' rulings without argument, and for the most part they do. Even in the modern game fielders are known to signal to the umpire that a boundary was hit, despite what could have been considered a spectacular save (though they might be found out by the TV replays anyway). In addition to this, some cricket batsmen have been known to "walk" when they think they are out even if the umpire does not declare them out. This is a high level of sportsmanship, as a batsman can easily take advantage of incorrect umpiring decisions.

Influence of Weather

Cricket is a sport played predominantly in the drier periods of the year. But, even so, the weather is a major factor in all cricket matches.

A scheduled game of cricket cannot be played in wet weather. Dampness affects the bounce of the ball on the wicket and is a risk to all players involved in the game. Many grounds have facilities to cover the cricket pitch (or the wicket). Covers can be in the form of sheets being laid over the wicket to elevated covers on wheels (using the same concept as an umbrella) to even hover covers which form an airtight seal around the wicket. However, most grounds do not have the facilities to cover the outfield. This means that in the event of heavy bouts of bad weather, games may be cancelled, abandoned or suspended due to an unsafe outfield.

Another factor in cricket is the amount of light available. At grounds without floodlights (or in game formats which disallow the use of floodlights), umpires can stop play in the event of bad light as it becomes too difficult for the batsmen to be able to see the ball coming at them, (and in extreme cases, members of the fielding team).

On the other hand, in instances of good light, batsmen can utilize sight-screens which enable batsmen to have a white background against which they can pick out the red ball (or black background for white ball) with greater ease.

The umpires always have the final decision on weather related issues.

Uniqueness of each field

Unlike those of most sports, cricket playing fields can vary significantly in size and shape. While the dimensions of the pitch and infield are specifically regulated,Laws of Cricket do not specify the size or shape of the field.

Welsh players are eligible to play for England, which is in effect an England and Wales team. The West Indies team comprises players from numerous states in the Caribbean, notably Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, the Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands.

Test matches between two teams are usually played in a group of matches called a "series". Matches last up to five days and a series normally consists of three to five matches. Test matches that are not finished within the allotted time are drawn.In the case of Test and first-class cricket: the possibility of a draw often encourages a team that is batting last and well behind to bat defensively, giving up any faint chance at a win to avoid a loss.

Since 1882, most Test series between England and Australia have been played for a trophy known as The Ashes. Some other bilateral series have individual trophies too: for example, the Wisden Trophy is contested by England and West Indies; the Frank Worrell Trophy by Australia and West Indies and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia.

Limited overs

between India and Australia in January 2004. The men wearing black trousers are the umpires. Teams in limited overs games, such as ODIs and T20s, wear multi-coloured uniforms and use white cricket balls.]] match in progress at Chepauk Stadium, Chennai.]] Standard limited overs cricket was introduced in England in the 1963 season in the form of a knockout cup contested by the first-class county clubs. In 1969, a national league competition was established. The concept was gradually introduced to the other major cricket countries and the first limited overs international was played in 1971. In 1975, the first Cricket World Cup took place in England. Limited overs cricket has seen various innovations including the use of multi-coloured kit and floodlit matches using a white ball.

A "one day match", named so because each match is scheduled for completion in a single day, is the common form of limited overs cricket played on an international level. In practice, matches sometimes continue on a second day if they have been interrupted or postponed by bad weather. The main objective of a limited overs match is to produce a definite result and so a conventional draw is not possible, but matches can be undecided if the scores are tied or if bad weather prevents a result. Each team plays one innings only and faces a limited number of overs, usually a maximum of 50. The Cricket World Cup is held in one day format and the last World Cup in 2007 was won by Australia. The next World Cup will hosted by India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in 2011.

Twenty20 is a new variant of limited overs itself with the purpose being to complete the match within about three hours, usually in an evening session. The original idea, when the concept was introduced in England in 2003, was to provide workers with an evening entertainment. It was commercially successful and has been adopted internationally. The inaugural Twenty20 World Championship was held in 2007 and won by India. 2009's Twenty20 World Championship was staged in England and won by Pakistan. The next Twenty20 World Championship will be held in the West Indies. After the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 many domestic Twenty20 leagues were born. First of them was Indian Cricket League which is a rebel league since it is unauthorized by BCCI and led to form an official league called the Indian Premier League. Both these leagues are cash rich and attracted players and audience around the globe. Recently Twenty20 Champions League was formed as a tournament for domestic clubs of various countries.

National championships

in 1895. The team won the first of its 30 County Championship titles in 1893.]] First-class cricket includes Test cricket but the term is generally used to refer to the highest level of domestic cricket in those countries with full ICC membership, although there are exceptions to this. First-class cricket in England is played for the most part by the 18 county clubs which contest the County Championship. The concept of a champion county has existed since the 18th century but the official competition was not established until 1890. The most successful club has been Yorkshire County Cricket Club with 30 official titles.

Australia established its national first-class championship in 1892–93 when the Sheffield Shield was introduced. In Australia, the first-class teams represent the various states. New South Wales has won the maximum number of titles with 45 to 2008.

National championship trophies to be established elsewhere included the Ranji Trophy (India), Plunket Shield (New Zealand), Currie Cup (South Africa) and Shell Shield (West Indies). Some of these competitions have been updated and renamed in recent years.

Domestic limited overs competitions began with England's Gillette Cup knockout in 1963. Countries usually stage seasonal limited overs competitions in both knockout and league format. In recent years, national Twenty20 competitions have been introduced, usually in knockout form though some incorporate mini-leagues.

Other types of matches

, India.]] There are numerous variations of the sport played throughout the world that include indoor cricket, French cricket, beach cricket, Kwik cricket and all sorts of card games and board games that have been inspired by cricket. In these variants, the rules are often changed to make the game playable with limited resources or to render it more convenient and enjoyable for the participants.

Indoor cricket is played in a netted, indoor arena, and is quite formal but many of the outdoor variants are very informal.

Families and teenagers play backyard cricket in suburban yards or driveways, and the cities of India and Pakistan play host to countless games of "Gully Cricket" or "tapeball" in their long narrow streets. Sometimes the rules are improvised: e.g. it may be agreed that fielders can catch the ball with one hand after one bounce and claim a wicket; or if only a few people are available then everyone may field while the players take it in turns to bat and bowl. Tennis balls and homemade bats are often used, and a variety of objects may serve as wickets: for example, the batter's legs as in French cricket, which did not in fact originate in France, and is usually played by small children.

In Kwik cricket, the bowler does not have to wait for the batsman to be ready before a delivery, leading to a faster, more exhausting game designed to appeal to children, which is often used PE lessons at English schools. Another modification to increase the pace of the game is the "Tip and Run", "Tipity" Run, "Tipsy Run" or "Tippy-Go" rule, in which the batter must run when the ball touches the bat, even if it the contact is unintentional or minor. This rule, seen only in impromptu games, speeds the match up by removing the batsman's right to block the ball.

In Samoa a form of cricket called Kilikiti is played in which hockey stick-shaped bats are used. In original English cricket, the hockey stick shape was replaced by the modern straight bat in the 1760s after bowlers began to pitch the ball instead of rolling or skimming it. In Estonia, teams gather over the winter for the annual Ice Cricket tournament. The game juxtaposes the normal summer pursuit with harsh, wintry conditions. Rules are otherwise similar to those for the six-a-side game.

International structure

member nations. The (highest level) Test playing nations are shown in orange; the associate member nations are shown in yellow; the affiliate member nations are shown in purple.]] The International Cricket Council (ICC), which has its headquarters in Dubai, is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.

The ICC has 104 members: 10 Full Members that play official Test matches, 34 Associate Members, and 60 Affiliate Members. The ICC is responsible for the organisation and governance of cricket's major international tournaments, notably the Cricket World Cup. It also appoints the umpires and referees that officiate at all sanctioned Test matches, One Day International and Twenty20 Internationals. Each nation has a national cricket board which regulates cricket matches played in its country. The cricket board also selects the national squad and organises home and away tours for the national team. In the West Indies these matters are addressed by the West Indies Cricket Board which consists of members appointed by four national boards and two multi-national boards.

Members

Full Members

Full Members are the governing bodies for cricket in a country or associated countries. Full Members may also represent a geographical area. All Full Members have a right to send one representative team to play official Test matches. Also, all Full Member nations are automatically qualified to play ODIs and Twenty20 Internationals. | 1 | 5 | 4 | 7.66 |- | | Bangladesh Cricket Board | | 14 | 14 |- | |Cricket Canada | The amateur game has also been spread further afield by expatriates from the Test-playing nations. In the late 19th century, a former cricket player, English-born Henry Chadwick of Brooklyn, New York, was responsible for the "development of the box score, tabular standings, the annual baseball guide, the batting average, and most of the common statistics and tables used to describe baseball." The statistical record is so central to the game's "historical essence" that Chadwick came to be known as Father Baseball. The USA, a country where baseball is more popular by far, also has a national cricket team.

See also

Outline of cricket

Comparison between cricket and baseball

International Cricket Council

List of International Cricket Council members

Twenty 20

Cricket World Cup

ICC World Twenty20

Indian Premier League

Twenty20 Champions League

ODI rankings

Test Cricket rankings

ICC Player Rankings

Indoor Cricket

Blind Cricket

Women's cricket

List of cricket terms

Comparison of international cricket teams

Notes and references

External links

International Cricket Council (ICC)

MCC – the official Laws of Cricket

* Category:Team sports Category:Ball games Category:Ball and bat games Category:Olympic sports Category:Sports originating in England

Background	solo_singer
Born	June 12, 1941
Origin	Rusholme, Manchester, England
Instrument	Singer, Guitar
Genre	Folk, Progressive folk, Folk rock, Alternative rock
Occupation	Musician, Poet
Years active	1964–present
Label	Science Friction
Url	royharper.com

Roy Harper (born 12 June 1941) is an English rock / folk singer-songwriter / guitarist who has been a professional musician since the mid 1960s. Harper has described American blues musician Leadbelly and folk singer Woody Guthrie as his biggest musical influences when he was growing up. As a musician, Harper is known for his distinctive fingerstyle playing and lengthy, complex compositions. He has released a large catalogue of albums as an artist, most of which are available on his own record label Science Friction.

His influence has been acknowledged by many musicians including Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, Pete Townshend of The Who, Kate Bush, Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd, as well as more recently by Californian harpist Joanna Newsom. Harper also sang guest lead vocals on Pink Floyd's song "Have a Cigar", and inspired the title of the Led Zeppelin song "Hats Off to (Roy) Harper".

Biography

Early life

Harper was born in 1941 in Rusholme, a suburb of Manchester. After the death of his mother, Muriel, during childbirth, he was raised in Blackpool by his father and stepmother, with whom he became disillusioned because of her Jehovah's Witness beliefs. Harper's anti-religious views would later become a familiar theme within his music.

At the age of 10, he began playing skiffle music with his older brother David, ("Davey" on the album Flat Baroque and Berserk), as well as becoming influenced by blues music. Harper was educated at King Edward VII School, Lytham. He left school at the age of 15 and joined the Royal Air Force. This eventually resulted in his rejecting the rigid discipline, feigning madness in order to obtain a military discharge and receiving electroconvulsive therapy as a result. Upon his eventual discharge, he busked around Europe until 1964 when he returned to England, gaining a residency at London's famous Soho folk music club, Les Cousins.

The 1960s

Harper's first album, Sophisticated Beggar, was recorded in 1966 after he was spotted at Les Cousins, and signed to Peter Richards' Strike Records. The album consisted of Harper's poetry backed by acoustic guitar and recorded with a Revox tape machine by Pierre Tubbs. CBS Records recognised Harper's potential and hired producer Shel Talmy to arrange Harper's second album, Come Out Fighting Ghengis Smith, released in 1968. The 11 minute track "Circle" was notable for marking a widening of Harper's musical style away from the more traditional folk music heard at the time.

In May 1968, Harper began to make regular appearances at free concerts in London's Hyde Park, attracting a cult following of fans from the underground music scene. Harper also toured the UK, performing at numerous venues that would later become recognised for the variety and quality of their musical acts; Mothers in Birmingham was one venue to which Harper would frequently return.

1969's Folkjokeopus (Harper's third album), in a similar vein to his previous album, included an extended 17-minute track called "McGoohan's Blues", which Harper referred to as the "main statement" within the album. The track's title referred to actor Patrick McGoohan, who was at the time starring in the UK TV series The Prisoner.

The 1970s

Harper's first tour of the United States followed the release of his fourth studio album, Flat Baroque and Berserk, in 1969. The album also featured The Nice on the track "Hell's Angels". Its ethereal sound was achieved by a wah-wah pedal attached to Harper's acoustic guitar. This album also marked the beginning of Harper's long and sometimes confrontational association with EMI, whose subsidiary Harvest Records he was signed to.

After the Bath Festival of 1970, Led Zeppelin paid tribute to Harper with their version of the traditional song, "Shake 'Em On Down", the definitive version of which was originally recorded by blues artist Bukka White. Retitled "Hats Off to (Roy) Harper", it appeared on the album Led Zeppelin III. According to Jimmy Page, the band admired the way Harper stood by his principles and did not sell out to commercial pressures. In mutual appreciation of their work, Harper would often attend live performances by Led Zeppelin over the subsequent decade, contributed sleeve photography to the album Physical Graffiti and also appeared, uncredited, in the 1976 Led Zeppelin documentary film, The Song Remains the Same.

Harper's critically acclaimed 1971 album was a four-song epic, Stormcock. The album featured Jimmy Page on guitar (credited as "S. Flavius Mercurius" for contractual reasons) and David Bedford's orchestral arrangements (Bedford would also collaborate on future Harper releases). Johnny Marr, The Smiths' guitarist, said that Stormcock was "intense and beautiful and clever". In 1972, Harper made his acting debut playing Mike Preston alongside Carol White in the John Mackenzie film Made. The soundtrack for this film appeared the following year as the album Lifemask. At the time, Lifemask was created as Harper's final bow, as he had been diagnosed with the (then) little-known lung condition HHT, which caused polycythemia, incapacitating the singer. The cover art shows Harper's 'death mask'.

After he recovered, Harper's next album, Valentine, was released on Valentine's Day, 14 February 1974, and featured contributions from Jimmy Page. A concert to mark its release was held on the same day, at London's Rainbow Theatre, with Page, Bedford, Max Middleton (of The Jeff Beck Group) on keyboards, Ronnie Lane on bass and Keith Moon on drums. The live album Flashes from the Archives of Oblivion, recorded at that concert, soon followed.

Pink Floyd's 1975 release Wish You Were Here saw Harper sing lead vocals on the song "Have a Cigar". David Gilmour returned the favour by appearing on Harper's next album, HQ, along with Harper's occasional backing band, Trigger (Chris Spedding on guitar, Dave Cochran on bass guitar, Bill Bruford on drums), and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones. The single "When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease", taken from the album, is Harper's biggest-selling song to date. Harper also co-wrote the song "Short and Sweet" with Gilmour for Gilmour's first solo record, David Gilmour, released in 1978.

Controversy followed the release of 1977's Bullinamingvase. The owners of Watford Gap service station objected to criticism of their food ("Watford Gap, Watford Gap / A plate of grease and a load of crap…") in the lyrics of the song "Watford Gap". Harper was forced to drop it from future UK copies of the album, though it reappeared on a later CD reissue and remained on the U.S. LP. The album also featured the song "One of Those Days in England", with backing vocals by Paul McCartney and his wife Linda, an edited version of which became a Top 40 hit. In April 1978, Harper began writing lyrics for the next Led Zeppelin album with Jimmy Page, but the project was shelved when Robert Plant returned from a sabbatical after the death of his son.

Between 1975 and 1978, Harper spent considerable time in the United States. During this period Harper signed with the US division of Chrysalis Records, who released HQ with a different title (When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease) and cover. Chrysalis considered the original UK sleeve photo of Harper walking on water to be too offensive for an American release. Harper disagreed, but was given no choice by the label. Chrysalis also changed the title of Harper's next album, Bullinamingvase, to One of Those Days in England. In 1978, US Chrysalis reissued Harper's first five Harvest albums, only one of which (Flat, Baroque and Berserk) had been previously released in America.

For much of the 1970s, Harper was managed and produced by British manager and record producer Peter Jenner, initially acting for Blackhill Enterprises. According to Jenner, "Harper is a terrific songwriter, but a bit crazy".

The 1980s

Harper began the decade with the release of The Unknown Soldier, which was to be his final Harvest release. The album contains a duet with Kate Bush on the track, "You". (Harper reciprocated by singing backing vocals on "Breathing", on the Kate Bush album Never For Ever). Of Bush, Harper later stated, A decade later, Harper and Bush would collaborate again on his album Once.

Harper's 1982 album, Work of Heart, marked the formation of Harper's own record label with Mark Thompson (son of English historian, socialist and peace campaigner E.P. Thompson), entitled Public Records. The album itself was chosen by Derek Jewell of The Sunday Times as "Album of the Year" in 1982. The original demo version of this album was later released (in 1984) on a limited edition (830 copies) vinyl release entitled Born in Captivity.

Of this period, Harper stated,

Throughout 1984, Harper toured the United Kingdom with Jimmy Page, performing a predominantly acoustic set at folk festivals under various guises such as The MacGregors, and Themselves. In 1985, they released an album called Whatever Happened to Jugula?. This album caused a resurgence of interest in Harper and his music. (Tony Franklin, bass player in Harper's group at this time, would later join Page in The Firm). In April 1984, Harper and Gilmour performed "Short and Sweet" (the song they co-wrote) during Gilmour's three-night run at The Hammersmith Odeon. This version later appeared on the David Gilmour Live 1984 concert film. Harper also provided backing vocals on Gilmour's newly released album, About Face.

Perhaps due to the popularity of Whatever Happened to Jugula?, Harper re-signed to EMI and in 1986 released a live album, In Between Every Line, containing recordings from his performances at the Cambridge Folk Festival, and in 1988 the studio album, Descendants of Smith. The renewed relationship between Harper and EMI did not last, and from 1985 more of his earlier albums became available on the Awareness Records label. 1988 also saw the release of Loony on the Bus, a collection of tracks intended for release in 1977 as Commercial Breaks but held back because of disputes between Harper and EMI.

The 1990s

Harper was very productive in the 1990s, releasing four studio albums: Once (1990), Death or Glory? (1992), Commercial Breaks (1994), The Dream Society (1998); and eight live albums: Unhinged (1993), Live At Les Cousins (1996), and six individual CDs of concerts recorded by the BBC (1997).

In addition, Harper released a live video Once (1990), an EP Burn the World (1990), a CD single The Methane Zone (1992), a limited edition live cassette Born in Captivity II (1992), a compilation album An Introduction to ..... (1994), a collection of poetry and spoken word tracks Poems, Speeches, Thoughts and Doodles (1997), and a reissue of Descendants of Smith (his 1988 release) renamed Garden of Uranium (1994). In 1994 much of Harper's back catalogue became available on CD through his own record label Science Friction.

Once featured contributions from David Gilmour, Kate Bush, Nigel Mazlyn Jones. In 1992 his marriage to his wife Jacqui ended. Death or Glory? contains a number of songs and spoken word pieces that reference his loss and pain.

Throughout the decade, Harper's musical influence began to be recognised by a younger generation of musicians, some of whom covered his songs or invited him to make guest appearances on their albums. In 1995 Harper contributed spoken words on The Tea Party's 1995 album The Edges of Twilight and appeared on stage for their New Year concert in Montreal. In 1996 Roy recited "Bad Speech" from the album Whatever Happened to Jugula? on the album Eternity by Anathema (the album also contains a cover version of "Hope" from the same album). The track "Time" from The Tea Party's 1996 multimedia CD, Alhambra, was sung and co-written by Harper.

Harper contributed his version of Jethro Tull's song, "Up the 'Pool" (from Living in the Past) for the 1996 tribute album, To Cry You A Song - A Collection Of Tull Tales. In 1998, Jethro Tull singer Ian Anderson contributed flute to the song, "These Fifty Years" on Harper's The Dream Society, an album based on Harper's life, particularly his youth. Reportedly, Anderson said that the only reason he originally left Blackpool was because Harper did. Other artists who covered Harper's songs (or songs on his albums) throughout the decade include Dean Carter, Ava Cherry & The Astronettes (People from Bad Homes), Green Crown, The Kitchen Cynics, The Levellers, Roydan Styles and Pete Townshend.

Harper also undertook a small tour of the USA, where some performances were supported by Daevid Allen, former Soft Machine and Gong band member.

The 2000s

In 2000, Harper released an almost entirely acoustic album, The Green Man, accompanied by The Tea Party's Jeff Martin on guitar, hurdy gurdy and numerous other instruments. The following year (2001) Harper celebrated his 60th birthday with a concert at London's Royal Festival Hall. Harper was joined by numerous guest artists, including David Bedford, Jeff Martin and John Renbourn. A recording of the concert Royal Festival Hall Live - June 10th 2001 was released as a double CD shortly afterwards.

In 2003, Harper published The Passions of Great Fortune, a large format book containing all the lyrics to his albums (and singles) to date, which also included a wealth of photographs and commentary on his songs.

In April 2005, Harper released a lengthy CD single, The Death of God. The 13 minute song, a critique of the war in Iraq, featured guest guitarist Matt Churchill, who has also joined Harper on stage at his live performances. A video of this song, intermixing animation with a live performance, is available in four parts on YouTube. The same year saw the release of Harper's latest album, Counter Culture, a double compilation album featuring songs from a 35-year songwriting period. Counter Culture received a five-star review from UNCUT magazine. Harper also contributed a recital of "Jabberwocky" for The Wildlife Album, an 18-track compilation CD to benefit the World Wide Fund For Nature and the Ulster Wildlife Trust.

2006 saw Harper release his first DVD, Beyond the Door. Composed of live footage recorded in 2004 at Irish folk club "De Barra's" in Clonakilty, Cork, the package includes an additional 10-track audio CD and received a 4-star review from both Mojo and UNCUT, as well as from Classic Rock magazine, who made it their "DVD of the month".

In September 2007, Harper supported Californian harpist Joanna Newsom at her Royal Albert Hall performance. Newsom had been impressed by Harper's 1971 album Stormcock and it served as an inspiration for her second album, Ys.

Harper has dedicated the last few years to collecting and compiling his life's work in various formats. One of his future projects is likely to be the making of a documentary DVD to round off this process.

In 2010, Newsom once again invited Harper to be Special Guest for her on several of her European Tour Dates. Plans for Harper to star in the film Rebel City Rumble were also announced. Shooting is planned to take place in Cork in Spring 2011.

Awards

HQ was awarded Record of the Year in Portugal in 1975. That year Harper also received a similar award in Finland for the same record.

Work of Heart was awarded The Sunday Times Album of the Year in 1982.

Harper was awarded the MOJO Hero Award by the staff of Mojo magazine on 16 June 2005 at the Porchester Hall, Central London. The award itself was presented by long time collaborator and friend, Jimmy Page and now hangs upon the wall at De Barras Folk Club in Clonakilty, Ireland.

Nick Harper

One of Roy's sons, Nick Harper, is a successful singer / songwriter in his own right. Nick occasionally tours and records with Roy, and has appeared (as guitarist) on a number of his albums since 1985.

Discography

Studio albums

1967 – Sophisticated Beggar

1968 – Come Out Fighting Ghengis Smith

1969 – Folkjokeopus

1970 – Flat Baroque and Berserk

1971 – Stormcock

1973 – Lifemask

1974 – Valentine

1975 – HQ (US title: When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease)

1977 – Bullinamingvase (US title: One of Those Days in England)

1980 – The Unknown Soldier

1982 – Work of Heart

1984 – Born in Captivity

1985 – Whatever Happened to Jugula? (with Jimmy Page)

1988 – Descendants of Smith

1988 – Loony on the Bus

1990 – Once

1992 – Death or Glory?

1994 – Commercial Breaks (previously unreleased album from 1977; 9 of its 11 tracks are available on Loony on the Bus)

1994 – Garden of Uranium (re-issue of Descendants of Smith)

1998 – The Dream Society

2000 – The Green Man

Live albums

1974 – Flashes from the Archives of Oblivion

1984 – Live at the Red Lion, Birmingham (Volume I & II Limited edition cassette)

1985 – Live at the Red Lion, Birmingham (Volume III Limited edition cassette)

1986 – In Between Every Line

1992 – Born in Captivity II (Limited edition cassette)

1993 – Unhinged (Edited version of Born in Captivity II)

1996 – Live At Les Cousins

1997 – The BBC Tapes — Volume I (1969–1973)

1997 – The BBC Tapes — Volume II (In Concert 1974)

1997 – The BBC Tapes — Volume III (BBC Sessions 1974)

1999 – The BBC Tapes — Volume IV (In Concert 1975)

1997 – The BBC Tapes — Volume V (BBC Sessions 1975 - 1978)

1997 – The BBC Tapes — Volume VI (In Concert 1978 with Andy Roberts)

2001 – Royal Festival Hall Live – June 10th 2001

Compilations, remixes, etc.

1977 – The Early Years

1978 – Harper 1970-1975

1994 – Death or Glory? (tracks 1 & 9 remixed)

1994 – An Introduction to .....

1997 – Song of the Ages (3-CD collection of Roy Harper interviews)

1997 – Poems, Speeches, Thoughts and Doodles (collection of spoken tracks with occasional instrumentation)

2001 – Hats Off (compilation of collaborative tracks)

2001 – East of the Sun (compilation of love songs)

2002 – Today Is Yesterday (compilation of demo, unreleased and rare material from 1964–1967)

2005 – Counter Culture

2007 – From Occident to Orient (compilation; initially a Japanese-only release)

Collaborations

1971 – "Ravneferd" (co-written with Lillebjørn Nilsen for the album Tilbake)

1975 – "Have a Cigar" (guest lead vocals for Pink Floyd)

1978 – "Short and Sweet" (co-written with David Gilmour. (Appears on David Gilmour and The Unknown Soldier)

1995 – The Edges of Twilight (spoken word on hidden track for The Tea Party)

1995 – "Time" (lead vocals for The Tea Party's Alhambra multimedia CD)

1996 – "Hope" (spoken word on Anathema's album, Eternity)

Singles / 12" Singles / EPs

1966 – Take Me Into Your Eyes / Pretty Baby

1967 – Midspring Dithering / Zengem

1968 – Life Goes By / Nobody's Got Any Money in the Summer

1972 – Bank of the Dead / Little Lady

1974 – (Don't You Think We're) Forever / Male Chauvinist Pig Blues (live)

1974 – Home (live) / Home (studio)

1975 – When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease / Hallucinating Light (live)

1975 – Grown-Ups Are Just Silly Children / Referendum (Legend)

1977 – One of Those Days in England / Watford Gap

1977 – One of Those Days in England / Watford Gap (DEU

1977 – Sail Away / Cherishing the Lonesome

1978 – When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease / Home (studio)

1980 – Playing Games / First Thing in the Morning

1980 – Short and Sweet / Water Sports / The Unknown Soldier

1982 – No-One Ever Gets Out Alive / Casualty (live at Glastonbury 1982)

1983 – I Still Care / Goodbye Ladybird (acoustic)

1985 – Elizabeth / Advertisement / I Hate the White Man (live) (12" single)

1988 – Laughing Inside (acoustic)

1990 – Burn the World (2 track CD / EP)

1992 – The Methane Zone (4-track CD / single)

2005 – The Death of God (2-track CD / single)

Downloads

2005 – The Passions of Great Fortune, Vol. 1 (iTunes Download)

Bootlegs

1992 – Heavy Crazy (Live in London 1974) (incomplete bootleg CD of The BBC Tapes — Volume II)

Videography

1984 – Stonehenge 84

1986 – Live in Your Living Room

1990 – Once

2005 – Beyond the Door (DVD)

Filmography

1972 – Made

1976 – The Song Remains the Same

2009 – Brokeback Cowboy

2011 - Rebel City Rumble (in pre-production)

Bibliography

2003 – The Passions of Great Fortune — The Songs Explored (ISBN 0-9545264-0-6)

References

External links

Roy Harper Website

The Stormcock Community fan site

Category:1941 births Category:Living people Category:English songwriters Category:English male singers Category:English rock guitarists Category:Musicians from Manchester Category:People from Rusholme

Playername	Sohail Tanvir
Male	true
Country	Pakistan
Fullname	Sohail Tanvir
Living	true
Dayofbirth	12
Monthofbirth	12
Yearofbirth	1984
Placeofbirth	Rawalpindi, Punjab
Countryofbirth	Pakistan
| heightft	6
Heightinch	3
Heightm	1.90
Batting	Left-hand bat
Bowling	Left-arm medium-fast, Slow left-arm orthodox
Role	All-rounder
International	true
Testdebutdate	22 November
Testdebutyear	2007
Testdebutagainst	India
Testcap	188
Lasttestdate	30 November
Lasttestyear	2007
Lasttestagainst	India
Odidebutdate	18 October
Odidebutyear	2007
Odidebutagainst	South Africa
Odicap	158
Lastodidate	1 May
Lastodiyear	2009
Lastodiagainst	Australia
Odishirt	33
Club1	Federal Areas
Year1	2007/08
Club2	Khan Research Laboratories
Year2	2007/08 –
Club3	Rawalpindi
Year3	2004/05-2006/07
Club4	Rajasthan Royals
Year4	2008 –
Clubnumber4	8
Deliveries	balls
Columns	4
Column1	Tests
Matches1	2
Runs1	17
Bat avg1	5.66
100s/50s1	0/0
Top score1	13
Deliveries1	504
Wickets1	5
Bowl avg1	63.20
Fivefor1	0
Tenfor1	0
Best bowling1	3/83
Catches/stumpings1	2/–
Column2	ODIs
Matches2	31
Runs2	182
Bat avg2	14.00
100s/50s2	0/1
Top score2	59
Deliveries2	1,542
Wickets2	44
Bowl avg2	28.90
Fivefor2	1
Tenfor2	n/a
Best bowling2	5/48
Catches/stumpings2	8/–
Column3	Twenty20|
Matches3	46
Runs3	227
Bat avg3	12.61
100s/50s3	0/0
Top score3	38
Deliveries3	901
Wickets3	47
Bowl avg3	22.85
Fivefor3	1
Tenfor3	n/a
Best bowling3	6/14
Catches/stumpings3	15/–
Column4	t20s||
Matches4	15
Runs4	29
Bat avg4	7.25
100s/50s4	0\0
Top score4	12
Deliveries4	306
Wickets4	11
Bowl avg4	33.18
Fivefor4	n/a
Tenfor4	n/a
Best bowling4	3/31
Catches/stumpings4	3/–
Year	2009
Source	http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/55/55658/55658.html CricketArchive

Sohail Tanvir (Urdu: سہیل تنویر, born December 12, 1984 in Rawalpindi, Punjab) is a Pakistani cricketer, who has gained repute for his unorthodox left arm bowling action and particularly for the success it has gained him in the Twenty20 format of the game.

International career

An allrounder, he is a hard-hitting left-handed batsman and an unorthodox left-arm fast-medium bowler who also bowls occasional left-arm orthodox spin. Despite not having taken a single wicket during his ten Twenty20 matches domestically, he was selected for Pakistan's squad for the inaugral World Twenty20 after Shoaib Akhtar was sent home. He made his Twenty20 debut in the tournament, and took six wickets in six matches, with best bowling figures of 3 for 31 in four overs against Australia. Though considered an allrounder, Tanvir did not get a chance to bat in the tournament until the final, where he made his first international runs, with a six off his first ball, aiding Pakistan back into the game.

After impressing in the ICC World Twenty20, he was selected to play in the ODI series against South Africa in October, 2007. He was then selected for the tour of India, and took eight wickets in the ODI series. He also took part in the Test series that followed, making his debut in place of the injured Umar Gul. On debut at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Dehli, he took three wickets which included his first international Test cricket causality Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. In Asia Cricket Cup, June 2008, Pakistan played their first game against Hong Kong at Karachi. In that match, Pakistan's top order struggled to get grips with Hong Kong bowlers before Sohail Tanvir set up a 100 run stand along with Fawad Alam for the 8th wicket. Sohail scored his maiden ODI 50 in that match. He scored 59 off just 55 balls which took Pakistan to a respectable score of 288. After that, in the match vs. Sri Lanka, Tanvir took his first 5 wickets haul. He ended at 5/48 in 10 overs. After the 2009 ICC World Twenty20

Knee injury (2010)

Shortly after the World Twenty20 Tanvir was on a one-year break because of injuries. He missed the tour of New Zealand in November 2009, the controversial tour against Australia in January 2010. He also missed the chance to participate for Pakistan in the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 the 2010 Asia Cup and he missed the tour of England in August 2010. He recovered from injury in October 2010 and was selected to participate in the test series against South Africa under new captain Misbah-ul-Haq The doctors however advised rest for Sohail Tanvir to help him recuperate fully from the new injury He completely recovered from his knee injury by December and was selected for all three formats against New Zealand. He gave insights into his injury and stated at one point he couldn't even walk and that doctors thought he would really struggle to walk. However he recovered really quickly after that and the surgery he had in Australia in January payed off. At the last minute of the team departing for the New Zealand tour Tanvir was replaced because the selectors thought he was not fully fit. After missing the Twenty20 Internationals the selectors recalled Tanvir after he had proved his performance in domestic games coupled with poor performances from a depelted Pakistan bowling attack.

Domestic career

Indian Premier League career

On March 11, 2008 Tanvir was signed up in the second round of the Indian Premier League's players' auction by the Jaipur franchise, Rajasthan Royals, for $100,000.

Playing in his third match of tournament, on May 4, Tanvir took a match-winning six wickets against the Chennai Super Kings at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur. His figures of 6-14 from four overs are a record for Twenty20 cricket. He ended the tournament as the highest wicket-taker, with 22 wickets from 11 matches at an average of 12.09, an economy rate of 6.46 and a strike rate of 11.20, the best among bowlers with more than six wickets.

In the final of tournament, on June 1 at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Mumbai, with Rajasthan chasing 164 to win, Tanvir added 21 runs along with captain Shane Warne. He hit the winning runs of the final ball of the innings, to see the Royals home. He was later presented with the "Purple Cap", an award for the leading wicket-taker of the tournament.

A statistical analysis conducted by Cricinfo after the conclusion of the league stage of the tournament rated Tanvir as the most successful player. He was also rated as the second best value player of the tournament, having been signed on for $100,000. However he was later embroiled in controversy about racist remarks to Hindus when he was not selected in the 2010 IPL

Twenty20 Big Bash

In December 2008, Tanvir was signed by the Australian domestic side Southern Redbacks for the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash. In his first match against Western Australia he was pitted against fellow Pakistani fast bowler Umar Gul and although he was caught out first ball he took 1-15 with the ball for his side in a winning cause. International commitment meant he wasn't available for the entirety of the tournament and he struggled to get amongst the wickets, although his batting form improved throughout his short stint.

County cricket

He signed one year contract with Surrey County Cricket Club in July 2009 for 75,000 pounds. He said he would try to benefit from the opportunity to get back in national side but the deal didn't get signed

References

External links

Cricinfo profile

CricketArchive profile

Category:1984 births Category:Living people Category:People from Rawalpindi District Category:Pakistan Test cricketers Category:Pakistan One Day International cricketers Category:Pakistan Twenty20 International cricketers Category:Rawalpindi cricketers Category:Rajasthan (Indian Premier League) cricketers Category:South Australia cricketers

Playername	Shahid Khan Afridi
Country	Pakistan
Fullname	Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi
Nickname	Boom Boom Afridi, Lala
Heightm	1.8
Living	true
Dayofbirth	1
Monthofbirth	3
Yearofbirth	1980
Placeofbirth	Khyber Agency, FATA
Countryofbirth	Pakistan
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right arm leg spin
Role	All rounder
Club1	South Australia
Year1	2009–present
Club2	Deccan Chargers
Year2	2008
Club3	Sind
Year3	2007–present
Club4	Ireland
Year4	2006
Club5	Kent
Year5	2004
Club6	Griqualand West
Year6	2003–04
Club7	Derbyshire
Year7	2003
Club8	Leicestershire
Year8	2001
Club9	Marylebone Cricket Club
Year9	2001
Club10	Habib Bank Limited
Year10	1997–2008
Club11	Karachi
Year11	1995–present
Deliveries	balls
Columns	3
Column1	Test
Matches1	27
Runs1	1,716
Bat avg1	37.40
100s/50s1	5/8
Top score1	156
Deliveries1	3,194
Wickets1	48
Bowl avg1	35.60
Fivefor1	1
Tenfor1	0
Best bowling1	5/52
Catches/stumpings1	10/–
Column2	ODI
Matches2	306
Runs2	6,431
Bat avg2	23.81
100s/50s2	6/30
Top score2	124
Deliveries2	13,110
Wickets2	288
Bowl avg2	34.88
Fivefor2	3
Tenfor2	n/a
Best bowling2	6/38
Catches/stumpings2	101/–
Column3	T20I
Matches3	39
Runs3	630
Bat avg3	18.80
100s/50s3	0/3
Top score3	54*
Deliveries3	894
Wickets3	51
Bowl avg3	18.80
Fivefor3	0
Tenfor3	n/a
Best bowling3	4/11
Catches/stumpings3	11/–
Date	31 October
Year	2010
Source	http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/42639.html Cricinfo

Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi (}}) (born 1 March 1980 in Khyber Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and his Test debut on 22 October 1998 against Australia at Karachi.

He is known for his aggressive batting style, and currently holds the highest career strike rate in the history of international cricket. He also holds the record for the fastest one day century which he made in his debut innings in his second one day international, as well as scoring 32 runs in a single over, the second highest scoring over ever in an ODI. He also holds the distinction of having hit the most number of sixes in the history of One Day International cricket. In a survey taken in 2007, Afridi was named as the most popular cricketer in Pakistan.

Afridi started his ascendence to the captaincy in June 2009 when he took over from Younus Khan after that he was handed the ODI captaincy for the 2010 Asia Cup. In his first match as ODI captain against Sri Lanka he scored a century however Pakistan still lost by 16 runs. He then also took over the test captaincy but resigned after one test-match in charge citing lack of form and ability to play test cricket. He captained Pakistan in the following limited overs series against England and South Africa. Afridi after taking the captaincy has been publicly fighting with the Pakistan Cricket Board over who has the say in selection. Afridi and coach Waqar Younis criticsed the fact that they weren't consulted among the selection of the team for the October ODI series. Afridi became much happier with the selection when he was consulted for the 30-man world cup squad and the squad for the New Zealand series.

Personal life

Afridi is from the Afridi tribe of the Khyber Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas near the Afghan Border and hails from a Pashtun family. He is married to his maternal cousin, Nadia, with whom he has two daughters, Aqsa and Ansha.

International career

In October 1996 at the age of sixteen he was brought into the ODI team as a leg spinner as a replacement for the injured Mushtaq Ahmed. He then gained notability as a pinch-hitter and began opening with Saeed Anwar. He holds the record for scoring the fastest century in One Day Internationals (off 37 balls), scored in only his second match and his first ODI innings. He also shares with Brian Lara the record for the third-fastest century in ODIs (off 45 balls).He also holds the record for the sixth fastest century which he made on 53 balls against Bangladesh One of Pakistan's most useful all-rounders, he has an extremely aggressive batting style, which has garnered him over 6,000 ODI runs (including a world record of 280 sixes), as well as taking over 270 wickets in ODI's and over 40 in Tests.

For various reasons, including a perception that he lacks patience in his batting, Afridi had limited opportunity in Test matches, although he currently averages in the high thirties and mid-thirties with bat and ball respectively. As it is, Afridi has featured in less than one third of the Test Matches played by Pakistan over the course of his career. However, he made his presence felt in the third Test against India in March 2005, scoring a quick-fire second-innings half-century and taking five wickets in the match (including Tendulkar twice) to help Pakistan to win the game and register a series draw.

It is perceived that his batting struggles on bouncy pitches. He has had success as an opener on sub-continent pitches, Afridi is often moved into the lower order as well.

Afridi was more consistent with his batting and bowling throughout 2005, starting with the tours of India and West Indies and through to the England tour. The Pakistani coach Bob Woolmer helped Afridi to reach a fuller potential by improving his shot selection and giving him free rein over his batting attitude.

In the 2007 World Twenty20, he performed poorly with the bat but brilliantly with the ball, earning the Man of the Series award, though he failed to take a wicket in the final and was out for a golden duck.But in the next ICC Twenty20 World Cup, held in 2009 Afridi performed brilliantly in the series scoring 50 runs in the semi-final and 54 in the final and leading his team to victory.

On the 30 December, Afridi claimed 4-14 in a Twenty20 International game against New Zealand resulting in him taking his 50th wicket in all Twenty20 Internationals, being the first man to do so, he ended the match with 53 wickets.

Ascending to the Captaincy (2009-2010)

Shortly after Pakistan won the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 the captain Younis Khan announced his retirement from Twenty20 cricket the Pakistan Cricket Board subsequently announced that Shahid Afridi had taken over the Twenty20 captaincy. Shahid Afridi is Pakistan's second most successful captain in Twenty20 cricket. In March 2010 the board announced that Shahid Afridi had been appointed ODI captain in place of the sacked Mohammad Yousuf he led pakistan in the 2010 Asia Cup and during his first three matches as ODI captain he scored two centuries against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh he finished as the tournaments highest runscorer with 384 runs from 3 matches.

On 25 May 2010, Afridi was appointed captain of the national team in all three formats, after he announced his return to Test cricket. After leading Pakistan in the Lords Test against Australia in July 2010, Afridi announced that the second Test at Headingley would be his last.

Afridi has shown his disapproval of selection matters with the board as for the tour of South Africa in October 2010 as he had not been consulted for the selection of the players nor did the team managament Waqar Younis, Aaqib Javed and Intikhab Alam Afridi released a statement to inform the media about these incidents and the board sent Afridi a notice telling him to "keep his mouth closed"

Chief selector of the pakistan team Mohsin Khan defended his decision and told to the media Afridi and the team management did not need to be consulted on the selection process. However former Pakistan fast-bowling great and former captain Wasim Akram stated that not consulting the captain and coach on the selection is a joke in international cricket . Due to the pressure that the Selectors and the Pakistan Cricket Board had to face they decided to add two more players (Shahzaib Hasan and Wahab Riaz) to the team as per the request of Shahid Afridi, Aaqib Javed, Waqar Younis and Intikhab Alam Mohsin then denied allegations that he was a 'dummy' selector and said that Shahzaib and Wahab were added to the squad on Afridi's request and that Younis Khan was also a request and he was added after he successfully reconciled with the Pakistan Cricket Board. The squad did however suffer a major setback as Mohammad Yousuf one of the key senior batsman suffered a hamstring injury and missed 2–3 weeks this meant that he missed the limited overs matches After playing 4 matches against South Africa the series was drawn at 2-2 however the team suffered a major setback when Zulqarnain Haider went missing and this deflated team morale and eventually Pakistan lost the match and the series 3-2. After the series Shahid Afridi and Waqar Younis were consulted on selection of the team for the series against New Zealand and the 30-man proviisonal squad for the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. Despite this postive for Afridi negative continued to surround the rest of the team. When Mazhar Majeed (involved in spot-fixing with Amir, Asif and Butt) revealed that 4 more cricketers Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, Wahab Riaz and Imran Farhat were associated with him in fixing. Of the 4 two cricketers (Kamran Akmal and Imran Farhat weren't selected for the NZ ODI series and Umar Akmal and Wahab Riaz were named in the original squad.) Majeed also confrimed that he approched Afridi, Abdul Razzaq (cricketer), Younis Khan and Saeed Ajmal but all off them refused to be affiliated with him of his fixing menace. Worth mentioning is that the four names given above were not associated in the original scandal and that no disciplinary action have been taken against them by the sports governing body the International Cricket Council. He also stated just before the New Zealand series that he had been working on honing his batting technique and that to address Pakistan opening troubles he will open in Twenty20 Internationals in the future and that he will also consider opening in ODI's as well with Umar Akmal also being considered a possibility to open with Umar Akmal Afridi also had a big say in convincing the Pakistan Cricket Board to have Javed Miandad as the national team's batting and fielding consultant. This being because of pakistan's recent batting and fielding woes. In the first Twenty20 against New Zealand in December 2010 Afridi opened the innings with Mohammad Hafeez and he scored a quick fire 20 of 12 balls in an innings that included 1 four and two sixes. Despite this solid start Pakistan failed to build on it as Tim Southee took a five-wicket haul including a hat trick that saw Ahmed Shehzad, Younis Khan, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Hafeez and Abdul Razzaq fall for the addition of only five runs. This left Pakistan reeling at 64/7 before Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz scored 30 each and along with a six whacked by Shoaib Akhtar the team pushed the total to 142/9. Shoaib Akhtar took three wickets but proved expensive and Martin Guptill scored a half-cenutry to seal a five-wicket win for New Zealand.

Currently Afridi is the leading wicket taker in the Twenty20 format taking 53 wickets from 41 matches. He also became the first Twenty20 cricketer to reach 50 wickets when he had figures of 4/14 and wiped out the New Zealand tail. Afridi reached his 50th wicket on 30th December 2010 when he had Nathan McCullum trapped leg-before. Pakistan also won that match by 103 runs the biggest margin of victory between two test-playing nations.

Sporadic appearances in test cricket

On April 12, 2006 Afridi announced a temporary retirement from Test cricket until after the 2007 World Cup so that he could concentrate on ODIs. Even then his performance in county cricket for Ireland recently had declined and he bowled better than he batted. He also claimed that the workload was too much to cope with.

However, on April 27, 2006 after much discussion with Shaharyar Khan, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, Afridi reversed his decision. Despite this, Afridi was later dropped from the Test team in early August 2006 after three quick-fire innings against England. He was placed well down the batting order, away from his more usual spot in the middle-order, and displayed flamboyantly reckless strokeplay on the English pitches, leading to short but entertaining innings.

In July 2010, Afridi captained Pakistan in the first Test of the home series in Lords against Australia. He scored 31 off 15 deliveries in the first innings and 2 in the second but was dismissed succumbing to rash strokes in both the innings. After the match, he announced retirement from Test cricket again citing lack of temperament for Test cricket as the reason.

On 16 July 2010, after Pakistan's loss to Australia in the Lords Test on the fourth day, Afridi spoke to BBC Radio and informed them that he would retire from Test cricket after the second Test at Headingley. The Pakistan Cricket Board was not informed prior to his interview. While speculation arose and suspicions were cast over the timing of the unexpected announcement mid-series during an overseas tour, it appears there was no correlation of his decision with the spot-fixing controversy that engulfed the team during later stages of the tour. Afridi was officially removed from the Test squad on the England tour, but after the spot-fixing scandal saw Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir and Test captain Salman Butt temporarily suspended by the International Cricket Council, he stated that he might return to Test Cricket if "the team needs it".

Playing style

Batting

His general style of batting is very aggressive and attack oriented and has earned him the nickname "Boom Boom Afridi" for his fastest One Day International century just in 37 balls. Moreover, out of the six fastest ODI centuries of all time, Afridi has produced three of them. As of 21 February 2010, he has an ODI strike rate of 111.65 runs per 100 balls, the highest in the game's history.

This attitude has been transferred to Test cricket as well, with Afridi scoring at a relatively high strike rate of 86.13 in Tests. He has an approach to batting that can change the tempo of a game and inspire the mood of an audience, as shown when a mass exodus of spectators occurred in Pakistan in late 2005 following his dismissal from the crease.

He hits many sixes long and high, favouring straight down the ground or over midwicket and hit the longest ever six in the history of one day internationals against Australia. His trademark shot is a cross-batted flick to the leg-side to a ball outside off stump. This explosive style has led to memorable shots, most notably the first ever 12 in power cricket in 2002, where Afridi successfully hit the roof. However, his aggressive style increases his risk of getting out and he is one of the most inconsistent batsmen in cricket. This is reflected by the fact that he is the only player to score more than 6000 ODI runs at an average under 25.

Bowling

delivery]] While he is renowned for his aggressive batsmanship, he is also a handy leg-spinner capable of producing a good mix of wicket taking balls. He has over 300 International wickets, most of which are from the ODI format. While his stock ball is the leg break, his armory also includes the conventional off break and a 'quicker one' which he can deliver at nearly 80 mph in the style of a medium-pacer. He bowls at a high speed for a spinner, resulting in lesser turn, and relying more on variations in speed. He occasionally sends down a bouncer to a batsman, which is very rare for a spin bowler. He has, on occasion, played in the team primarily as a bowling all-rounder as well, coming much lower down the batting order.

Records and Achievements

Career highlights

On 4 October 1996, playing his maiden international innings, Afridi hit the fastest One-Day century off 37 balls against Sri Lanka in Nairobi. His innings included 28 runs off one of Sanath Jayasuriya's overs, whose record he broke. Made a half-century from 26 balls and took 3 second-innings wickets in Pakistan's series-drawing Test victory against India in March 2005. Highest aggregate sixes scored in the 50-over game, and he the most sixes per innings record. Scored four consecutive sixes off a Harbhajan Singh over in a Test match against India in January 2006, matching a feat that Kapil Dev achieved in 1990. Was the first player to score 12 runs off one ball, by hitting the roof of the Millennium Stadium. This took place in a game of Power Cricket.

Made 32 runs off a Malinga Bandara over in an ODI game at Abu Dhabi in 2007. He struck four consecutive sixes and it was the 2nd most expensive over in ODI history.

Is only the third player in ODI history to achieve the combination of 6000 runs, 100 catches and 250 wickets. The other players being Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya and South Africa's Jacques Kallis.

On 21 June 2010, batting in the fifth match of the Asia Cup against Bangladesh in Dambulla, he achieved the world record of hitting the most number of sixes in an ODI career, which was previously owned by Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka. In the same match, he scored his sixth ODI century, also the sixth fastest century in ODI Cricket coming off 53 balls. He ended at 124 off 60 balls, which became his highest ODI score. This was also his second century in the 2010 Asia Cup. On 2 November 2010, in the UAE neutral series against South Africa, in the third ODI, Afridi broke the record for most sixes hit in all formats of the game. He beat Sanath Jayasuriya to the top spot with 353 sixes. He scored more sixes than Jayasuriya but also took less than 200 matches to equal Jayasuriya's record.

On 30th December 2010, against New Zealand in New Zealand Afridi became the first bowler to take 50 international Twenty20 wickets. He finished the match with 53 Twenty20 wickets to his name from 41 matches.

Test Centuries

In the column Runs, * indicates being not out

The column title Match refers to the Match Number of the player's career

One Day International Centuries

In the column Runs, * indicates being not out

The column title Match refers to the Match Number of the player's career

One Day International five-wicket hauls

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"; "align: left" |- align=center ! class="unsortable"|No. ! Date ! Ground ! Against ! Inn ! Overs ! Runs ! Wkts ! Econ ! class="unsortable" |Batsmen ! Result |- align=center || 1 || ♠|| Gaddafi Stadium || || || || || || || align=left|

ME Trescothick

N Hussain

GP Thorpe

C White

AF Giles

|| Won |-align=center || 2 || ♠|| Edgbaston Cricket Ground || || || || || || || align=left|

MA Ouma

TM Odoyo

BJ Patel

ML Patel

PJ Ongondo

|| Won |-align=center || 3 || ♠|| DSC Cricket Stadium || || || || || || || align=left|

BJ Haddin

SR Watson

A Symonds

CJ Ferguson

NW Bracken

SR Clark

|| Won |}

Cricket controversies

Pitch-tampering

On 21 November 2005, Shahid Afridi was banned for a Test match and two One Day Internationals for deliberately damaging the pitch in the second match of the three-Test series against England. TV cameras pictured him scraping his boots on the pitch scuffing the surface when play was held up after a gas canister exploded. Afridi later pleaded guilty to a level three breach of the ICC code of conduct relating to the spirit of the game. Inquiries were made and Afridi's antics came into view. He was investigated and banned after the day's play, along with receiving a huge amount of criticism from the cricketing world for bringing the game into disrepute.

Match referee Roshan Mahanama said: "This ban should serve as a message to players that this type of behaviour is not allowed." On this Afridi accepted his fault and said that a "senior player like me should set good examples to others because they see us to learn." His behaviour was also condemned by the Pakistan Cricket Board.

Spectator incident

Afridi was charged on 8 February 2007 of bringing the game into disrepute after he was seen on camera thrusting his bat at a spectator who swore at him on his way up the steps after being dismissed. Replays seemed to show that the action was not meant to cause injury, though the spectator had to move out of the way to avoid contact. Afridi was found guilty and given a four-game ODI suspension, the minimum possible ban for such an offense, meaning that he would miss Pakistan's first two 2007 World Cup matches. The PCB and Afridi chose not to appeal the ban, despite feeling that the punishment was excessively harsh. It should be noted that the South African Cricket administrators and the spectator were both also rebuked for playing a part in the causation of the incident.

Ball tampering

On 31 January 2010, Afridi was caught on camera biting into the ball towards the end of the 5th Commonwealth Bank One Day International series in Australia, at the WACA Ground. He was immediately called by the match referee after the match was over. In his defence, he told a Pakistani TV channel that he was trying to "Smell the ball" however later Afridi pleaded guilty to ball tampering and he was banned from two Twenty20 internationals.

References

Zaltzman, Andy. "Unpredictable XI – part 2." Cricinfo, 8 April 2009.

Notes

External links

Category:1980 births Category:Living people Category:People from Karachi Category:Recipients of the Pride of Performance award Category:ACC Asian XI One Day International cricketers Category:ICC World XI One Day International cricketers Category:Pakistan One Day International cricketers Category:Pakistan Test cricketers Category:Pakistan Twenty20 International cricketers Category:Griqualand West cricketers Category:Habib Bank Limited cricketers Category:Karachi cricketers Category:Leicestershire cricketers Category:Derbyshire cricketers Category:Ireland cricketers Category:South Australia cricketers Category:Cricketers at the 1999 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup Category:Pashtun people Category:Deccan cricketers Category:Pakistani Muslims Category:Pakistani Sunni Muslims Category:Afridi people Category:Pakistani cricket captains

Playername	Robin Uthappa
Country	India
Fullname	Robin Venu Uthappa
Nickname	Robbie
Living	true
Dayofbirth	11
Monthofbirth	11
Yearofbirth	1985
Placeofbirth	Kodagu, Karnataka
Countryofbirth	India
Heightm	1.72
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right arm medium
Role	Batsman, occasional wicket-keeper
International	true
Odidebutdate	15 April
Odidebutyear	2006
Odidebutagainst	England
Odicap	165
Lastodidate	6 July
Lastodiyear	2008
Lastodiagainst	Sri Lanka
T20idebutdate	13 September
T20idebutyear	2007
T20idebutagainst	Scotland
T20icap	14
Lastt20idate	1 February
Lastt20iyear	2008
Lastt20iagainst	Australia
Club1	Karnataka
Year1	2002/03 – present
Club2	Mumbai Indians
Year2	2008
Club3	Royal Challengers Bangalore
Year3	2009 – 2010
Club4	Sahara Pune Warriors
Year4	2011 – present
Deliveries	balls
Columns	4
Column1	ODIs
Matches1	38
Runs1	786
Bat avg1	27.10
100s/50s1	0/5
Top score1	86
Deliveries1	–
Wickets1	–
Bowl avg1	–
Fivefor1	–
Tenfor1	–
Best bowling1	–
Catches/stumpings1	15/0
Column2	FC
Matches2	58
Runs2	3,863
Bat avg2	41.98
100s/50s2	10/22
Top score2	162
Deliveries2	454
Wickets2	10
Bowl avg2	25.80
Fivefor2	0
Tenfor2	0
Best bowling2	3/26
Catches/stumpings2	53/0
Column3	List A
Matches3	92
Runs3	2,615
Bat avg3	32.68
100s/50s3	3/19
Top score3	160
Deliveries3	150
Wickets3	2
Bowl avg3	76.00
Fivefor3	0
Tenfor3	n/a
Best bowling3	1/23
Catches/stumpings3	36/0
Column4	T20s
Matches4	53
Runs4	989
Bat avg4	23.54
100s/50s4	0/3
Top score4	66*
Deliveries4	–
Wickets4	–
Bowl avg4	–
Fivefor4	–
Tenfor4	–
Best bowling4	–
Catches/stumpings4	22/3
Date	16 December
Year	2009
Source	http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/8/8681/8681.html CricketArchive

Robin Venu Uthappa (Kannada/Kodava Takk: ರಾಬಿನ್‌ ವೇಣು ಉತ್ತಪ್ಪ) (born 11 November 1985 in Kodagu, Karnataka) is an Indian cricketer. His father is Venu Uthappa, an international hockey referee from Kodagu, Karnataka, and mother Roselyn is a home maker and hails from Kozhikode, Kerala. He made his One Day International debut in the seventh and final match of the English tour of India in April 2006. He had a successful debut, making 86 as an opening batsman before being run out. It was the highest score for any Indian debutant in a limited overs match. He is also named 'The Walking Assassin" for his tactic of charging the bowler. He played an important role in India's win at the ICC World T20 World Cup 2007. However, he then suffered a form slump and has not played for India since mid-2008 and was relegated to a Grade C contract.

Uthappa first came to the public's attention when he made 66 for India B against India A in the Challenger Trophy in 2005. The following year, in the same tournament, Uthappa made matchwinning 93-ball 100 against the same team which propelled him in the big league. Previously, he had been a member of the India under-19 team that won the Asia Cup. Once a wicketkeeper-batsman, his List A batting average of near 40 with a strike rate of approximately 90 has made him regarded as something of a limited overs cricket specialist.

He was recalled to the ODI side in January 2007 for the series against the West Indies where he smashed a 70 from just 41 balls.

He was selected in the 15-member squad of the Indian Cricket team for the 2007 Cricket World Cup held in the West Indies in March–April 2007. He played in all 3 group games, but only scored 30 runs in total as India suffered a shock defeat to Bangladesh and a loss to Sri Lanka resulting in the team not qualifying for the Super 8 stage.

In the sixth ODI of the NatWest Series 2007-2008, he scored a sensational 47 of 33 balls to take India to a thrilling victory, keeping Indian hopes alive in the 7 match series that they were trailing 2-3 before the match. Used to batting as an opener, in this match he came in at the unfamiliar position of no 7. When he came at the crease India were 5 down for 234 after 40.2 overs, still needing 83 from less than 10 overs. After Dhoni got out in the 47th over with the Indian score at 294, Uthappa kept a cool head to take India to the target with two balls to spare in a remarkable victory.

Uthappa also scored a crucial 50 against Pakistan in the 20-20 World Cup in South Africa, when India were tottering at 39/4. With this, he became the first Indian to score a 50 in a 20-20 International match. India subsequently won the match in bowl out 3-0, where he bowled one of the three deliveries that hit the stumps.

Uthappa has played at all junior levels and first class for Karnataka State Cricket Association.

He played for Mumbai Indians in the 2008 Indian Premier League and had a fairly successful opening season. In January 2009 he swapped places with Zaheer Khan and moved to Royal Challengers Bangalore.

In an match against Kings XI Punjab in 2010 Indian Premier League he smashed a 21 balls 51, the second fastest fifty in Indian Premier League and was the match winner for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

IPL 2011: For fourth edition of IPL he has bought by pune warriors for a huge sum of 2.1 million USD(approximately INR 9.4 crores.) at the auction held in bangalore.

References

External links

Karnataka announces cash award for Robin Uthappa

Kerala announces cash awards for Sreesanth, Uthappa

Interview of Robin Uthappa in 2006

Interview of Robin Uthappa when he was in the India U-19 team

Category:1985 births Category:Living people Category:India One Day International cricketers Category:India Twenty20 International cricketers Category:Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup Category:Karnataka cricketers Category:South Zone cricketers Category:World Cup cricketers of India Category:Mumbai (Indian Premier League) cricketers Category:Kodava Category:Indian Christians Category:People from Kodagu

Name	Riya Sen
Caption	Riya Sen at a fashion show
Birthname	Riya Dev Varma
Birthdate	January 24, 1981
Birth place	Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Occupation	Actor, model
Parents	Bharat Dev Varma, Moonmoon Sen

Riya Sen ( ; born Riya Dev Varma on 24 January 1981) is an Indian film actress and model. Riya, who hails from a family of actors including her grandmother Suchitra Sen, mother Moon Moon Sen and sister Raima Sen, began her acting career in 1991 as a child artiste in the film Vishkanya. Her first commercial success in her film career was with Style, a 2001 Hindi low-budget sex comedy directed by N. Chandra. Some of her other films include producer Pritish Nandy's musical film, Jhankaar Beats (2001) in Hinglish, Shaadi No. 1 (2005) Malayalam horror film Ananthabhadram (2005).

Riya was first recognised as a model when she performed in Falguni Pathak's music video Yaad Piya Ki Aane Lagi at the age of sixteen. Since then, she has appeared in music videos, television commercials, fashion shows, and on magazine covers. She has been a heartthrob sensation throughout India and is known for her gorgeous smile. Riya has worked as an activist and appeared in an AIDS awareness music video with the aim of dispelling popular myths about the disease. She also helped raise funds for pediatric eye-care. Riya has faced controversies such as a MMS clip with actor Ashmit Patel, her semi-nude photograph on photographer Dabboo Ratnani's annual calendar and her on-screen kisses in a conservative Indian film industry.

Acting career

Riya first appeared as a child artist in the film Vishkanya in 1991, where she played the role of the young Pooja Bedi. At the age of 18, she did National Film Awards winning director Bharathiraja's Tamil film, Taj Mahal (2000), which did not achieve commercial success. She was scheduled to make her Bollywood film debut in Love You Hamesha, opposite actor Akshaye Khanna; however, the film was stalled, and she finally made her debut in N. Chandra's Style in 2001. This low-budget sex comedy was the first commercial success in over a decade for the director. A launch pad for Riya, cast in the female lead along with fellow-newcomers, Sharman Joshi, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal, the film pioneered a trend of commercial success for small budget films in India. Riya and the second female lead of the film were replaced by aspirant actresses Sunali Joshi and Jaya Seal in ''Xc'.

Her next success was Jhankaar Beats, a comedy revolving around the music of legendary composer R D Burman, which saw her playing a small and glamorous role the film was made on a budget of Rs. 25 million (US$525,000), Despite being part of a wave of offbeat films that mostly failed to make an impact at the box office, it drew public attention upon its release, which led to a commercial success among a restricted audience targeted by a selective release in twenty cities. It was one of the first films made in Hinglish, a mixture of Hindi and English. In 2005, she starred in Shaadi No. 1, which had no female lead. This comedy, based on the theme of modern marriage, was directed by David Dhawan, a renowned film director from this genre.

Although films like Style and Jhankar Beats succeeded commercially, most of her later films have generated less revenue. A number of them remained unfinished. While many of her appearances have been item numbers and cameos, few of her leading roles have been in low-budget films. Though she had small roles in Dil Vil Pyar Vyar (2002), (2003) and Plan (2004), attention was drawn to her item numbers in all three, especially the one in Qayamat that featured her in a bubble-bath. Besides this, she performed another item number in James (2005) on director-producer Ram Gopal Varma's behest, who has a history of casting aspirant actress-models like Sameera Reddy, Isha Koppikar and Koena Mitra in similar roles. Furthermore, she took part in a dance number for Sajid Khan's Heyy Babyy (2007) that featured several mainstream Bollywood actresses.

Non-Hindi films

was a high watermark in Riya's career]]

Riya has, in addition to Bollywood films, appeared in Bengali, Tamil,Telugu, Malayalam and English films. Her film career began in the earnest with Tamil films such as Bharathi Raja's Taj Mahal, co-starring Manjoj Bharatiraja in the male lead, and Manoj Bhatnaghar's Good Luck, oppsite Prasanth. Both of the films failed commercially, and she had a brief reappearance in Tamil cinema only to perform in a dance number for N. Maharajan's Arasatchi.

Her first English language movie was It Was Raining That Night, a remake of the Bengali film Hei Brishtir Raat, scripted by Sudeshna Roy and directed by Mahesh Manjrekar. In the film, she collaborated with mother Moon Moon Sen. Riya was slated to appear in Anjan Dutta's Bengali-English bilingual film The Bong Connection with her sister, but she was eventually dropped from the project and replaced by Peeya Rai Chaudhary. The two sisters were later cast together in director Ajai Sinha's The Bachelor, a Bengali film that, as of 2008, is yet to be finished.

Her most successful non-Hindi film has been director Santhosh Sivan's Ananthabhadram (2005). The first Malayalam venture for both Riya and Sivan, was both a critical and commercial success. It won five Kerala State Film Awards The use of Kathakali has been a high point in the resurgence of the classical dance form in other major Indian films as well, including Shaji Karun's Vanaprastham (1999) and Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair (2005). She made her Telugu Debut with Nenu Meeku Telusa...?, in which she was paired opposite Manoj Manchu.

Modeling career

's calendar's 2004 edition.]] Riya became a popular model when she appeared in numerous music videos for songs by popular singers, including Falguni Pathak's Yaad Piya Ki Aane Lagi (alternative title: Chudi Jo Khankayi), Asha Bhosle's Jhumka Gira Re, Jagjit Singh and Bhosle's Jab Samne Tum and Kahin Kahin Se, Lata Mangeshkar, Bhonsle and Singh's Dil Kahin Hosh Kahin, Sonu Nigam's Jeena Hai Tere Liye and Shaan's Sutta Maro. She shot for her first music video, Yaad Piya Ki Aane Lagi, at the age of sixteen. This led to her being identified primarily as a performer for music videos early in her career, an image she aimed to shed in 2005. Riya has appeared on several magazine covers, including Femina, Elaan, Man's World, Gladrags, Savvy and Indian versions of Elle, Maxim and Cosmopolitan, as well as on the ramp of major fashion shows like Lakmé Fashion Week (2005–07) and Wills Fashion Week (2006–2007). She participated in fashion shows along with her elder sister, Raima Sen. Besides modeling, Riya has ventured into the advertisement world as well. A high point of her modeling career came in 2006, when she became the soft drink, Limca's brand ambassador, replacing Deepika Padukone. Her other notable assignments include Colgate, Dabur Vatika, Reliance Industries, Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate, and Nirma.

In 2004, she was featured partially nude in leading Indian photographer Dabboo Ratnani's annual calendar, which is a major happening in the Indian glamor industry. According to Daboo, "Her mother saw it much later, after the calendar released. She thought it was too sexy, and Riya shouldn't have done it. But the response to the photograph was superb. Riya was so thrilled that for her next ad campaign, she asked me to light her up like I did in this." A career highlight for the model, it led to a three year contract with Ratnani to feature her on his annual calendar. She is the only female face to be featured on the calendar in five consecutive years (2003–07).

Personal life and family

Born on 24 January 1981 in Kolkata, West Bengal, Riya is the daughter of Moon Moon Sen, a former actress, and granddaughter of Suchitra Sen, a legend in Bengali cinema. Before moving to Mumbai, she lived in Kolkata with her parents and sister Raima Sen, also an actress. Her father Bharat Dev Varma is a member of the royal family of Tripura. Her paternal grandmother, Ila Devi, was the princess of Cooch Behar, whose younger sister Gayatri Devi was the Maharani of Jaipur. Riya's maternal great-grandfather Adinath Sen was a prominent Kolkata businessman, whose father Dinanath Sen - a relative of former Union Law Minister Ashoke Kumar Sen- was the Diwan or a Minister of the Maharaja of Tripura. The sisters are credited on-screen under their mother's maiden name, although their official papers carry the surname Dev Varma.

Riya completed her schooling at Loreto House and Rani Birla College, both in Kolkata. and she took up jewellery-designing as a hobby. She designs most of the clothes that she wears in films and commercials. Riya is trained in Kathak and is still pursuing it under Vijayshree Chaudhury. She is taking kickboxing lessons and has completed Level I of the 5 levels in belly dancing. Riya entered the film industry through small-time modeling assignments, commuting between Mumbai and Kolkata and traveling by public transport during the her early career. After breaking into the film industry, she shifted from her mother's house in Ballygunge Circular Road in south Kolkata to Mumbai. There she moved into the family house in Juhu, where she stays with her sister. During her stay in Mumbai, the media romantically linked her to model and actor John Abraham. In the Bollywood press, she was, in 2008, speculatively linked to the novelist Salman Rushdie, although both stated that they were simply good friends.

Riya has suffered a number of untimely incidents. During the filming of Shaadi No. 1 in France, she was knocked unconscious after being accidentally run over by a stuntman's motorbike, but she was not seriously injured. Shortly before the release of Silsiilay, in which she starred opposite her boyfriend Ashmit Patel, a 90-second video clip was circulated through Multimedia Messaging Services and the internet, showing the pair in compromising situations. This was one of a number of controversies that erupted when celebrities were caught in similar situations using cameraphones. Following this incident, the couple split up, although Riya denied that she was the girl in the MMS clip. In 2007, she underwent a brief detoxification session in Bangkok for addiction to chocolate.

Public persona

Riya's on-screen performances have established her as a sex symbol and youth icon in India. and sharing on-screen kisses with co-stars Ashmit Patel in Silsiilay and Sharman Joshi in Style, respectively. Such performances garnered attention because of the relatively conservative outlook of Indian cinema and her own statements about such practises. Before becoming a film identity, she had a reputation for partying, which started at the age of fifteen. Riya's public persona is compared to her mother Moon Moon, who was seen as a sex symbol of her time, while her sister Raima is mostly compared their grandmother Suchitra.

Although her film career has yet to achieve large-scale success, Riya has generated considerable media attention. She was ranked ninth on Femina 50 Most Beautiful Women, published in the magazine's September 2007 issue. She was a jury member for the 2008 Final of the Mr. India contest. Along with Bollywood actors such as Waheeda Rehman, Shilpa Shetty, Dia Mirza, Raveena Tandon, Jackie Shroff, Naseeruddin Shah, Tabu and Lara Dutta, Riya appeared in Haath Se Haath Mila, an HIV/AIDS awareness music video. She made charity appearances at McDonald's India to raise money for paediatric eye-care during World Children's Week (14–20 November) in 2003.

Filmography

{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;" |- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" align="center" ! Year !! Film !! Director !! Role !! Co-artists !! Language !! Other notes |- | 1991 || Vishkanya || Jag Mundhra || Young Nishi || Pooja Bedi, Kabir Bedi, Moon Moon Sen || Hindi || As a child artist |- |rowspan="2"| 1999 || Taj Mahal || Bharathi Raja || Machakanni || Manoj Bharatiraaja || Tamil || |- | Good Luck || Manoj Bhatnaghar || Priya || Prashanth, Raghuvaran, Sukanya || Tamil || |- |rowspan="1"| 2001 || Style || N. Chandra || Sheena || Sharman Joshi, Sahil Khan, Shilpi Mudgal, Tara Deshpande || Hindi || |- | 2002 || Dil Vil Pyar Vyar || Anant Mahadevan || Gaurav's girlfriend || R. Madhavan, Sanjay Suri, Namrata Shirodkar, Jimmy Shergill, Sonali Kulkarni, Hrishitaa Bhatt || Hindi || Cameo appearance |- |rowspan="3"| 2003 || Saazish || Rajat Rawail || – || Milind Soman, Aryan Vaid, Reshmi Ghosh, Usha Bachani, Suhas Khandke, Rajpal Yadav || Hindi || |- | || Harry Baweja || Sheetal || Ajay Devgan, Sunil Shetty, Sanjay Kapoor, Arbaaz Khan, Isha Koppikar, Neha Dhupia || Hindi || |- | Jhankaar Beats || Sujoy Ghosh || Preeti || Sanjay Suri, Rahul Bose, Juhi Chawla, Shayan Munshi, Rinke Khanna || Hinglish || The language of the film was a mix of Hindi and English |- |rowspan="3"| 2004 || Dil Ne Jise Apna Kahaa || Atul Agnihotri || Kamini || Salman Khan, Preity Zinta, Bhoomika Chawla, Helen, Rati Agnihotri, Renuka Shahane || Hindi || Cameo appearance |- | Plan || Hriday Shetty || Shalini || Sanjay Dutt, Sanjay Suri, Dino Morea, Priyanka Chopra, Sameera Reddy || Hindi || Item number |- | Arasatchi || N. Maharajan || Iruvathu Vaisu || Arjun Sarja, Lara Dutta, Raghuvaran, Vivek, Lakshmi || Tamil || Item number |- |rowspan="6"| 2005 || Ananthabhadram || Santhosh Sivan || Bhama || Kavya Madhavan, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Manoj K Jayan, Kalabhavan Mani, Biju Menon, Revathi || Malayalam || |- | Shaadi No. 1 || David Dhawan || Madhuri || Sanjay Dutt, Fardeen Khan, Zayed Khan, Sharman Joshi, Esha Deol, Soha Ali Khan, Ayesha Takia || Hindi || |- | Tum... Ho Na! || N.S. Raj Bharath || Reema || Preeti Ganguly, Sumit Nijhawan, Nethra Raghuraman, Jackie Shroff || Hindi || |- | James || Rohit Jugraj || – || Mohit Ahlawat, Mohan Agashe, Snehal Dabi, Nisha Kothari || Hindi || Item number |- | Silsiilay || Khalid Mohammed || Anushka || Tabu, Bhoomika Chawla, Jimmy Shergill, Rahul Bose, Celina Jaitley, Ashmit Patel, Divya Dutta || Hindi || |- | It Was Raining That Night || Mahesh Manjrekar || – || Riyaz Ahmed, Victor Banerjee, Mahesh Manjrekar, Dawn Moeller, Moon Moon Sen, Sushmita Sen || English || |- |rowspan="4"| 2006 || Apna Sapna Money Money || Sangeeth Sivan || Shivani || Ritesh Deshmukh, Celina Jaitley, Anupam Kher, Koena Mitra, Sunil Shetty, Jackie Shroff || Hindi || |- | The Bachelor || Ajay Sinha || Nisha || Sharman Joshi, Raima Sen, Manoj Pahwa, Himani Shivpuri, Manish Nagpal || Hindi || Unfinished |- | Rokda || Ramesh Kotar || – || Arshad Warsi, Ashmit Patel, Aashish Chaudhary, Shamita Shetty, Tanushree Dutta || Hindi || Unfinished |- | Love You Hamesha || Kailash Surendranath || Meghna || Rishma Malik, Sonali Bendre, Akshaye Khanna, Nirupa Roy || Hindi || Originally scheduled for release in 1999, credited as Rhea Dev Varma |- |rowspan="1"| 2007 || Heyy Baby || Sajid Khan || – || Akshay Kumar, Fardeen Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Vidya Balan || Hindi || Item number |- |rowspan="4"| 2008 || Nenu Meeku Telusa...? || Ajay Shastri ||Madhu||Manoj Manchu, Sneha Ullal || Telugu || Dubbed into Tamil. |- |Heroes || || – || Salman Khan, Preity Zinta, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Sohail Khan || Hindi || |- |Zor Lagaa Ke... Hayya || Girish Girija Joshi || – || Mithun Chakraborty, Mahesh Manjrekar, Seema Biswas, Gulshan Grover || Hindi || Unfinished |- |Love Khichdi || Srinivas Bhashyam || – || Randeep Hooda, Rituparna Sengupta, Divya Dutta, Rakhi Sawant || Hindi || Announced |- |rowspan="1"| 2009 |Paying Guests||Paritosh Painter ||Avni||G. Asrani, Sayali Bhagat, Aashish Chaudhary, Neha Dhupia, Javed Jaffrey, Celina Jaitley, Viju Khote, Inder Kumar, Johnny Lever, Paintal, Chunky Pandey, Delnaaz Paul, Vatsal Seth, Shreyas Talpade||Hindi || |- |rowspan="1"| 2010 |Benny and Babloo|| Yunus Sajawal || Riya || Kay Kay Menon, Rajpal Yadav, Shweta Tiwari || Hindi || |- |}

See also

List of Indian film actresses

List of Bollywood Clans: The Sens

Sex in Indian entertainment

References

External links

Interview with Riya Sen in The Telegraph

Riya and Raima compared in The Telegraph

Riya Sen on her mother in Hindustan Times

Category:Indian film actors Category:Indian female models Category:Bengali actors Category:1981 births Category:Living people Category:People from Kolkata Category:Bengali people Category:University of Calcutta alumni

Caption	Kapoor at the premiere of Saawariya (2007)
Birthdate	September 28, 1982
Birthplace	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Occupation	Actor
Yearsactive	2007 – present

Ranbir Kapoor (), born 28 September 1982 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India) is an Indian actor who appears in Bollywood movies.

Making his acting debut in the 2007 film Saawariya, for which he won the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut, Kapoor went on to earn critical praise for his performance in Wake Up Sid (2009). He later went on to appear in the commercially successful romantic comedy Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (2009) and the multi-starrer drama Raajneeti (2010), which became his biggest commercial success to date. Kapoor has therefore established himself as one of the most promising actors of Hindi cinema.

Early life

Kapoor is from a family of Punjabi origin, the son of actors Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh; his sister is Riddhima Kapoor Sahni. He is the grandson of actor and filmmaker Raj Kapoor, grandnephew of actors and filmmakers, Shashi Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor, great grandson of Prithviraj Kapoor and nephew of actor Randhir Kapoor. Other notable family members include his cousins Karishma Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor and Nikhil Nanda. As a child, Kapoor studied at Bombay Scottish School in Mahim, Mumbai and went on to pursue method acting at The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York.

Career

Before starting off his career as an actor, Kapoor worked as an assistant with director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, where he was involved in the making of the film Black (2005). Kapoor later made his acting debut in November 2007 with Bhansali's Saawariya opposite newcomer Sonam Kapoor. The film failed to do well at the box office, though his performance was largely appreciated. Kapoor was then seen in Siddharth Anand's romantic comedy Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008) alongside Bipasha Basu, Minissha Lamba and Deepika Padukone. The film performed reasonably well at the box office.

Kapoor's first release of 2009 was Ayan Mukerji's Wake Up Sid, in which he portrayed the character of Siddharth Mehra, a spoiled and self-centered college student from Mumbai. Featured opposite Konkona Sen Sharma, the film was a critical and commercial success, and Kapoor earned several nominations for Best Actor at various award ceremonies. He next starred alongside Katrina Kaif in Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, which surfaced as one of the biggest hits of the year. Following this, Kapoor appeared in Shimit Amin's drama . Upon release, the film received positive reviews by critics but failed to do well. Kapoor's performance was critically acclaimed, with one critic writing, "Ranbir brings to his part a whole lot of earnestness and heart. His natural and utterly contagious exuberance so much on display in his last two films Wake Up Sid and Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani is effortlessly curbed here."

In 2010, he appeared in Prakash Jha's multi-starrer blockbuster Rajneeti. Kapoor recently appeared in Siddharth Anand's Anjaana Anjaani alongside Priyanka Chopra. His forthcoming project includes Imtiaz Ali's Rockstar with newcomer Nargis Fakhri.

Personal life

Kapoor currently lives with his parents in Pali Hill in Mumbai, Maharashtra. During an interview in March 2008, he announced that he was dating Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone. The couple broke up in 2009.

Awards and nominations

Filmography

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- | 2007 | Saawariya | Raj | Winner, Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut |- | 2008 | Bachna Ae Haseeno | Raj Sharma | |- |rowspan="4"|2009 | Luck by Chance | Himself | Guest appearance |- | Wake Up Sid | Sidharth Mehra | Winner, Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance also for Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani & Nominated, Filmfare Award for Best Actor |- | Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani | Prem Shankar Sharma | Winner, Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance also for Wake Up Sid & Nominated, Filmfare Award for Best Actor |- | | Harpreet Singh Bedi | Winner, Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance also for Wake Up Sid & Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani |- |rowspan="2"|2010 | Raajneeti | Samar Pratap | Nominated, Filmfare Award for Best Actor |- | Anjaana Anjaani | Akash | |- |rowspan="2"|2011 | Rockstar | Jordan | Filming |- | Barfee | | Pre-production |}

References

External links

Category:Filmfare Awards winners Category:1982 births Category:Indian actors Category:Indian film actors Category:Living people Category:People from Mumbai Category:Indian Hindus Category:Hindi film actors Category:Punjabi people

Name	Priyanka Chopra
Caption	Chopra at the Filmfare Magazine launch in Mumbai, October 2008
Occupation	Actress
Birth place	Jamshedpur, Jharkand, India
Birthdate	July 18, 1982
Nationality	Indian
Yearsactive	2002–present
Signature	PriyankaChopra Signature.jpg
Signature alt	"Love Priyanka Chopra"
Website

Priyanka Chopra (, ; born 18 July 1982) is an Indian actress and former Miss World. Before starting her acting career, she worked as a model and gained fame after winning the Miss World title in 2000.

Chopra made her acting debut with the 2002 Tamil film Thamizhan. The following year, she made her Bollywood film debut with and followed it with the hit Andaaz, for which she won a Filmfare Best Female Debut Award. In 2004, she became the second woman to win the Filmfare Best Villain Award, which she received for her critically acclaimed performance in Aitraaz. Chopra would later have commercial success with films like Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (2004), Krrish (2006) and Don – The Chase Begins Again. Chopra earned a Filmfare Best Actress Award and a National Film Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of a model in Fashion (2008) and has thus established herself as one of the leading contemporary actresses in Bollywood.

Early life and background

Chopra was born in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand to Ashok Chopra and Madhu Akhauri, both physicians by profession. Chopra spent her childhood in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh; Newton, Massachusetts; and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Her father was in the army and thus her family moved quite frequently. Her father hailed from a family of Punjabi origin, settled in Bareilly and her mother comes from a family, settled in Jamshedpur. She also has a brother, Siddharth, who is seven years younger than she is.

Chopra studied at La Martiniere Girls' School in Lucknow as a young girl. These frequent re-locations took place as her father was a physician in the Indian Army. She subsequently re-located to the U.S. where she studied in Newton South High School in Newton, Massachusetts and then in John F. Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She returned to India and did her high school at Army School in Bareilly. She began college at Jai Hind College in Mumbai but left after winning the Miss World pageant.

Chopra came in second place at Femina Miss India 2000 competition winning the Femina Miss India World title and subsequently being sent to Miss World where she was crowned Miss World 2000. In the same year, Lara Dutta and Dia Mirza, both also from India, won the Miss Universe and Miss Asia Pacific crowns respectively, in a rare triple victory for one country.

When Chopra won the Miss World crown, she became the fifth Indian woman to win the title, and the fourth Indian woman to win in a span of seven years.

On December 12, 2009, Chopra was present as a judge for the Miss World 2009 competition held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Acting career

Chopra made her debut in the 2002 Tamil film Thamizhan playing the role of Priya, the love interest of the protaginist in the film played by Vijay. The film was praised for its wit, although the depth of Chopra's character was seen as lacking. Chopra also sang playback in the film, singing "Ullathai Killadhe" along with Vijay.

In 2003, she appeared in her first Bollywood film, opposite Sunny Deol and Preity Zinta in the Anil Sharma film . She played a supporting role as a doctor named Shaheen in a film The New York Times described as "ripping its text from the seething border tensions between India and Pakistan, spicing its conflict with hot-tempered religious zealots bent on nuclear havoc". Despite being one of the highest grossing films of that year, the overall film was not well received by critics, Chopra was awarded mostly good reviews for her debut Hindi performance. Later that year she appeared in Raj Kanwar's Andaaz, playing the character of Jiya who falls in love with Raj Malhotra, played by Akshay Kumar. The film was a considerable box office success,

Her next few films released in 2004 like Plan, Kismat and Asambhav performed poorly at the box office. Later that year she appeared in David Dhawan's romantic comedy Mujhse Shaadi Karogi playing the role of a young fashion designer Rani along with Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar, the film turned out to be the third highest grossing film of that year. She next starred in Aitraaz. It was her first negative role. Her performance won critical acclaim and earned a Filmfare Best Villain Award. She also received a second nomination for Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for the role. Film critic, Subhash K Jha, noted: "A star is born! As the predatory social-climbing seductress who can go to any length to satiate her lust for life, Priyanka Chopra rocks the scene like never before. The film is undoubtedly a triumph for Priyanka Chopra. With half a smile, a twitch of her lip and a movement of her eyebrow she seems to slip into her man-eater's role with captivating ease". In the same year, she participated in a world tour titled Temptations 2004 with other Bollywood actors, including Shahrukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukerji, Preity Zinta and Arjun Rampal.

In 2005, she starred in six films. Her four films, Blackmail, Karam, Yakeen and Barsaat failed to do well. Then in 2007 she starred in Nikhil Advani's ensemble piece, . The movie failed to do well at the box office. Chopra's next release; the much delayed, Big Brother also underperformed. 's Fashion which won her the National Film Award for Best Actress and also the Filmfare Best Actress Award.]] In 2008, Chopra featured in six films. Her first four films, Love Story 2050, God Tussi Great Ho, Chamku and Drona, failed to do well. Chopra's fifth release of the year, Madhur Bhandarkar's Fashion was a critical success. The film revolved around the fashion world and Chopra's role was that of an ambitious model. Her performance in the film was appreciated and earned her several awards for Best Actress including the National Film Award for Best Actress and also the Filmfare Best Actress Award. Film critic, Subhash K Jha said of her performance, "Her transformation from the bubbly Chandigarh girl to the super-ambitious supermodel, who dumps her boyfriend and conscience to pursue her dreams, is achieved with a gentle subtlety and bridled passion. This is Priyanka’s coming-of-age film. She looks like a zillion bucks. And acts like a woman who connects with the darkest, most desperate human emotions without wallowing in them." Chopra's final release of the year was Tarun Mansukhani's romantic comedy Dostana. The film was a moderate financial success. Her performance was praised by the critics, with Rajeev Masand stating: "Priyanka Chopra, is at complete ease, slipping effortlessly into the role of the hottie-with-a-heart-of-gold; she looks smashing in this film, better than she's ever looked before."

In 2009, she appeared in Vishal Bhardwaj's Kaminey alongside Shahid Kapoor, playing the role of a feisty marathi girl named Sweety. Her performance in the film was described by critic Taran Adarsh: "Priyanka is first-rate. She's so much in sync with her character. Also, she gets the Maharashtrian accent perfect".

She subsequently appeared in Ashutosh Gowariker's What's Your Raashee?, a film in which Chopra became the first actress in the world to portray 12 distinct characters on screen. She is being considered for inclusion in an upcoming edition of Guinness World Records for this feat. The film itself, however, was a financial and critical failure. But, Chopra's performance in the film was highly appreciated by the critics, film critic Taran Adarsh said: "What's Your Raashee? belongs to Priyanka Chopra. No two opinions on that. Words would fail to do justice to the remarkable portrayal of twelve different characters by this actor. This is her finest work to date."

In 2010, Chopra appeared in Jugal Hansraj's Pyaar Impossible where she portrayed the role of a college beauty who eventually falls in love with a geek. The film was a financial and critical failure. Her next release, Siddharth Anand's Anjaana Anjaani alongside Ranbir Kapoor, got a good initial response at the box office, but was not well received by the critics. She was also appointed as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 2010.

Chopra has completed working on Vishal Bhardwaj's 7 Khoon Maaf, in which she plays the role of an Anglo-Indian woman with seven husbands. She has recently completed the first schedule of Farhan Akhtar's Don 2 – The Chase Continues alongside Shahrukh Khan in Berlin. And she has also been finalized for Anurag Basu's Barfee alongside Ranbir Kapoor, in which she reportedly plays the role of a mentally challenged girl. And recently, she has also confirmed that she will be doing Agneepath remake and Krrish 2 alongside Hrithik Roshan.

Television

Chopra made her television debut as a host with Colors' reality show Fear Factor – Khatron Ke Khiladi Level 3. She replaced actor Akshay Kumar who hosted the previous two seasons. The show, which premiered on September 6, 2010, beat the opening ratings of the previous two seasons.

Filmography

See also

List of Indian film actresses

Miss India

References

External links

Priyanka Chopra on Bollywood Hungama

Category:1982 births Category:Living people Category:Indian film actors Category:Hindi film actors Category:Indian actors Category:Filmfare Awards winners Category:Miss World winners Category:Miss World 2000 delegates Category:Femina Miss India winners Category:Indian female models Category:Old Martinians Category:Indian Hindus Category:Punjabi people Category:People from Bareilly Category:People from Jharkhand Category:National Film Award winners

Playername	Kevin Pietersen
Country	England
Fullname	Kevin Peter Pietersen
Nickname	KP, Kapes, Kapers
Living	true
Dayofbirth	27
Monthofbirth	6
Yearofbirth	1980
Placeofbirth	Pietermaritzburg, Natal
Countryofbirth	South Africa
Heightft	6
Heightinch	4
Batting	Right-hand
Bowling	Right-arm off break
Role	Batsman
International	true
Testdebutdate	21 July
Testdebutyear	2005
Testdebutagainst	Australia
Testcap	626
Lasttestdate	3 January
Lasttestyear	2011
Lasttestagainst	Australia
Odidebutdate	28 November
Odidebutyear	2004
Odidebutagainst	Zimbabwe
Odicap	185
Lastodidate	5 March
Lastodiyear	2010
Lastodiagainst	Bangladesh
Odishirt	24
Club1	Royal Challengers Bangalore
Year1	2008–2010
Clubnumber1	24
Club2	Surrey
Year2	2010–present
Clubnumber2	24
Club3	Hampshire
Year3	2005–2010
Clubnumber3	24
Club4	MCC
Year4	2004
Club5	Nottinghamshire
Year5	2001–2004
Club6	KwaZulu Natal
Year6	1999–2000; 2010
Club7	KwaZulu Natal B
Year7	1998–1999
Club8	Natal B
Year8	1997–1998
Club9	Deccan Chargers
Year9	2011–present
Clubnumber9	--
Columns	4
Column1	Test
Matches1	71
Runs1	5,666
Bat avg1	48.42
100s/50s1	17/21
Top score1	227
Deliveries1	873
Wickets1	5
Bowl avg1	116.80
Fivefor1	–
Tenfor1	–
Best bowling1	1/0
Catches/stumpings1	39/–
Column2	ODI
Matches2	104
Runs2	3,332
Bat avg2	42.17
100s/50s2	7/20
Top score2	116
Deliveries2	274
Wickets2	6
Bowl avg2	41.00
Fivefor2	0
Tenfor2	n/a
Best bowling2	2/22
Catches/stumpings2	32/–
Column3	FC
Matches3	164
Runs3	12.253
Bat avg3	49.01
100s/50s3	39/51
Top score3	254*
Deliveries3	5,677
Wickets3	62
Bowl avg3	53.14
Fivefor3	0
Tenfor3	0
Best bowling3	4/31
Catches/stumpings3	128/–
Column4	List A
Matches4	217
Runs4	6,931
Bat avg4	41.75
100s/50s4	13/41
Top score4	147
Deliveries4	2,264
Wickets4	40
Bowl avg4	49.95
Fivefor4	0
Tenfor4	n/a
Best bowling4	3/14
Catches/stumpings4	76/–
Date	07 January
Year	2011
Source	http://www.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/19296.html Cricinfo

Kevin Peter Pietersen, MBE (born 27 June 1980) is a South African-born English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who plays for England and Surrey. He had also played for Indian Premier League team Royal Challengers Bangalore for its second and third seasons, captaining the side in his first, prior to being bought by the Deccan Chargers for the fourth season of the competition. He was captain of the England Test and One Day International teams from 4 August 2008 to 7 January 2009 but resigned after just three tests and nine One Day Internationals, following a dispute with England coach Peter Moores, who was sacked the same day. He is regarded as one of the best batsmen in the world, and is certainly the most destructive,as he is capable of taking on any bowling.

Pietersen was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal, South Africa. He made his first-class debut for Natal in 1997 before moving to England after voicing his displeasure at the racial quota system in place in South Africa. His English mother gave Pietersen eligibility to play for England, and after serving a qualifying period of four years playing at county level, he was called up almost immediately into the national side. He made his international debut in the One Day International match against Zimbabwe in 2004, and his Test match debut in the 2005 Ashes series against Australia the following year. The England team's subsequent reliance on Pietersen since his debut has resulted in only one first-class appearance for Hampshire since 2005, which resulted in Pietersen looking to leave the club in 2010.

Pietersen became the fastest batsman to reach both 1,000 and 2,000 runs in One Day International cricket, and the quickest in terms of time to 5,000 Test runs. He has the highest average of any England player to have played more than 20 innings of one-day cricket. He has the second-highest run total from his first 25 Tests, behind only the Australian Donald Bradman, and was the fastest player, in terms of days, to reach 4,000 Test runs. He became only the third English batsman to top the ICC One Day International rankings, doing so in March 2007. In July 2008, after a century against South Africa, The Times called him "the most complete batsman in cricket". Shane Warne, a close friend, in a September serial for the same newspaper, wrote, "I don't think he has an obvious flaw in his technique."

Early and personal life

Born of an English mother, Penny, and an Afrikaner father, Jannie, he learned valuable lessons from this "fantastic" approach to parenting, and said: "Discipline is good. It taught me that I didn't always have to have what I wanted; that what I needed was different from what I wanted." Bryan plays club and second XI cricket in England.

Pietersen attended Maritzburg College, Pietermaritzburg, and made his first-class cricket debut for Natal's B team in 1997, aged 17, where he was regarded predominantly as an off spin bowler and a hard-hitting lower-order batsman. After two seasons, he moved to England for a five-month spell as the overseas player for club side Cannock CC, helping them win the Birmingham and District Premier League in 2000. This first spell away from home did not leave him with fond memories for England, in particular "those horrible Black Country accents" referring to the dialect of the Midlands, living in a single room above a squash court, and working in the club bar.

Pietersen is widely portrayed in the media as having a self-assured personality, described by Geoffrey Boycott as being "cocky and confident". Former England test captain Michael Vaughan counters this, saying, "KP is not a confident person. He obviously has great belief in his ability but that's not quite the same thing... And I know KP wants to be loved. I try to text him and talk to him as often as I can because I know he is insecure." He has been noted for unusual haircuts, with his peroxide blond dyed streak of hair along the middle of his head during the 2005 Ashes series being described as a "dead skunk" look. During the 2006–07 Ashes tour, the Australian team, noted for their efforts to dominate opponents psychologically, dubbed him "The Ego", or "FIGJAM" (Fuck I'm Good, Just Ask Me). Other nicknames include KP, Kelves and Kapes. The couple married on 29 December 2007 at St Andrew's Church in Castle Combe, Wiltshire, with former England team-mate Darren Gough acting as best man. Their first child, Dylan Blake Pietersen, was born on 10 May 2010.

Domestic career

He impressed members of Nasser Hussain's England side when playing for KwaZulu Natal in 1999; he took four top-order wickets and, despite batting at number nine, scored 61 not out from 57 balls, hitting four sixes. Hussain then recommended that Pietersen secure a contract with an English county side.

Despite the praise from the England side, Pietersen claimed he was dropped from the Natal first team. Pietersen felt that this was due to the country's racial quota system, in which provincial sides were required to have at least four non-white players. Pietersen's view was that players should be judged on merit, and described it as "heartbreaking" when he was left out of the side, although he later reflected "it turned out it was the best thing that could have happened". Pietersen has since firmly criticised the quota system, which he feels forced him out of the country of his birth. He has also criticised Graeme Smith, who became captain of the South African side in 2003, calling him "an absolute muppet, childish and strange" and that his behaviour "leaves a lot to be desired". Smith opposed this, saying, "I'm patriotic about my country, and that's why I don't like Kevin Pietersen. The only reason that Kevin and I have never had a relationship is because he slated South Africa". Pietersen's outspoken views published in his autobiography, Crossing the Boundary, in September 2006, and in an interview for South African magazine GQ, led to unsuccessful calls for an ICC investigation regarding bringing the game into disrepute.

In 2000, Nottinghamshire coach Clive Rice, who had seen Pietersen play in 1997 in South Africa at a schools week, heard that Pietersen was playing club cricket for the Cannock Cricket Club and offered him a three-year contract to play for the county. In his first season he made 1,275 runs with an impressive batting average of 57.95, including 218 not out in an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 352 with John Morris at Derby in July, after having been out lbw for a duck in the first innings. These performances led to praise in the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack: "If he can maintain his first season's form, the name of Pietersen should be pencilled in for future Test squads." This period proved to be a purple patch for the batsman, scoring four consecutive centuries (254 not out, 122, 147 and 116) in one week in August.

In 2003, Pietersen scored 1,546 first-class runs, and 764 runs in limited overs cricket. He was selected for the 2003/04 ECB National Academy tour of India, and had a successful tour scoring 523 runs including three centuries in his six first-class innings to record an average of 104.60, and making 131 in a one-day match against India A in Bangalore.

After Nottinghamshire were relegated in 2003, Pietersen requested a release from his contract, saying "I haven't been happy for a while....The pitch at Trent Bridge has been one of my problems... I could have done so much better if the wicket had been good." This led to a public row with club captain Jason Gallian, where Gallian allegedly threw Pietersen's kit off the Trent Bridge balcony and broke his bat:

During the game I told the captain that I was not happy and that I wanted to leave. After the game we spoke in the dressing room and then I went to have dinner. I got a call saying the captain had trashed my equipment. I was told the captain had said, 'if he does not want to play for Notts he can f*** off.' I have not spoken to Gallian since, nor have I received an apology.

Pietersen was made to honour the last year of his contract at Nottinghamshire, but "didn't enjoy it at all". In October 2004, he joined Hampshire under the captaincy of Shane Warne.

After becoming a regular in the national side, Pietersen rarely gets an opportunity to play domestic cricket. Having an England "central contract" meant that Pietersen was only released to play for Hampshire at the discretion of the national coach. After being left out of the national side to face Bangladesh in May 2005, Pietersen had several good innings in the English County Championship, including two centuries. He only played twice for the county in 2006, and appeared just once in 2007, with an unbeaten 66 against Ireland. Pietersen's last first-class match for Hampshire came in the 2008 County Championship against Somerset, where he scored 100 runs in Hampshire's first innings, and following the birth of his son, a desire to stay in London led to him announcing he would leave Hampshire at the end of the 2010 season.

Pietersen then joined Surrey on loan from Hampshire for the remainder of the 2010 English county cricket season. It was his first limited overs century since 2008, and his first century of any kind since March 2009. He subsequently signed permanently for Surrey from the 2011 season onwards, noting his delight for having joined the club. Steve Harmison was the first to boycott the tour for "political and sporting reasons", and all-rounder Andrew Flintoff was reported to be considering taking a moral stand himself. The England Chairman of Selectors David Graveney denied that the selectors would leave out players unhappy with touring Zimbabwe and would put their absences down to injury. Flintoff was, however, "rested" and Pietersen rushed into the squad "at the earliest opportunity". In the five match ODI series, Pietersen batted in three innings which included a score of 77 not out; he finished the series with an average of 104.00 as England won the series 4–0.

Pietersen was upset not to be initially in the squad to tour South Africa. With Flintoff withdrawing due to injury, Pietersen was recalled to the squad, and cemented his place in the first team with 97 off 84 balls in the warm-up match against South Africa A, in the face of a hostile crowd. Throughout the tour, Pietersen was subjected to a barrage of abuse from the South African crowd, who regarded him somewhat like a traitor.

Pietersen scored a 96-ball 108 not out in the tied second ODI at Bloemfontein, after which the crowd turned their backs on him as he returned to the pavilion. This score set his ODI average at an incredible record 234.00. He made 75 at Cape Town, then at East London Pietersen made an unbeaten 100 from only 69 balls, the fastest century by an England player in a one-day match, although England still lost by eight runs. In the final game at Centurion Park, Pietersen came to the wicket at 32/3 and scored 116, but again could not prevent a defeat. Pietersen ended the series, which England lost 4–1, with 454 runs in five innings, and the Player of the Series award. By the end of the series, the South African crowds had generally replaced hostility with respect for Pietersen, his final century being awarded a standing ovation.

Mixed success in Ashes build-up

Despite press speculation, Pietersen was not picked for the Tests against Bangladesh—his early season form being dogged by a foot injury—but with his county form improving, he was selected for the Twenty20 match against Australia at Southampton, making 34 from 18 balls and taking three catches as England won by 100 runs being awarded man of the match in the process.

In the triangular ODI series against Australia and Bangladesh, Pietersen did not get to bat in the first match at The Oval as England won by 10 wickets, but scored 91 off 65 balls in the match in Bristol against Australia. In the remainder of the triangular series, Pietersen scored quickly, although without other half-centuries. In the final of the NatWest Series, he only made 6 as he finished the seven-match series with a total of 278 runs at an average of 46.33.

Pietersen's performances sparked speculation over whether he would be brought into the Test side for The Ashes later in the summer. A BBC poll of 10 respected cricketers resulted in a minor preference for playing Pietersen and Ian Bell in the middle order, with Graham Thorpe missing out.

Later in July, Pietersen played in all three matches of the (ODI) NatWest Challenge against Australia. In the final match he was the top scorer for England with 74 runs; however, he was forced off the field in the third over of Australia's reply with a groin injury.

2005 Ashes triumph

in September 2005.]] Speculation over when Pietersen would play for the Test team was ended in July with the announcement by the England chairman of selectors, David Graveney, that Pietersen had been selected ahead of Thorpe. He made his debut in the first Ashes Test at Lord's, becoming the 626th player to play for the national side. He came into bat at 18-3 and he made 57 on debut in his first innings. In the second innings, he similarly came in after a batting collapse and finished making a second half-century and finished the innings on 64 not out, becoming only the fourth player to top score in both innings on debut for England, the eighth England player to score a half-century in each innings on his debut, and the third cricketer to do so at Lord's. England were thrashed by 239 runs before moving onto Edgbaston where he came in in a more comfortable position scoring 71 in the first innings. He had a good partnership with Andrew Flintoff where the pair put on 103 very quickly. He made 20 in the second innings coming in at 31-4. He was involved in two controversial decisions. He gloved his first ball from Brett Lee, but the umpire turned down the appeal. Later, Shane Warne bowled a ball which hit his pad then elbow before being caught by Adam Gilchrist, and he was given out. The match ended with England narrowly winning by 2 runs.

In the drawn third Test, Pietersen had his first quiet match when he scored 21 in the first innings, getting caught on the boundary. Then, with England looking to push on he was unfortunately dismissed lbw to Glenn McGrath for a golden duck. In the fourth test win at his former home ground Trent Bridge, he scored 45 in the first innings after facing 108 balls looking to build a big score. In the second innings chasing 129 to win, he was in at 57-4 when he scored 23 in a decent partnership again with Flintoff. He was dismissed when he was caught behind wafting at a ball outside off stump. However, England won and went 2–1 up. Under pressure to post a large score in the final Test at The Oval, Pietersen did not contribute significantly in the first innings with 14 as he was bowled for the first time in his Test career by Shane Warne. In the second innings, Pietersen was dropped on 0 by a combination of Gilchrist and Hayden, on 15 by his Hampshire colleague Shane Warne and after reaching fifty on 60 by Shaun Tait. He reached his maiden test century with a driven four off the bowling of Tait before making 158, eventually being dismissed by Glenn McGrath. This innings helped to secure the return of the ashes to England for the first time since the late 1980s. His innings included seven sixes, breaking Ian Botham's record for the most sixes by an English player in an Ashes innings. Pietersen was named Man of the Match for his efforts, and finished the series as top scorer, with 473 runs over the five Tests, an average of 52.55 which also was the highest in the series. However, he had a less successful series in the field, dropping six catches in the five Tests, a point he made wryly when questioned about the Australians dropping him three times on the final day. Pietersen was given an ECB "central contract" to reflect his place in the national side.

Less rewarding winter tour

action in 2006]] Pietersen had a less successful time in the three Test matches against Pakistan, which England lost 2–0. He made little impact in the first and third test. His first Test match innings since his match winning 158 against Australia was brief as he was caught at short leg for 5. In the second innings, he was criticised for his dismissal. Chasing just 198, he was caught behind after a horrible slog on 19 as England went onto lose by 22 runs. In the third test, he made 34 before edging behind in the first innings. With England indifficulty, Pietersen edged Danish Kaneria to short leg when only on one, as England were to be defeated by an innings. He fared better in the second, however, making his second Test century in the first innings. He brought up his hundred with a six before next ball, he top-edged a pull and was out. In the next innings, with England needing to bat out a draw, England were 20-4 but he made 42 to help England get the draw. He was also performing well in the one-day series with two explosive innings of 56 from 39 balls to help England win the first ODI, and 28 from 27 balls in the second. The quick-scoring innings in the second ODI was to be Pietersen's last on the tour. A rib injury sustained in the first ODI proved too painful throughout the second, and Pietersen returned to England to recover fully for the tour of India.

In March 2006, Pietersen played in the three Tests against India, which England drew 1–1. In the first innings on 15, another rash shot brought his downfall. He pulled a ball from Sreesanth onto his stumps. His 87 in the second innings of the first match came during England's acceleration period, helping push the required target over 300. England then declared overnight, and India successfully batted out the final day to secure a draw. This half-century was followed by another in the first innings of the second Test. Again, he gave his wicket away on 64 when he offered Munaf Patel a return catch. The second innings was not so good, facing just 13 balls before being given out caught behind off a Harbhajan Singh delivery. The unhappy Pietersen was later fined 30 percent of his match fee for shaking his head and showing signs of dissent. "Replays demonstrated that the ball that had dismissed him had brushed his forearm, not his glove, before ballooning up into the hands of Rahul Dravid at slip. But umpire Darrell Hair gave him out for 4 as England collapsed on the fourth afternoon."

In the one-day series, which England lost 5–1, he was top scorer for England in four out of the five matches he played, and had the highest average of any player with 58.20. His 71 in the second ODI took him past 1,000 ODI runs, equalling Viv Richards' record of 21 innings to reach this total. In the second test he made 142 at Edgbaston. He made almost half of England's runs. After he made his hundred, his third six, saw the introduction to the Switch hit when he turned out and played a switch hitted sweep of Muttiah Muralitharan. This took him past the milestone of 1,000 Test runs, in his 12th Test match, and he became the first batsman since Graham Gooch in 1990 to score a century in three successive Test innings on English soil. This performance moved Pietersen into the top ten of the ICC cricket ratings. In the third test, he was twice removed by Murali. In the first innings, on 41, he top edged a sweep to short fine leg. In the second innings with England chasing 325, he was caught at short leg for just 6. Despite this, his performances in the first two tests earned him the England (Test Match) Player of the Series. In the first and second tests of the Pakistan series, he got starts with the bat but didn't get past 50. He was lbw offering no shot in the first innings at Lords for 21. In the second innings, when England were pushing on, he played some nice strokes in his 41 before being stumped of the bowling of Shahid Afridi. In the second test, he made 38 hen he hit a half-volley loosely to point. In the third test at Headingley, he hit 135 runs from England's total of 515. In the final controversial test at The Oval, on a horribly wet pitch, he got the second golden duck of his Test career when he edged behind. In the second innings, he made 96 before edgind behind again before the test came to an unexpected early end.

Pietersen bowled his first delivery in Test match cricket on 4 June, against Sri Lanka. His first Test wicket came against Pakistan later in the summer when Kamran Akmal got a thin edge through to Geraint Jones.

Later in June, Pietersen scored 17 in the Twenty20 International as England lost by 2 runs to Sri Lanka. The twenty over match against Pakistan was no better, Pietersen being bowled by Mohammad Asif for a golden duck as Pakistan helped themselves to a five-wicket victory.

England in Australia, 2006–07

In the much-anticipated Ashes series in Australia, Pietersen was hyped up as England's best player and this was justified as he scored 490 runs in five matches and averaged over fifty, despite Australia's obvious targeting of him. "I was interested to see how he would get on in Australia in 2006–07 on pitches with more bounce," wrote Warne, "because bowlers had tried to test him with the short ball. He was still England's best batsman." In the second Test, he backed up his good form with a century in the Second Test in Adelaide, sharing a 310-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Paul Collingwood. When he was eventually run out, his first reaction was to "giggle" because it was the third time in his Test career that he had scored exactly 158 runs, which was, at that point, his highest Test score. However, he made 2 in a disastrous second innings collapse which cost England dear. In the third test, he was the only batsman to offer any resistance with 70 in the first innings and 60 not out in the second innings in a defeat which cost England the Ashes. However, he couldn't carry on that form as he failed to make a half-century in the final two test as England lost five–nil.

In the tour's sole Twenty20 match, Pietersen was run out on eleven as England lost by 77 runs. Remarkably, for a powerful hitter, Pietersen has not yet posted a large score in the specialised twenty-over format, in which he averages 15.50.

Career in 2007

2007 World Cup

In the 2007 Cricket World Cup, England started in Group C with a game against New Zealand in which KP made 60 before holing out. He made another 50 against Kenya but disappointedly made just 5 against Canada as England sealed qualification. He made 48 in the unconvincing win against Ireland. Pietersen made 58 against Sri Lanka before being caught and bowled by Murali. England lost that game by 2 runs before losing the next game against Australia by 7 wickets. Pietersen crafted 104 runs off 122 balls against Australia. It was the first World Cup century by an Englishman since 1996, and the first ever against Australia. His efforts in the World Cup helped him achieve the status of International Cricket Council number-one ranked batsman in the world for ODIs. He then failed making 10 against Bangladesh and 3 against South Africa. England lost to South Africa meaning that England did not reach the semi-finals. In England's final match of the World Cup against the West Indies, Pietersen made 100 from 91 balls, and effected the run-out of retiring captain Brian Lara. This century took him past 2,000 ODI runs, in doing so equalling the record 51 matches set by Zaheer Abbas.

West Indies in England

In the first test of the series he was dismissed for 26 again chasing a wide one when looking set also after 4 centuries were scored by England batsmen in the innings at Lord's,he then scored a hundred in the second innings when England were looking to accelerate. Pietersen posted his highest score of 226 in the second Test at Headingley (it was scored in 262 balls, with 24 fours and 2 sixes), surpassing his previous best of 158 which he had achieved three times. With this score, Pietersen moved ahead of Everton Weekes and Viv Richards to be the batsman with the second-highest run-total out of his first 25 Tests (behind Don Bradman). This innings subjected the West Indies to an innings and 283 runs defeat, their largest against any team. Pietersen, the Man of the Match, said, "I believe the recipe for success is hard work. I've been criticised for throwing my wicket away, and I tried to make it count here".

In the third Test at Old Trafford, he carried on his bad run at the ground being bounced out twice for 9 and 68. In the second innings, Pietersen lost his wicket in a bizarre dismissal when West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo delivered a bouncer which knocked Pietersen's helmet off his head and onto his stumps. He is only the fourth batsman in Test cricket to be dismissed "hit wicket" as a result of headgear falling onto the stumps. This score took him past the 8,500 first-class runs mark, and 2,500 runs in Test cricket. In the final match of the series, he registered his third duck of his Test career in the first innings and 28 in the second innings as England won the series 3-0.

In contrast, Pietersen's batting was poor in the following single innings matches; he scored a total of 77 runs in five matches (two Twenty20 and three ODI), recording a second-ball duck in the final ODI. He subsequently fell to second in the official One Day International batting rankings, behind Ricky Ponting. Pietersen himself commented that his lack of form was a result of "fatigue", and reiterated his calls for a less "hectic" match schedule.

India tour and Twenty20 Championship

Pietersen played in the first Test against India and in the first innings, he made 37 but not without controversy. He edged the ball behind of Zaheer Khan to Dhoni. He walked, but after seeing replays on the screen, he walked back to the middle and the decision was overturned. Ironically, he was out shortly afterwards caught Dhoni, bowled Khan. In the second innings he was top scorer with a knock of 134 to set up a potential England victory. Pietersen described this as his best century, in very testing conditions. In the second test, he was twice lbw to RP Singh for 13 and 19 in a defeat which subsequently cost them the series. After making 41 in the first innings, Pietersen scored his 10th Test century in the third and final Test at the Oval, helping England to draw the game with 101. In the one-day series that followed, he struggled at the start with a top score of 33 not out in the first five matches of the series. He scored two half-centuries in the final matches including 71 not out in the final match at Lord's, hitting the winning runs to give England the series.

Pietersen was also picked for and played in the Twenty20 Championship in South Africa. In England's first game against Zimbabwe on 13 September, Pietersen hit 79 runs off 37 balls, his highest Twenty20 score, including seven fours and four sixes (one of them being another switch-hit sweep for six) in an English total of 188–9. England won the match by 50 runs; however, this was to be Pietersen's largest contribution in the competition. He scored another 99 runs over four more matches, ending the series with an average of 35.60. He also scored the most England fours (17) and jointly held the record for the most England sixes (6) with Owais Shah. He also held the highest strike rate of any England batsman.

Sri Lanka 2007

Pietersen scored 50 in England's opening game in Sri Lanka against the Sri Lankan Cricket XI, but it took until the fourth ODI for Pietersen to find form, scoring 63 not out as England won their first series in Sri Lanka. This form was still fluctuating in the warm-up matches for the Test series, scoring 4, 1 and 59 against the Sri Lankan Cricket XI. This run continued in the Test matches when in the first test he got two starts with 31 and 18 but didn't go on. He was unfortunate as in the second innings on 18 he was bowled by a ball that kept low from Dilhara Fernando. In the second test he managed 45 not out to secure a draw in the 2nd Test. In the first innings, Pietersen's dismissal was to be the source of much controversy. He edged his fifth ball to Chamara Silva at slip, who flicked the ball up for wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara to complete the catch. The two on-field umpires conferred over the validity of the catch, as it was unclear whether the ball had touched the ground prior to Silva flicking the ball up. Daryl Harper, standing at the bowler's end gave the decision that the wicket had been taken, but while walking off the field, Pietersen saw a replay on the big screen and questioned the validity of the decision. This led for calls for similar catches to be referred to the third (TV) umpire, but this can only take place if the on-field umpires have not made a decision. Pietersen passed 3,000 Test runs during the series, becoming the fastest player (by time) to do so, He only averaged 25.20, and failed to score a half century in a series for the first time.

Career in 2008

New Zealand tours (home and away)

On England's tour against New Zealand, Pietersen averaged 33.00 in the ODI series, with one score of 50 in the tied fourth match; England lost the series 3–1. He also made a top score of 43 in the first of two comfortable Twenty20 matches. Pietersen had a quiet first two Test matches, making little impression with the bat. He produced 42 and 6 as England collapsed in their second innings. In the next test, he fared little better making 31 and 17. However, in the first innings of the Napier Test he rescued England from a disastrous start of 4-3, guiding them to 259 with 129, his 11th Test century.

New Zealand then came to tour England and Pietersen again struggled in the first two Test matches, scoring 3 in the first match. He improved slightly in the second but only making 26 in the first innings and then running himself out on 42 having looked well set. He seemed to be struggling particularly against Daniel Vettori but he showed no signs of that as he struck a century in the third Test, forming a valuable partnership with Tim Ambrose, making a crucial 115. Pietersen hit a winning 42 not out in the Twenty20 match.

The switch-hit

In the first ODI of the NatWest series, Pietersen hit two sixes by "switch-hitting" en route to 110 not out. While facing the bowling of medium pace Scott Styris, Pietersen turned his body around and switched hands (effectively batting as a left-hander) hitting two sixes over cover and long off. Because Pietersen not only reversed his hand position (as some batsman do while playing the reverse sweep), but changed his stance by rotating his body, these "switch-hit" shots were immediately followed by calls to outlaw them from the game. Although a similar shot was played when Pietersen reverse-swept Muttiah Muralitharan for six in Sri Lanka in 2006, he only switched hands and executed "the switch" after the ball was bowled, and not before, as in this case.

Several commentators claim that because Pietersen changed from being a right-handed to a left-handed batsman as the bowler approached his delivery stride, he was gaining an unfair advantage. Gideon Haigh said that "A bowler must advise a batsman when he's changing direction, why should the batsmen not; given that where the bowler's aiming will depend on the placement of the off stump". Ian Healy seconded this by saying "It just should be outlawed straightaway. If you want to hit to one side of the field, you've got to do it in a cross fashion, and not swap the way you're facing or your grip. Otherwise you are going to start to allow the bowlers to go round the wicket, over the wicket, and keep swapping during their run-ups." This ideal was echoed by former fast-bowler Michael Holding, who rather than calling for the shot to be banned, advocated the latter scenario whereby bowlers do not have to inform the umpire, or batsman, of a change of delivery.

Pietersen countered these claims by saying:

"That's ridiculous, absolutely stupid. The reverse-sweep has been part of the game for however long. I am just fortunate that I am able to hit it a bit further. Everybody wants brand new ideas, new inventions and new shots. That is a new shot played today and people should be saying it's a new way to go. There are new things happening for cricket at the moment and people shouldn't be criticising it all the time."

Another citation for the shot being outlawed was that the possibility of being out LBW ("a player is out LBW if...the ball pitches in line between wicket and wicket or on the off side of the striker's wicket") is removed, as the off side become the leg side and vice versa. The shots were considered by the MCC, governors of the game, who came to the conclusion that the shot was legal, believing that the LBW law (which continues "The off side of the striker's wicket shall be determined by the striker's stance at the moment the ball comes into play for that delivery") adequately covers the scenario. They cited the variations bowlers can make, such as bowling a googly or a slower ball, and also the inherent risk in the shot to the batsman, in the justification of their decision.

There are still calls for further review of the stroke, with Jonathan Agnew giving a scenario in which a right-handed batsman can take his stance as a left-hander, then switch stance as the bowler runs in, thus being able to kick away any balls that land outside his now off stump. He also calls for the wide law to be adjusted in one-day cricket, as bowlers are penalised for most deliveries that pass down the leg side.

England captaincy

Success against South Africa

Pietersen captained England in the fifth ODI against New Zealand after Paul Collingwood was banned for four games for a slow over-rate during the previous match. New Zealand won to finish the series 3-1 and Pieterson scored only 6. England's unofficial vice-captain since Collingwood's appointment in June 2007, Pietersen was named as the stand-in captain for three further matches in August.

in August 2008.]] With Michael Vaughan as captain for the first three tests, Pietersen seemed to thrive in his first Test series against his former countrymen scoring 152 in the opening match of the series. During the third Test against South Africa, Pietersen was criticized for throwing his wicket away attempting a six to complete a century when on 94. Jonathan Agnew and Alec Stewart called the stroke "irresponsible" and Agnew continued, suggesting that Pietersen therefore ruled himself out of the potential reckoning for the England captaincy with Vaughan's place in the starting line-up in doubt after failing to score runs. In the event, having lost the match, Vaughan resigned and Pietersen was made the permanent captain of both the Test and ODI sides (Paul Collingwood relinquished the ODI captaincy at the same time). Following the news that he had been made England Test and ODI captain, Pietersen paid tribute to both outgoing captains but announced that he would look to captain the team in his own style. Days later, Pietersen made remarks to the media about there being an 'unhealthy situation' that needed to be resolved in the England camp. The media speculated that Moores would shortly be replaced if there was a Pietersen–Moores rift. Moores and Pietersen were believed to be in disagreement on several issues, including the team's training regimen, and the possible selection of former England captain Michael Vaughan for the upcoming tour of the West Indies. In the immediate aftermath of Pietersen's resignation, several commentators connected with English cricket indicated that they believed that Pietersen had miscalculated by openly advocating for the removal of Moores, particularly in making their dispute public. In an interview several days after his resignation, Pietersen revealed that he had not intended to resign as captain, but was told by ECB officials that he was resigning. Dennis Amiss, the vice-chairman of the ECB, went on record backing up Pietersen in his statement that the story of the rift with Moores had not been leaked to the media by him, saying, "We don't believe Kevin Pietersen leaked the information, we understand his frustration at it being leaked by other parties." Pietersen was captain for three Test matches, and 10 One Day International matches. It was announced that Andrew Strauss would take over the captaincy. He was dismissed first ball in the first Test against the touring West Indies side dismissed by the full, swinging ball (a delivery which he seemed to struggle against), but in the second Test made a quick 49 before falling to an attacking shot. He then suffered what seemed only a minor right Achilles injury and was subsequently ruled out of the ODI series, which England also won. In June 2009, Pietersen played in England's World Twenty20 warm-up match against Scotland, registering an unbeaten 53 in a six-wicket England victory. He also appeared in the news after accidentally hitting a 15-year old school boy with a cricket ball from a straight-drive after the boy had bowled to him. Pietersen left the boy, from Suffolk, with a signed bat as compensation.

Pietersen broke down again ahead of England's first Twenty20 match, against the Netherlands not long after. "It was a huge shock for me," he reported the day after his come-back against Pakistan, "and a huge shock for everybody, because everything had been going according to plan. I'd played pain-free on Tuesday and Wednesday, and, on Thursday, I had a long training session, but I woke up in the morning [on Friday], and I couldn't walk down the steps of my house." He went on:

I'm as frustrated as anybody because I hate missing any games of cricket. I love playing cricket for England; there's nothing better than playing for England and being in such a huge tournament here in the UK: it's huge. I didn't want to miss Friday, and I certainly wasn't going to miss last night. I was going to play even if I was only fifty per cent fit because I want to play for England — I love playing for England — and I didn't want us to get knocked out of the tournament.

In Pietersen's absence, England incurred a historic loss against the Dutch. He returned for the second match against Pakistan and top scored with 58 of 38 balls and hit 3 sixes (one of which was measured at over 100m) in the 48 run victory, he also top scored in the three run win over India later in the competition. Despite missing the first match Pietersen ended the tournament as England's leading runscorer with 154 at an average of 38.50.

2009 Ashes

Pietersen joined the England Ashes squad in June 2009 for the upcoming 2009 Ashes series. Despite failing to surpass single figure scores during a warm-up match against Warwickshire, he helped England to a score over 400 on July 8 during the first day of the first Test at the SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff with 69 before being dismissed by Nathan Hauritz, top-edging a sweep to a ball outside off stump; the dismissal was heavily criticised. He also seemed to flare up his Achilles injury again suddenly which hampered his batting a bit. In the second innings he was bowled for 8 after leaving a straight ball from Ben Hilfenhaus. Many pundits thought the criticism of England's key batsman from the first innings possibly affected him. In the first innings at Lords, after proving his fitness, he came at 222-2 and played some trademark shots before being caught behind off Peter Siddle. In the second innings he came in when England had a lead of almost 300 and he and Ravi Bopara batted for time. Pietersen limped when he ran and many shots ran off the inside edge which raised serious doubts for the rest of the series. He actually did well to reach 44 before being caught behind off Siddle again. After struggling in the field as England won, Pietersen was ruled out of the rest of the series with an Achilles injury. This brought to an end 54 consecutive Test matches. As his recovery slowed, Pietersen was not included in the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy and Andy Flower speculated that due to an infection of the wound Pietersen "may miss this winter's tour of South Africa because of slow progress in recovery from surgery."

Career in 2010

Pietersen returned from injury in time to play a part in the 2009-10 winter tour of South Africa. His contributions, nevertheless, have been significantly below his pre-injury range with an average innings of just 27. He has shown several lapses of concentration, leading some to suggest that off-field distractions and lingering issues with his removal from the captaincy are still affecting his form. Former England batsman and commentator Geoffrey Boycott detected a new technical fault of playing across full-length deliveries.

Bangladesh and return to form

Pietersen went into the two match tour of Bangladesh on the back of poor performances since his return from injury lead to speculation Pietersen's England place was under pressure. However, an important first innings of 99 in the first Test and a series clinching score of 74 not out in the second, during a stand of 167 not out with Alastair Cook, saw Pietersen return to much more respectable figures. England won the series 2-0 and Pietersen finished with total runs of 250 and an average for the series of 83.33.

2010 Indian Premier League

Pietersen joined up with his Royal Challengers Bangalore team following the conclusion to England's tour of Bangladesh. Pietersen showed further signs of a return to form in the IPL by scoring 236 runs with a high score of 66*, with an average of 59.00, which was the highest in the IPL.

2010 ICC World Twenty20

Pietersen was selected in England's 15 man squad for the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies. Pietersen's tournament got off to a poor start as he made was dismissed for duck by Rory Kleinveldt in a warm up match. In England's first match against the West Indies, Pietersen started confidently scoring 24 from 20 balls before being dismissed on the pull by Darren Sammy. Against Ireland, he struggled to get going, scoring a slow 9 from 18 balls. In England's super eights match against Pakistan he scored 73* from 52 balls, guiding England to a 6 wicket win. In the following super eights match against South Africa, Pietersen scored an aggressive 53 runs from 33 balls, contributing to a 94 run partnership with Craig Kieswetter and a 39 run victory for England. For his performance, he was named man of the match.

Following the conclusion of this match, Pietersen returned home to England to be present at the birth of his son. Pietersen returned in time for England's semi-final against Sri Lanka, where he scored a vital 42* from 26 balls, guiding England home to a 7 wicket victory and a place in their first ICC tournament final since the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy. In the final against old foes Australia, he scored 47 runs from 31 balls, which included 4 fours and 1 six. Pietersen shared in a vital stand of 111 with Kieswetter, before holing out to David Warner off the bowling of Steve Smith. Pietersen's knock was vital in helping England secure a 7 wicket victory and their first ever major ICC tournament victory. After the match Pietersen was named man of the series for his vital contributions with the bat, which ended with Pietersen being the second highest run scorer with 248 runs at an average of 62.00 and a strike rate of 137.77.

Bangladesh, Australia and Pakistan

Pietersen played in the Bangladesh home series, however contributed only 18 in the first innings before assisting England in chasing down a modest total with 10*. He made 64 in the second Test, however. After the Test series, attention was drawn to Pietersen's lack of games for Hampshire - having not played a County Championship at the Rose Bowl since 2005. Having made one Twenty20 appearance for them against Surrey after the Bangladesh Test series, it was announced that he would be leaving Hampshire, stating that "Geographically it just doesn't work. I live in Chelsea." On June 22, Pietersen played his 100th ODI against Australia at his home ground, the Rose Bowl. July 2010]]

Pietersen struggled for form in an ODI series against Australia and then a Test series against Pakistan. England beat Australia 3-2, but Pietersen could only manage a top-score of 33. England beat Pakistan 3-1, and although Pietersen top-scored for England with 80 in the second Test, it was the only time he passed 50 and ended the series with a golden duck. His poor form, and an admission by Pietersen before the final Test that he was low on confidence, led to many in the media, including Geoffrey Boycott, to suggest that Pietersen could do with playing County Cricket to regain his form before the 2010–11 Ashes series.

Pietersen was omitted from both of England's limited-overs squads to face Pakistan. However, the ECB brokered a loan move to Surrey for the remainder of the 2010 English cricket season which enables him to play first-class cricket whilst the England side plays Pakistan in the limited overs leg of the tour. Pietersen announced the omission and loan-move to Surrey early through a Twitter message, which contained a swear-word and was quickly removed, and he apologised the following day. The online outburst drew some criticism of him, with national selector Geoff Miller one of those criticising the message. During the lead up to the 2010/11 Ashes Series Pietersen signed up for two first class games in the South African competition with the KwaZulu Natal Dolphins.

The Ashes down under

Pietersen went into the 2010-11 Ashes series without a century since March 2009, and many felt that England would be unable to retain the Ashes unless he found form. In the first Test at The Gabba, Brisbane, Pietersen hit 43 in the first innings but wasn't required in the second as England posted 517-1 declared before a draw was declared.

In the second Test in Adelaide, where he hit 158 on the previous Ashes tour, Pietersen joined opener Alastair Cook (148) to make an century partnership before going onto to score his 17th Test century. He finished with 227, a Test-best and his second Test double-century, as England declared on 620-5. Given a rare bowl at the end of the fourth day, Pietersen claimed the wicket of Michael Clarke (80) to leave Australia 238-4. England then proceeded to bowl Australia out in the final morning to win by an innings and 71 runs, and Pietersen was named man-of-the-match.

Achievements

Awards

Pietersen gained several awards for his performances in the 2005 season. He was named both the ICC ODI Player of the Year and Emerging Player of the Year in 2005, and was one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year (alongside team mates Simon Jones and Matthew Hoggard) for his role in the successful Ashes series against Australia. Along with the rest of the England team, he was decorated in the 2006 New Year Honours list, being awarded the MBE for his role in the successful Ashes series. He also played for the ICC World XI in the ICC Super Series 2005 against Australia.

Test match performance

Records: Second-highest run-total from his first 25 Tests (behind Sir Don Bradman). Became only the fourth player in Test history to score 1,000 runs in a calendar year in three successive years. Achieved 5,000 test runs in the fastest time, reaching this feat in 4 years and 234 days.

Test centuries: Career performance:

Man of the match awards:

One Day International performance

Records: Fastest batsman to reach 1,000 and 2,000 runs. !colspan=4| Bowling |- ! style="text-align:left;" | Opposition !| Matches !| Runs !| Average !| High Score !| 100 / 50 !| Runs !| Wickets !| Average !| Best |- style="text-align:right;" | style="text-align:left;" | || 12 || 410 || 45.55 || 104 || 1 / 3 || - || - || - || - |- style="text-align:right;" | style="text-align:left;" | || 4 || 33 || 16.15 || 23 || 0 / 0 || - || - || - || - |- style="text-align:right;" | style="text-align:left;" | || 1 || 5 || 5.00 || 5 || 0 / 0 || - || - || - || - |- style="text-align:right;" | style="text-align:left;" | || 18 || 752 || 50.13 || 111* || 1 / 6 || 84 || 3 || 28.00 || 1/4 |- style="text-align:right;" | style="text-align:left;" | || 1 || 48 || 48.00 || 48 || 0 / 0 || - || - || - || - |- style="text-align:right;" | style="text-align:left;" | || 1 || 56 || - || 56* || 0 / 1 || - || - || - || - |- style="text-align:right;" | style="text-align:left;" | || 11 || 358 || 35.80 || 110* || 1 / 2 || 2 || 0 || - || - |- style="text-align:right;" | style="text-align:left;" | || 7 || 198 || 33.00 || 56 || 0 / 1 || 39 || 0 || - || - |- style="text-align:right;" | style="text-align:left;" | || 1 || - || - || - || - / - || 6 || 0 || - || - |- style="text-align:right;" | style="text-align:left;" | || 13 || 592 || 98.66 || 116 || 3 / 2 || 22 || 2 || 11.00 || 2/22 |- style="text-align:right;" | style="text-align:left;" | || 9 || 259 || 32.37 || 73 || 0 / 3 || 26 || 0 || - || - |- style="text-align:right;" | style="text-align:left;" | || 10 || 312 || 39.00 || 100 || 1 / 1 || 0 || 0 || - || - |- style="text-align:right;" | style="text-align:left;" | || 4 || 104 || 104.00 || 77* || 0 / 1 || 22 || 0 || - || - |}

Man of the match awards:

Twenty20 International performance

Twenty20 debut: vs , Rose Bowl, 13 June 2005. !colspan=4| Bowling |- ! style="text-align:left;" | Opposition !| Matches !| Runs !| Average !| High Score !| 100 / 50 !| Runs !| Wickets !| Average !| Best |- style="text-align:right;" | style="text-align:left;" | || 3 || 66 || 22.00 || 34 || 0 / 0 || - || - || - || - |- style="text-align:right;" | style="text-align:left;" | || 2 || 85 || 42.50 || 46 || 0 / 0 || 9 || 0 || - || - |- style="text-align:right;" | style="text-align:left;" | || 4 || 112 || 37.33 || 43 || 0 / 0 || - || - || - || - |- style="text-align:right;" | style="text-align:left;" | || 4 || 161 || 40.25 || 60 || 0 / 2 || - || - || - || - |- style="text-align:right;" | style="text-align:left;" | || 2 || 34 || 17.00 || 19 || 0 / 0 || - || - || - || - |- style="text-align:right;" | style="text-align:left;" | || 2 || 59 || 59.00 || 59 || 0 / 0 || - || - || - || - |- style="text-align:right;" | style="text-align:left;" | || 4 || 78 || 19.50 || 31 || 0 / 0 || - || - || - || - |- style="text-align:right;" | style="text-align:left;" | || 1 || 79 || 79.00 || 79 || 0 / 1 || - || - || - || - |- style="text-align:right; border-top:solid 2px gray;" | style="text-align:left;" | Overall || 19 || 529 || 29.38 || 79 || 0 / 3 || 9 || 0 || - || - |}

References

Warne, Shane. "Shane Warne on Kevin Pietersen's Century: 'Kevin can be the best.' The Times, 29 September 2008.

Notes

External links

Kevin Pietersen's Official Website

Category:1980 births Category:English cricket captains Category:England One Day International cricketers Category:England Test cricketers Category:England Twenty20 International cricketers Category:Hampshire cricketers Category:ICC World XI One Day International cricketers Category:Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup Category:KwaZulu-Natal cricketers Category:Living people Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire Category:Old Collegians (Maritzburg College) Category:South African people of Afrikaner descent Category:South African people of English descent Category:Nottinghamshire cricketers Category:Wisden Cricketers of the Year Category:University of South Africa alumni Category:English people of South African descent Category:People from Pietermaritzburg Category:MCC cricketers Category:Bangalore cricketers Category:South African immigrants to the United Kingdom Category:English cricketers Category:Surrey cricketers

Playername	Ian Botham
Caption	Botham batting at Trent Bridge, 1983
Country	England
Fullname	Sir Ian Terence Botham
Nickname	Beefy, Guy the Gorilla
Living	true
Dayofbirth	24
Monthofbirth	11
Yearofbirth	1955
Placeofbirth	Heswall, Cheshire
Countryofbirth	England
Heightft	6
Heightinch	2
Role	All-rounder
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm fast-medium
International	true
Testdebutdate	28 July
Testdebutyear	1977
Testdebutagainst	Australia
Testcap	474
Lasttestdate	18 June
Lasttestyear	1992
Lasttestagainst	Pakistan
Odidebutdate	26 August
Odidebutyear	1976
Odidebutagainst	West Indies
Odicap	33
Lastodidate	24 August
Lastodiyear	1992
Lastodiagainst	Pakistan
Club1	Durham
Year1	1992–1993
Club2	Worcestershire
Year2	1987–1991
Club3	Queensland
Year3	1987–1988
Club4	Somerset
Year4	1974–1986
Deliveries	balls
Columns	4
Column1	Tests
Matches1	102
Runs1	5200
Bat avg1	33.54
100s/50s1	14/22
Top score1	208
Deliveries1	21815
Wickets1	383
Bowl avg1	28.40
Fivefor1	27
Tenfor1	4
Best bowling1	8/34
Catches/stumpings1	120/–
Column2	ODI
Matches2	116
Runs2	2113
Bat avg2	23.21
100s/50s2	0/9
Top score2	79
Deliveries2	6271
Wickets2	145
Bowl avg2	28.54
Fivefor2	0
Tenfor2	n/a
Best bowling2	4/31
Catches/stumpings2	36/–
Column3	FC
Matches3	402
Runs3	19399
Bat avg3	33.97
100s/50s3	38/97
Top score3	228
Deliveries3	63547
Wickets3	1172
Bowl avg3	27.22
Fivefor3	59
Tenfor3	8
Best bowling3	8/34
Catches/stumpings3	354/–
Column4	LA
Matches4	470
Runs4	10474
Bat avg4	29.50
100s/50s4	7/46
Top score4	175*
Deliveries4	22899
Wickets4	612
Bowl avg4	24.94
Fivefor4	3
Tenfor4	n/a
Best bowling4	5/27
Catches/stumpings4	196/–
Date	22 August
Year	2007
Source	http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1529/1529.html

{{ infobox Football biography 2 | fullname = | playername = | position = Centre forward | youthyears1 = | youthclubs1 = | years1 = 1978–1980 | years2 = 1980–1985 | clubs1 = Yeovil Town | clubs2 = Scunthorpe United | caps(goals)1 = 17 (1) | caps(goals)2 = 11 (0) }} Sir Ian Terence Botham, OBE (born 24 November 1955) is a former England Test cricketer and Test team captain, and current cricket commentator. He was a genuine all-rounder with 14 centuries and 383 wickets in Test cricket, and remains well known by his nickname "Beefy". While a controversial player both on and off the field at times, Botham also held a number of Test cricket records, and still holds the record for the highest number of wickets taken by an England bowler.

He is generally regarded as a great all-rounder, particularly in Test cricket, but actually received his knighthood in recognition of his sterling work for charity.

A talented footballer as well as a cricketer, Botham made 11 appearances in The Football League.

On 8 August 2009, Botham was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

Early life

Botham was born in Heswall, Wirral to Herbert Leslie Botham (who worked for Westland) and Violet Marie Collett (a nurse). Both his mother and father played cricket. He went to Milford Junior School in Yeovil, Somerset, where his "love affair" with sport began, and played for Somerset Under-15s. He left Bucklers Mead Comprehensive School at 15, being only interested in playing cricket for Somerset, although he also had an offer to play football with Crystal Palace F.C. From an early age he was always single-minded. When informed that Botham wanted to be a sportsman, the careers mistress at his school said to him "Fine, everyone wants to play sport, but what are you really going to do?".{interviewed BBC Radio 4 Fiona Glover November 20th 2010 "Saturday Live"}.

Domestic career

In first-class cricket, he scored 19,399 runs at 33.97, took 1,172 wickets at 27.22 and held 354 catches. He played for Durham, Somerset and Worcestershire, as well as a season (1987–88) in Australia playing for Queensland.

Botham began his first-class career in 1974 with Somerset. In that year, when playing against Hampshire and facing the West-Indian fast bowler Andy Roberts, a bouncer hit him straight in the mouth. He spat out teeth and simply carried on. In 1986 he resigned from Somerset County Cricket Club, to protest the sacking of his friends Viv Richards and Joel Garner, and joined Worcestershire, playing for them between 1987 and 1991. In 1992, he joined County Championship newcomers Durham before retiring midway through the 1993 season, his last match being Durham's match against the touring Australians..

International career

Botham made his Test debut for England on 28 July 1977 in the Third Test against Australia. He went on to enjoy a Test career spanning 15 years, in which he played in 102 matches. Botham finished his Test career with 5,200 runs at an average of 33.54, taking 383 wickets at an average of 28.40, and holding 120 catches. He is generally recognised as one of England's greatest Test players. He was also England's captain for 12 Tests in 1980 and 1981. As captain Botham is generally considered to have been unsuccessful. His tenure was brief and under his captaincy the team achieved no wins, 8 draws and 4 losses. In his defence, 9 of his matches as captain were against the best team of the time, the West Indies, who won 12 out of the next 13 Tests played against England.

Compared with many of cricket's greatest players, most of whom were specialists, Botham's averages are fairly ordinary but this overlooks Botham's all-rounder status, which is not commonly achieved at world-class level. Of note, Botham's first 202 wickets came at 21.20 per wicket, while his final 181 cost on average 36.43 apiece; the first average is one that would make Botham one of the greatest bowlers of the modern era, ranking alongside the West Indian greats Curtly Ambrose (career average 20.99), Malcolm Marshall (career average 20.94), and Joel Garner (career average 20.97), but the second average depicts a player who, as a specialist bowler, would be unable to sustain a place in many Test teams. This difference can be largely attributed to a back injury which limited Botham's bowling pace and his ability to swing the ball.

Botham's batting - although never the equal of his bowling abilities - declined as well, with a batting average of 38.80 for his first 51 Tests substantially higher than the 28.87 he managed in his last 51 Tests, again a number that would be considered unsatisfactory for a specialist batsman in most Test sides.

Despite the obvious decline in his form, Botham retained his reputation of playing to extremes and so, if he played well, he could seem to win a match on his own. He was renowned as a big-hitting batsman, though with a classical technique of playing straight, and as a fast-medium paced swing bowler who could be very effective when atmospheric conditions favoured his style.

Records

Botham holds a number of Test records as an all-rounder, including being the fastest (in terms of matches) to achieve the "doubles" of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets, 2,000 runs and 200 wickets, and 3,000 runs and 300 wickets. He briefly held the world record for the greatest number of Test wickets, although his tally has subsequently been passed by several players. He still holds the record for the highest number of Test wickets taken by an England player (383).

Botham scored a century and took 5 wickets in an innings in the same Test match on 5 occasions; no-one else has managed this feat more than twice. In 1980, playing against India, he became the first player to score a century and take ten wickets in a Test match (Alan Davidson was the first to score 100 runs and take 10 wickets in a Test but that did not include a century).

During the 1981 Ashes, Botham set a record of six sixes in a single Ashes Test Match at Old Trafford. That record remained unbroken until 7 August 2005 when Andrew Flintoff scored five in the first innings and four in the second innings of the second Test at Edgbaston, and again until 12 September 2005, when Kevin Pietersen hit seven sixes in the second innings of the last Test at The Oval.

One day internationals

Botham's ODI career included 116 games from 1976 to 1992. He made his debut on August 26 against the West Indies at Scarborough. He finished with a batting average of 23.21 (nine 50s, no 100s, cumulative score of 2113 runs), and a bowling average of 28.5 (strike rate 43.24, 145 wickets in total, best figures 4/31).

1981 Ashes Tour: Botham's Ashes

In 1980 Botham had been appointed captain of the England team. However, his captaincy was not a happy one; he lost form and the team did not do well. There was also an incident in the 1980 centenary Test against Australia at Lord's where several frustrated Lord's pavilion members threw punches at him, after what they saw as his alliance with the umpires (Dickie Bird and David Constant) to unnecessarily delay play on a dry, sunny, Saturday (it had rained heavily the previous night).

He resigned the captaincy after a loss and a draw in the first two Tests of the 1981 Ashes series. The resignation itself was the cause of controversy, with Alec Bedser, the Chairman of the selection panel, making it clear to the media that Botham would have been fired in any event. Botham himself refers to the event as his "dismissal" in his autobiography. In this Test, the Second Test played at Lord's and his last as England captain, Botham was dismissed for a pair. He returned to an embarrassed silence in the pavilion and after the previous year's events at the centenary Test, this possibly was the final straw. For the rest of his cricketing career, Botham always refused to acknowledge the pavilion members when he played at Lord's.

Mike Brearley, the captain Botham had replaced, took over the reins for the Third Test scheduled for 16 to 21 July, at Headingley. Australia won the toss and elected to bat. They batted all day Thursday and most of Friday, declaring after tea at 401 for 9, John Dyson having made 102 and Botham having taken 6 for 95. The England openers Graham Gooch and Geoff Boycott survived the remaining few overs, and England finished the day on 7 for no wicket.

The next day, Saturday, was a disaster for England: Gooch was out in the first over of the day, and although Boycott and Brearley then attempted to dig in, they were both out before lunch. None of the other batsmen got going at all with the exception of Botham who top scored with 50 — his first half century since his first Test as captain 13 matches earlier. England were all out in the third session for 174. Australia enforced the follow on and piled on the pressure; Gooch was out for 0 on the third ball of the first over caught by Terry Alderman off the bowling of Dennis Lillee. By the close, England had struggled to just 6 for 1, still 221 behind Australia.

Sunday 19 July was a rest day and the papers roasted the lamentable England performance. Morale was not improved by the news that Ladbrokes were offering 500-1 against England winning the match. Controversially, the Australian wicket keeper Rod Marsh and opening bowler Dennis Lillee both placed bets on England to win, claiming that 500-1 were silly odds on any two-horse race.

On Monday morning the 500-1 odds began to look ungenerous as first Brearley, then David Gower and Mike Gatting all fell cheaply to reduce England to 41 for 4. Boycott was still anchored at the other end however and he and Peter Willey added 50 runs before lunch. In the afternoon however, Willey was out for 33 and England were in deep trouble at 105 for 5 as Botham went in to bat. Matters did not improve as first Geoff Boycott and then Bob Taylor were soon dismissed. At 135 for 7 an innings defeat looked almost certain.

By all accounts, both teams' players thought Australia would win the match. When Graham Dilley joined him at the crease, Botham reportedly said, "Right then, let's have a bit of fun...". With able support from Dilley (56) and Chris Old (29), Botham hit out and by the close of play was 145 not out with Bob Willis hanging on at the other end on 1 not out. England's lead was just 124 but there was hope. On the final day's play there was time for just four more runs from Botham before Willis was out and Botham was left on 149 not out. Wisden rated this innings as the 4th best of all time.

Willis' real contribution was with the ball. After Botham took the first wicket, Willis skittled Australia out for just 111, finishing with figures of 8 for 43 – rated by Wisden as the 7th best bowling performance of all time. England had won by just 18 runs. It was only the second time in history that a team following on had won a Test match.

The next Test match, at Edgbaston, looked almost as hopeless for England. In a low scoring match (no-one made a score over 48), Australia needed 151 to win. At 105-5, things looked a little worrying for them, but an Australian win was still the most likely result. Botham then took 5 wickets for 1 run in 28 balls to give England the win by 29 runs. Later, Brearley said that Botham had not wanted to bowl and had to be persuaded to do so.

The Old Trafford Test was less of a turnaround and more of a team performance than the previous two Tests, but Botham again was England's hero, scoring 118 in what Lillee claimed was a better innings than his Headingley heroics. Botham had joined Chris Tavaré with the score at 104-5. Botham then scored 118 in a partnership of 149 before he was dismissed. He hit six sixes in this innings, three off Lillee's bowling, two of them in the same over. Remarkably, even though he seemed to take his eye off the ball while hooking some fearsome Lillee bouncers, his sheer power and strength carried the ball over the boundary ropes. In total Botham batted for 5 hours shorter than Tavaré and yet scored 40 more runs. England won the match, then drew the last match at The Oval (Botham took 6 wickets in the first innings) to take the series 3-1. Unsurprisingly, Botham was named man of the series, scoring 399 runs and taking 34 wickets.

Football career

A talented footballer as well as cricketer, Botham had to choose very early in his career whether to play professional football or cricket. At one point during his career, in an effort to get fit after an injury, he joined football club Scunthorpe United in March 1980, where he played as a centre half and made 11 appearances in the Football League. He also had a spell at Yeovil Town. and was accused of racism and ball-tampering by Imran Khan. He also fell out publicly with other players, including England opener Geoff Boycott and Somerset captain Peter Roebuck and Australian batsman Ian Chappell, which culminated in a punch-up in an Adelaide Oval car-park during the 2010–11 Ashes series His private life has also made occasional dramatic appearances in Britain's tabloid newspapers, with at least one extramarital affair prompting a public apology to his wife Kathy. Botham was also sacked from the Queensland team after being arrested for assault of a fellow airline passenger.

Charity walks

Botham has also been a prominent fundraiser for charity undertaking a total of 12 long-distance charity walks. His first, in 1985, was a 900-mile trek from John o' Groats to Land's End. His efforts were inspired after a visit to Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital for treatment on a broken toe, when he took a wrong turn into a children's ward and was shocked to learn that some of the children had only weeks to live. He has since raised more than £12 million, with the charity Leukaemia Research among the causes to benefit.

Honours

2010 Botham was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Lincoln.

2008 Botham was awarded an honorary doctorate in Sports Science by Leeds Metropolitan University.

2008 Botham was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Bath.

2007 Botham was knighted by the Queen in the Queen's Birthday Honours, again in recognition of his cricket achievements and his sustained efforts in raising money for Leukaemia research (see above). The ceremony took place at Buckingham Palace on 10 October 2007

2004 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award.

2003 First ever President of Leukaemia Research, the UK's leading blood cancer charity.

1992 Botham was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to cricket and for his charity work in the Queen's Birthday Honours.

1988 Awarded Pipe Smoker of the Year

1981 Voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

1978 Elected one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year.

Test centuries and five-wicket innings

Botham achieved the double of making a century and taking 5 wickets in an innings in the same Test match 5 times. Only three other players have achieved this feat more than once; Gary Sobers, Mushtaq Mohammad and Jacques Kallis, who have each done it twice. He is the only man to have made a century and take 8 wickets in an innings in the same Test match, 108 and 8/34 against Pakistan at Lord's in 1978. Botham was also the first of only two men to make a century and take 10 wickets in the same Test match, the other being Imran Khan. Botham did this in the Centenary Test in Bombay in 1979-80 (114, 6/58 and 7/48), the last match before he became England captain. In the 25 Tests he played before he became captain he made 6 centuries and took 5 wickets in an innings 14 times, including 10 in a match 3 times, an astonishing record.

Personal life

In 1976 in the borough of Doncaster, Botham married (Kathy) Kathryn Waller whom he first met in June 1974. After their marriage they lived until the late 1980s in Epworth near Scunthorpe. He has two daughters Becky (born November 1985) and Sarah, and a son Liam (born August 1977). Sarah works for Sky as a production assistant, and Liam was a professional cricketer and rugby player, before becoming a commentator for Sky Sports. They, their son, his wife and three children, now live in Ravensworth in North Yorkshire. Botham is a big football supporter and follows Chelsea F.C. and Rangers F.C.. Botham is a supporter of the Conservative Party

Bibliography

Former cricketer Ian Botham talks to Sir David Frost about his new autobiography "Head on".

See also

List of England Test cricket records

Notes

External links

Ian Botham photos, biography & statistics at sporting-heroes.net

All Rounders at Cricket Archive

Ian Botham at Cricket Archive

Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners Category:English cricketers Category:England Test cricketers Category:England One Day International cricketers Category:English cricket captains Category:Wisden Cricketers of the Year Category:Somerset cricketers Category:Somerset cricket captains Category:Worcestershire cricketers Category:Durham cricketers Category:Cricketers at the 1979 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 1983 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 1992 Cricket World Cup Category:Queensland cricketers Category:Doping cases in cricket Category:Cricket commentators Category:British sports broadcasters Category:English footballers Category:Association football central defenders Category:Yeovil Town F.C. players Category:Scunthorpe United F.C. players Category:People from Heswall Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Cricket players and officials awarded knighthoods Category:The Football League players Category:Sportspeople of multiple sports Category:International Cricket Council Hall of Fame inductees Category:Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World

Playername	Graham Napier
Country	England
Fullname	Graham Richard Napier
Nickname	Plank, George
Living	true
Dayofbirth	6
Monthofbirth	1
Yearofbirth	1980
Placeofbirth	Colchester, Essex
Countryofbirth	England
Heightft	5
Heightinch	10
Batting	Right handed
Bowling	Right arm Fast
Role	All-rounder
Club1	Essex
Year1	1997–present
Clubnumber1	17
Club2	Wellington
Year2	2007/08
Club3	Central District Stags
Year3	2009/10
Clubnumber3	8
Club4	MCC
Year4	2004
Club5	Mumbai Indians
Year5	2009–present
Clubnumber5	17
Type1	First-class
Debutdate1	7 May
Debutyear1	1997
Debutfor1	Essex
Debutagainst1	Cambridge University
Lastdate1	23 September
Lastyear1	2009
Lastfor1	Essex
Lastagainst1	Derbyshire County Cricket Club
Type2	List A
Debutdate2	10 August
Debutyear2	1997
Debutfor2	Essex
Debutagainst2	Kent
Lastdate2	19 July
Lastyear2	2009
Lastfor2	Essex
Lastagainst2	Gloucestershire
Deliveries	balls
Columns	4
Column1	FC
Matches1	99
Runs1	3,283
Bat avg1	30.68
100s/50s1	3/20
Top score1	125
Deliveries1	12,687
Wickets1	207
Bowl avg1	37.94
Fivefor1	3
Tenfor1	0
Best bowling1	6/103
Catches/stumpings1	38/–
Column2	List A
Matches2	185
Runs2	2.251
Bat avg2	18.00
100s/50s2	0/11
Top score2	79
Deliveries2	6,002
Wickets2	205
Bowl avg2	24.79
Fivefor2	1
Tenfor2	n/a
Best bowling2	6-29
Catches/stumpings2	40/–
Column3	T20
Matches3	55
Runs3	641
Bat avg3	18,80
100s/50s3	1/0
Top score3	152*
Deliveries3	1134
Wickets3	70
Bowl avg3	19.80
Fivefor3	0
Tenfor3	n/a
Best bowling3	4/10
Catches/stumpings3	14/–
Column4	U19 T
Matches4	4
Runs4	138
Bat avg4	23.00
100s/50s4	0/0
Top score4	40
Deliveries4	192
Wickets4	2
Bowl avg4	69.50
Fivefor4	0
Tenfor4	0
Best bowling4	1-10
Catches/stumpings4	1/–
Date	27 September
Year	2009
Source	http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/7/7201/7201.html cricketarchive

Graham Richard Napier (born 6 January 1980 in Colchester, Essex) is an English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast bowler. Napier has played first-class cricket for his home county of Essex since the outset of his senior career in 1997. Between 1997 and 1999 Napier played in four Youth Test matches in England against Zimbabwe, South Africa (twice) and Australia's respective under-19 teams. He was also a member of the 1998 U-19 Cricket World Cup-winning squad.

Twenty 20

Napier participated in the 2003, 2004 and 2006 Twenty20 Cups, in which he aided his Essex team to the 2004 Quarter Finals.

In a Twenty20 cup match against Sussex on 24 June 2008, Napier scored 152 not out from 58 balls. The innings set a number of records, notably the highest individual score in a T20 innings in England, and in the domestic Twenty20 competition; the highest number of sixes in an individual Twenty20 innings (16); the most runs scored in boundaries in an individual Twenty20 innings (136 runs, scored as 10 fours, and 16 sixes). It also broke the record for most sixes in a domestic one-day innings, and tied the record for most sixes in any domestic innings, tying the record set by Andrew Symonds, during a County Championship game in 1995.

He was signed by the Mumbai Indians for the 2009 IPL Season for an undisclosed amount.

In March 2009, Napier was called up to the England Lions squad for the first time since 2004. Geoff Miller, one of the selectors, said "the selectors felt this was a good opportunity for us to have a closer look at him within the England set-up". On 1 May 2009, Napier was confirmed as a member of the 15 man England squad for the 2009 Twenty20 World Cup on the same day as he made his first appearance for the Mumbai Indians.

References

External links

Graham Napier at Cricket Archive

Graham Napier's Official Website

Category:1980 births Category:English cricketers Category:Living people Category:Essex cricketers Category:Twenty20 Cup centurions Category:Wellington cricketers Category:Central Districts cricketers Category:Essex Cricket Board cricketers Category:Mumbai (Indian Premier League) cricketers Category:MCC cricketers

Playername	Garfield Sobers
Country	West Indies
Fullname	Garfield St Aubrun Sobers
Nickname	Gary (or Garry)
Living	true
Dayofbirth	28
Monthofbirth	7
Yearofbirth	1936
Placeofbirth	Bridgetown
Countryofbirth	Barbados
Heightft	5
Heightinch	11
Batting	left-handed batsman (LHB)
Bowling	left-arm fast medium (LFM)slow left-arm orthodox (SLA)slow left-arm chinaman (SLC)
Role	all-rounder
International	true
Testdebutdate	30 March
Testdebutyear	1954
Testdebutagainst	England
Testcap	84
Lasttestdate	5 April
Lasttestyear	1974
Lasttestagainst	England
Odidebutdate	5 September
Odidebutyear	1973
Odidebutagainst	England
Odicap	11
Club1	Barbados
Year1	1952–1974
Club2	South Australia
Year2	1961–1964
Club3	Nottinghamshire
Year3	1968–1974
| columns	4
Column1	Test
Matches1	93
Runs1	8032
Bat avg1	57.78
100s/50s1	26/30
Top score1	365*
Deliveries1	21599
Wickets1	235
Bowl avg1	34.03
Fivefor1	6
Tenfor1	0
Best bowling1	6/73
Catches/stumpings1	109/–
Column2	ODI
Matches2	1
Runs2	0
Bat avg2	0.00
100s/50s2	0/0
Top score2	0
Deliveries2	63
Wickets2	1
Bowl avg2	31.00
Fivefor2	–
Tenfor2	n/a
Best bowling2	1/31
Catches/stumpings2	1/–
Column3	FC
Matches3	383
Runs3	28314
Bat avg3	54.87
100s/50s3	86/121
Top score3	365*
Deliveries3	70789
Wickets3	1043
Bowl avg3	27.74
Fivefor3	36
Tenfor3	1
Best bowling3	9/49
Catches/stumpings3	407/–
Column4	LA
Matches4	95
Runs4	2721
Bat avg4	38.32
100s/50s4	1/18
Top score4	116*
Deliveries4	4387
Wickets4	109
Bowl avg4	21.95
Fivefor4	1
Tenfor4	n/a
Best bowling4	5/43
Catches/stumpings4	41/–
Date	13 September
Year	2007
Source	http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/52946.html Cricinfo

The Hon. Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers AO, OCC (born 28 July 1936 in Bridgetown, Barbados) is a former cricketer who captained West Indies. His first name of Garfield is variously abbreviated as Gary or Garry. He is widely regarded as one of cricket's greatest ever all-rounders, having excelled at all the essential skills of batting, bowling and fielding. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1975 for his services to cricket. He became a dual Barbadian-Australian citizen through marriage in 1980.

1936–1954: Early years

Sobers was born Garfield St Aubrun Sobers on 28 July 1936 to Shamont and Thelma Sobers of Walcott Avenue, Bay Land, St Michael, Bridgetown, Barbados, and was the fifth of six children. Sobers was only five when his father died at sea in January 1942, after his ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat. He therefore made his first-class debut on 31 January 1953, aged only 16. Batting at number nine, he scored 7 not out in his only innings but made an immediate impression as a bowler, taking 4/50 and 3/92.

A full year passed before Sobers, now 17, made his second first-class appearance, again playing against a touring team. He batted at number five against Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), scoring 46 and 27; and took two wickets in the match. He had shown enough talent in these two matches to be selected for West Indies and his third first-class appearance was his Test debut.

International cricket career

1954–1957: Early Test career

Sobers had progressed quickly and made his Test debut in March 1954, aged 17, against England at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica for the Fifth and final Test, after Alf Valentine had fallen ill. Sobers was selected as a bowler, despite only mediocre performances against England for Barbados. He made a good impression by taking 4/75 in England's first innings, including a wicket in his opening over. Sobers also scored 14 not out and 26 batting at number nine; however, England won the match by nine wickets.

Australia toured the West Indies in 1954-55, and their all-rounder Keith Miller thought that Sobers would become a better batsman than bowler despite batting in the lower-order. Sobers was not selected for the First Test, which the West Indies lost by nine wickets. However, he regained his place for the Second Test in Port of Spain, Trinidad. The match was a high-scoring draw, with Sobers scoring 47 and eight not out. He was barely used with the ball, bowling three overs for ten runs, as Australia amassed a first-innings total of over 600. Sobers was given a further opportunity in the next Test in Georgetown, Guyana (British Guiana at the time) in South America. Despite scoring only 12 and 11 with the bat, he took three wickets in the Australians' first innings. Nevertheless, Australia won by eight wickets. West Indian captain and opening batsman Jeff Stollmeyer twisted his ankle after treading on a ball ahead of the Fourth Test in Barbados, "triggering huge debate about who should open." Eventually, Sobers was chosen to open the innings after Australia had amassed another total of over 600. Sobers had a suspicion he might be asked to do the job. "I couldn't see them sending in anyone else — I was a bowler with a little ability as a batsman and they wanted someone to help see off the shine and protect the three W's." Sobers struck his first three deliveries for boundaries, all from the bowling of Miller. In the fast-bowler's second over, Sobers hit him for another three fours. He was eventually dismissed for 43 out of a first-wicket partnership of 52 with JK Holt. The match was drawn, and Sobers took one wicket in the Australians' only innings, before scoring 11 in the West Indies second innings. The home team were again defeated in the Fifth and final Test in Jamaica. Sobers performed with the bat, however, scoring 35 not out and 64. Playing in all four Tests, he totalled 81 runs and two wickets. As a batsman, Sobers needed time to develop at Test level and, in nine Tests as a teenager, he scored only one half century, and averaged 29.33 with the bat.

He was sent home from New Zealand early to play an unofficial Test match against an England team that included feared fast-bowler Frank Tyson. After struggling to cope with Tyson's pace, Sobers managed to score a half-century, raising hope that he would be selected for the upcoming tour to England, something he considered unlikely after his lack of form. In the first trial match to help select the squad for the upcoming tour, Sobers scored a century in Trinidad. The matches also saw Sobers get his first look at West Indian cricket politics. Wes Hall and Frank Mason were competing for a single place in the touring party, and Sobers and Everton Weekes decided they "would take on Mason and knock him out of the firing line to try and get our fellow Bajan (countryman) Wes in the team." The pair attacked Mason, while they defended Hall in a tactic that paid off with Hall selected, despite Sobers believing Mason was the better bowler at the time. His performances with the bat throughout the five Test series were classed as mediocre, scoring 320 runs at 32, with three half centuries. On the bowling front, Sobers struggled, taking five wickets at 71. After England had scored 412, the West Indies were easily dismissed for 89 and 86 by the Surrey spinners Jim Laker and Tony Lock, who were playing on their home ground. Batting at number 3, Sobers made 39 and 42, while none of his colleagues passed 30 in either innings. In its summary of the tour, Wisden'' said: "(of the newcomers) Collie Smith, Sobers, Rohan Kanhai and Roy Gilchrist were particularly impressive"; adding that "to Sobers, a tall left-handed all-rounder, fell the distinction of hitting the highest score of the tour: 219 not out against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. Sobers undoubtedly was a very fine stroke-player who should go far".

1958–1964: 365 not out

At this stage of his career, Sobers had frustrated his admirers by failing to convert good starts into high scores. He had reached double figures in 18 of his 22 Test innings, although his highest score was still only 66. But, in the three years following the 1957 tour, he fulfilled his promise. In his next 24 Tests, he scored 2,250 runs at the exceptionally high average of 93.75. In 1958, he scored his maiden Test century against Pakistan in Kingston and expanded it to an unbeaten 365, breaking the world record Test score of 364 set by England's Len Hutton in 1938. Sobers batted for 614 minutes and scored 38 fours but, unusually in such a large total, no sixes. At 21 years and 216 days, he is the youngest player to break the individual scoring record in Tests, and remains the youngest triple-centurion. He made 824 runs with three centuries in the five Tests against Pakistan, and followed this with 557 runs and three more centuries on the West Indies tour of India in 1958-59. Sobers underwent trauma following the death of Collie Smith in September 1959, but he continued to play cricket successfully. In the home Test series against England in 1959-60, he scored three centuries in five matches, totalling 709 runs.

Largely inspired by new West Indies captain Frank Worrell, who was a close personal friend, Sobers had an outstanding 1960-61 series in Australia. He scored a celebrated 132 on the first day of the First Test at Brisbane Cricket Ground, the match which resulted in the first Tied Test. Wisden confirmed that "some observers considered it the best hundred they had ever seen". Sobers scored 430 runs in the series, which Australia won 2-1, with two centuries; his fielding was outstanding and he took 12 catches. He felt he had "had a good series, starting badly but then coming on" and a very positive outcome for him was to receive an invitation from Don Bradman to play for South Australia in 1961–62.

Sobers took 15 wickets in the 1960-61 series, including a best analysis of 5/120, at an average of 39.20, and his bowling allowed Worrell to play an extra batsman in the final three Tests, thus using Sobers for the first time as a designated all-rounder, a role in which he became the dominant player in world cricket over the next decade, being awarded the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World title eight times in 13 years. Sobers was never a prolific wicket-taker in Test cricket, and his average of three wickets per game in this series typified his whole career. Overall, he took 235 wickets in his 93 Tests at an average of 34.03 and was more effective when operating as a pace bowler. His best performance was 6/73 and, although he achieved five wickets in an innings six times, he never took ten in a match.

His success continued in the next two series at home to India in 1961-62 and away to England in 1963. He was elected Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1964, West Indies went on to win the series 2-1 and so claim the new Frank Worrell Trophy. This was the first time West Indies had beaten Australia in a Test series.

He enjoyed spectacular success in England in 1966 and was widely acclaimed as "King Cricket". In the five Tests he scored 722 runs at an average of 103.14 with three centuries, and had 20 wickets at 27.25, as well as taking 10 catches. West Indies won the series 3-1, with one match drawn. His status was celebrated at that time by the Trinidadian calypso artist Mighty Sparrow, with his song "Sir Garfield Sobers".

In 1966-67, Sobers captained the West Indies team to India in 1966-67 and they won the series 2-0 with one match drawn.

He lost a series for the first time in 1967-68 when West Indies were surprisingly beaten at home by England. Four matches were drawn and England won the Fourth Test at Queen's Park Oval following a controversial declaration by Sobers which enabled England to score the necessary 215-3 to win at just four runs an over.

In 1968-69, Sobers captained the West Indian cricket team in Australia in 1968-69 but they lost the series 3-1 and then drew a three-Test series in New Zealand 1-1.

In 1969, West Indies lost 2-0 in England with one match drawn.

Sobers captained West Indies for the five-Test home series versus India in 1970-71. India won the series 1-0 with four matches drawn. A year later, Sobers led West Indies in five home Tests against New Zealand and all five were drawn.

Sobers was succeeded as West Indies captain by Rohan Kanhai for the 1972-73 home series against Australia. Sobers did not play in that series but returned to play under Kanhai in England in 1973. He played his last Test in March 1974 at Queen's Park Oval against England.

Rest of the World XI

When South Africa was banned from international cricket because of the country's apartheid policy, the team's two lucrative tours to England in 1970 and to Australia in 1971–72 were cancelled. The cricket authorities responded by forming Rest of the World teams to play unofficial Test series in lieu and these teams included some leading South African players. Sobers was invited to captain the Rest of the World in both series.

In 1970, captaining the Rest of the World XI against England, he took 6/21 on the opening day of the First (unofficial) Test at Lord's with pace bowling, the ball swinging and seaming at high speed. He then scored "a magnificent" 183 and helped bowl out England in the second innings using his left arm wrist spin. In the Fourth Test at Headingley, Sobers scored 114 and 59 as his team won by two wickets. He reached his century in 129 balls and after a rest day, reached 254 in 326 balls. It was "one of the most magnificent innings seen on the Melbourne Cricket Ground" and his "superb display of forceful cricket" lasted 376 minutes and included two sixes and 33 fours.

League cricket in England

Sobers spent several seasons in English league cricket. Having completed his first tour of England with West Indies in 1957, he followed the advice of his mentor Frank Worrell and became the professional at Radcliffe Cricket Club in the Central Lancashire League, staying for five seasons from 1958 to 1962. This experience enabled him to hone his skills in varying conditions and Sobers says that playing in the league furthered his cricket education. He enjoyed considerable success at Radcliffe. In 1961, he achieved a rare "double" by scoring 1008 runs and taking 144 wickets, his performances being instrumental in Radcliffe winning both the league's championship title and its supplementary Wood Cup competition.

While he was engaged at Radcliffe, Sobers underwent emotional trauma after a road accident in September 1959 on the A34 near Stoke-on-Trent which resulted in Collie Smith's death. Sobers was driving a car in which Smith and another West Indian Test player Tom Dewdney were passengers. Smith's back was broken by the collision and he died three days later. Sobers could not recall much about the crash and was fined 10 pounds for driving without due care and attention. He "began drinking more" and there were concerns, expressed by himself and others, that the experience might affect his cricket career. He got over the trauma by deciding that he would be letting his country down if he "disappeared into the mists of an alcoholic haze" and he resolved to play not just for Garfield Sobers but for Collie Smith as well, thus setting himself the task of playing for two men. He recovered well and, after an outstanding home Test series against England in 1959–60, he returned to Radcliffe where he continued as club professional for the next three seasons.

Sobers gives an insight into the life of the club professional in his autobiography. He was paid £500 a season by Radcliffe. That was a reasonable wage but he relied on matchday collections to augment it and a good performance would boost the collection. He sometimes received as much as £50 in a collection and "that represented a massive bonus". Radcliffe placed no restrictions on him and, when they had no game, he could play as a guest professional in other leagues throughout Lancashire and Yorkshire. He particularly liked playing in Yorkshire when he could because they would pay him £25 per appearance with a collection on top if he did well.

After touring England with West Indies in 1963, he moved to the North Staffordshire and South Cheshire League in 1964 to play for Norton Cricket Club, who duly won the league title. Sobers made 549 runs in 18 innings at 49.90, finishing second in the league averages behind only his amateur brother Gerald, also playing for Norton, who averaged 50.12. Gary Sobers did even better with the ball, his 97 wickets at 8.38 heading the league averages. 1965 saw a repeat performance with Norton again winning the league and, though Sobers only averaged 25.38 with the bat, he again topped the league bowling averages with 76 wickets at 8.03. Norton lost the league title in 1966 while Sobers was touring England with West Indies but regained it in 1967 when he returned. He was fourth in the 1967 league batting averages with 41.83 and third in the bowling with 95 wickets at 9.37 (the two bowlers with better averages took only 22 and 24 wickets).

Sheffield Shield with South Australia

In the 1961–62 Australian season which followed the 1960-61 West Indies tour, Sobers and his West Indian colleagues Wes Hall and Rohan Kanhai returned to Australia to take part in the Sheffield Shield. Sobers played for South Australia and had an enormous impact on attendances, causing an 89% increase with gate receipts rising "by two and a half times". He topped both the batting and bowling averages at South Australia, his best performance being against champions New South Wales at the Adelaide Oval when he scored 251 and took 3/51 and 6/72.

He was even more outstanding in 1963–64 when, largely due to his efforts, South Australia won the Sheffield Shield. Sobers was the season's leading runscorer with 973 at 74.84 and the leading wicket taker with 47 at 28.27.

Sobers spent three seasons with South Australia and in two he achieved the rare double of 1000 runs and 50 wickets.

Shell Shield with Barbados

Sobers played intermittently for Barbados throughout his first-class career. He made his first appearance in the new Shell Shield competition in February 1966. His last appearance for Barbados was in the 1973–74 Shell Shield match against Jamaica at Kensington Oval.

County Championship with Nottinghamshire

At the end of the 1967 English cricket season, it was agreed that each county club could immediately sign a non-English player for the 1968 season. Seven clubs approached Sobers and, on 14 December 1967, Nottinghamshire announced that he had signed for them and had been appointed club captain. Sobers stated that, although he had enjoyed his time in league cricket, he had a definite preference for the first-class game and he looked forward to restoring Nottinghamshire's fortunes. Though details were undisclosed, Wisden 1968 speculated that his contract would run for three years and be worth £7000 a year (a very high income at the time), including an apartment and a car. Sobers was playing as captain of Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan in Swansea; the unfortunate bowler was Malcolm Nash. This tally of 36 runs in an over broke a 57-year-old record of 34 runs, held by Ted Alletson. In 1984–85, Indian batsman Ravi Shastri equalled the record by scoring six sixes in an over while playing for Bombay versus Baroda. Sobers, wrote Benaud, was "a brilliant batsman, splendid fielder, particularly close to the wicket, and a bowler of extraordinary skill, whether bowling with the new ball, providing orthodox left-arm spin or over-the-wrist spin".

C L R James, when describing the batsmanship of Wilton St Hill, commented upon St Hill's ability to judge the ball early in its flight and so quickly decide which stroke to play. In James' view, only Don Bradman and Sobers were comparable with St Hill in having this capability of "seeing" the ball. Wisden 1969 described the "lightning footwork" of Sobers as he got into position for his stroke. Commenting upon Sobers' six sixes in an over against his team in 1968, Glamorgan captain Tony Lewis said: "It was not sheer slogging through strength, but scientific hitting with every movement working in harmony".

Though he mostly fielded close to the wicket, Sobers was an exceptional outfielder who was seen on one occasion, when he had fielded the ball on the boundary, to "bend his hand back almost parallel with his arm before flipping the ball a full seventy yards to the wicketkeeper".

Following his success as captain of West Indies on the 1966 tour of England, the 1967 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack declared that for Sobers "(the 1966 Tests) were one triumph after another with bat and ball, as well as in the field as a master tactician and fantastic catcher close to the bat". Sobers' exploits in 1966 earned him the media-bestowed sobriquet of "King Cricket", which soon afterwards became the title of a book about him.

Personal life

Sobers was briefly engaged to Indian actress Anju Mahendru after he met her on the 1966-67 tour of India. He married Pru Kirby, an Australian, in September 1969. They had two sons, Matthew and Daniel, and an adopted daughter, Genevieve. The marriage ended in divorce in 1990 after the couple broke up in 1984, however Sobers acquired dual Australian citizenship through marriage in 1980. His own favourite sport is golf and he has been an enthusiastic gambler. He is the author of a children's novel about cricket, Bonaventure and the Flashing Blade, in which computer analysis helps a university cricket team become unbeatable.

Honours and legacy

In the 1975 New Year Honours List, Queen Elizabeth II created Sobers a Knight Bachelor for his services to cricket. The award was made in the British Diplomatic and Overseas section of the list, rather than on the nomination of the Government of Barbados, which had stopped putting forward recommendations for British honours. This caused the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office some unease, as shown by papers released by The National Archives in 2005. However, since Barbados had not yet introduced its own system of honours, the Prime Minister of Barbados was pleased that an honour would be forthcoming for Sobers.

The award was originally intended to be made in the 1975 Queen's Birthday Honours, but since there was a royal visit to Barbados planned for February 1975, it was moved forward to the New Year list so that Sobers could be knighted by the Queen in person during the visit. The very short turnaround between the decision to make the award and its announcement meant that the Governor-General of Barbados was not informed of the award before the public announcement, which caused some hurt feelings between London and Bridgetown.

Sobers was made a National Hero of Barbados by Prime Minister Owen Arthur in 1998. He is one of only ten people to have received this honour and the only recipient still living.

Sobers coached internationally, during a one time stint with Sri Lanka. In 2003 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia, where he had played many first-class games for South Australia.

Cricket awards

Among the awards that Sobers won during his playing career were:

West Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year: 1958–59

Wisden Cricketer of the Year: 1964

The Cricket Society Wetherall Award for the Leading All-Rounder in English First-Class Cricket: 1970

Walter Lawrence Trophy winner: 1974

Wisden Cricketer of the Century: 2000

In 2000 Sobers was named by a 100-member panel of experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century. He received 90 votes out of a possible 100. The other four cricketers selected for the honour were Don Bradman (100 votes), Jack Hobbs (30), Shane Warne (27) and Viv Richards (25).

In 2004, the International Cricket Council (ICC) inaugurated the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy which is awarded annually to the player selected by ICC as its Player of the Year. The recommendation to name the award after Sobers was made by a panel consisting of Richie Benaud, Sunil Gavaskar and Michael Holding, who were asked by the ICC "to select an individual with whom to honour cricket's ultimate individual award".

In 2007 Wisden retrospectively selected the Leading Cricketer in the World for every year dating back to 1900, Sobers was selected for eight years (1958, 1960, 1962, 1964–66, 1968 and 1970). Only Sobers and Bradman (10) received the accolade more than three times.

External links

Garfield Sobers from the Barbados Government Information Service

Sir Garfield Sobers, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) website

Category:1936 births Category:West Indies One Day International cricketers Category:West Indies Test cricketers Category:West Indian cricket captains Category:West Indian cricketers Category:People from Bridgetown Category:Australian people of Barbadian descent Category:Australian people of Black African descent Category:Australian people of Caribbean descent Category:West Indian cricketers of 1945-46 to 1969-70 Category:Barbados cricketers Category:Nottinghamshire cricketers Category:Nottinghamshire cricket captains Category:South Australia cricketers Category:Commonwealth XI cricketers Category:International Cavaliers cricketers Category:Wisden Cricketers of the Year Category:Cricket players and officials awarded knighthoods Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Living people Category:International Cricket Council Hall of Fame inductees Category:Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World

Playername	Andrew Flintoff
Country	England
Fullname	Andrew Flintoff
Nickname	Freddie
Living	true
Dayofbirth	6
Monthofbirth	12
Yearofbirth	1977
Placeofbirth	Preston, Lancashire
Countryofbirth	England
Heightft	6
Heightinch	4
Role	All-rounder
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm fast
International	true
Testdebutdate	23 July
Testdebutyear	1998
Testdebutagainst	South Africa
Testcap	591
Lasttestdate	20 August
Lasttestyear	2009
Lasttestagainst	Australia
Odidebutdate	7 April
Odidebutyear	1999
Odidebutagainst	Pakistan
Odicap	154
Odishirt	11
Lastodidate	3 April
Lastodiyear	2009
Lastodiagainst	West Indies
Club1	Lancashire
Year1	1995–2010
Clubnumber1	11
| club2	Chennai Super Kings
Year2	2009
Clubnumber2	11
Columns	4
Column1	Test
Matches1	79
Runs1	3,845
Bat avg1	31.77
100s/50s1	5/26
Top score1	167
Deliveries1	14,951
Wickets1	226
Bowl avg1	32.78
Fivefor1	3
Tenfor1	0
Best bowling1	5/58
Catches/stumpings1	52/–
Column2	ODIs
Matches2	141
Runs2	3,394
Bat avg2	32.01
100s/50s2	3/18
Top score2	123
Deliveries2	5,624
Wickets2	169
Bowl avg2	24.38
Fivefor2	2
Tenfor2	n/a
Best bowling2	5/19
Catches/stumpings2	47/–
Column3	FC
Matches3	183
Runs3	9,027
Bat avg3	33.80
100s/50s3	15/53
Top score3	167
Deliveries3	22,799
Wickets3	350
Bowl avg3	31.59
Fivefor3	4
Tenfor3	0
Best bowling3	5/24
Catches/stumpings3	185/–
Column4	LA
Matches4	282
Runs4	6,641
Bat avg4	29.78
100s/50s4	6/34
Top score4	143
Deliveries4	9,416
Wickets4	289
Bowl avg4	22.61
Fivefor4	2
Tenfor4	n/a
Best bowling4	5/19
Catches/stumpings4	106/–
Date	29 August
Year	2009
Source	http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/4/4263/4263.html CricketArchive

Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff, MBE, (born 6 December 1977 in Preston, Lancashire) is a former English cricketer who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club, England and the Indian Premier League team Chennai Super Kings. A tall (6' 4") fast bowler, batsman and slip fielder, Flintoff according to the ICC rankings was consistently rated amongst the top international allrounders in both ODI and Test cricket. His nickname "Freddie" or "Fred" comes from the similarity between his surname and that of Fred Flintstone, and was first used in the press as a quip because of the issues he had with his weight when he first emerged onto the scene.

From his debut in 1998, Flintoff became an integral player for England, and has both captained and vice-captained the team. However, he suffered regular injuries throughout his international career, often due to his heavy frame and bowling action. During the period 2007–09 he played in only 13 of England's 36 Test matches, but nevertheless remained a core member of the England squad, being selected whenever available. On 15 July 2009 he announced his retirement from Test cricket at the conclusion of the 2009 Ashes series, on 24 August, but made himself available for future commitments in One Day International and Twenty20 International matches.

It was reported on 7 September 2009 that Flintoff has developed deep vein thrombosis after surgery to his knee. On 16 September 2010, he announced his retirement from all cricket.

Professional career

Early years: criticism, injury and fitness troubles

Flintoff was captain of the England Under-19 team for their "Test" match tour to Pakistan in 1996/7 and at home against Zimbabwe in 1997. He made his Test match debut for England in 1998 against South Africa at Trent Bridge, in a match remembered for its second-innings duel between Michael Atherton and Allan Donald; in a precursor to their subsequent all-round rivalry, Flintoff and Jacques Kallis exchanged wickets. Nonetheless, his struggle to make the grade at county level continued, he found form only intermittently, though often explosively when he did so. In 2000 he hit 135 not out in the Quarter-finals of the Natwest Trophy against Surrey, which David Gower described as "the most awesome innings we are ever going to see on a cricket field". In the same year England's management made clear they were unhappy with his fitness and weight, Flintoff responded to his critics with 42 not out in a one day game against Zimbabwe on his home ground of Old Trafford, forming an explosive second wicket stand with Graeme Hick; as he collected the Man of the Match award he remarked his performance was "not bad for a fat lad". Though he lost his England place during 2001, he remodelled his bowling action and gained a place on the 2001–02 tour to India. Though he hit possibly his worst international batting form during the Test series, frustrating him to the point that he broke down in tears in the dressing room at one stage, he later saw the tour as a turning point in his career, specifically the crucial final one-day match. Entrusted with bowling the final over with India needing 11 to win, he ran out Anil Kumble and bowled Javagal Srinath with successive balls to win the match, taking off his shirt in celebration, through both joy and personal relief.

Improved consistency, step-up to key international player

In 2002 he scored his maiden Test century. By 2003, a newer, fitter Flintoff started to justify the comparisons with Botham. Up to the end of 2002, he had averaged just 19 with the bat and 47 with the ball; from 2003 to the end of the 2005 Ashes series, the corresponding figures were 43 and 28. In the summer of 2003 he scored a century and three fifties in the 5 Test series against South Africa at home, and continued to excel on the tour of the West Indies in March and April 2004, taking five wickets in the Test in Barbados, and scoring a century in Antigua. In early 2004 he was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year, having failed to make Wisden's top 40 list in 2002.

Although injury prevented him from bowling, he was called into the England squad for the 2004 Nat West One Day International (ODI) Series against New Zealand and the West Indies as a specialist batsman, scoring two consecutive centuries in the series and hitting seven sixes in one innings.

He matched this haul in the Second Test against the West Indies at Edgbaston in July, hitting a first-class best figure of 167. Over the course of England's record-breaking summer, he hit a half-century in all seven victorious Tests against New Zealand and the West Indies. On returning to the one-day game as an all-rounder in September he fell agonising short of a third one-day century, caught on 99 against India, though he went on to hit a further century in the ICC Champions Trophy pool match against Sri Lanka two weeks later. At the end of the season he was named as the inaugural winner of the ICC Award for one-day player of the year, and the Professional Cricketers' Association player of the year. He also became a father when his fiancée Rachael Wools gave birth to Holly on 6 September. They now have a second child, Corey, who was born during the series in India in 2006. Freddie briefly returned home from the tour to see his son for the first time and did not miss any matches in the process.

2005: Ashes winner

Following the Test series in South Africa in December 2004 and January 2005, Flintoff flew home for surgery on his left ankle, leading to worries he might not regain fitness in time for The Ashes. In fact, following a rehabilitation programme of swimming and hill-walking, he recovered ahead of schedule and was able to return to action for Lancashire in April.

In the Second Test against Australia at Edgbaston in August 2005, he broke Ian Botham's 1981 record of six sixes in an Ashes Test Match with five in the first innings, and a further four in the second innings, 141 runs in total. In the same game he took a total of 7 wickets (across both innings), including the wickets of Langer and Ponting in his first over in Australia's run-chase. He managed all this despite a shoulder injury early in the second innings. England won the game by the narrowest of margins – just 2 runs, and saved their hopes of regaining the Ashes. Flintoff was named 'Man of the Match' and captain Michael Vaughan subsequently dubbed the match "Fred's Test" in honour of his achievement.

Flintoff scored a century during England's crucial win at Trent Bridge. He took 5 wickets on the fourth day of the final Test match, enabling England to go off for bad light and helping them to eventually secure a draw and regain the Ashes.

For his achievements throughout the 2005 Ashes series, he was named as "Man of the Series" by Australian coach, John Buchanan. His achievement also won him the inaugural Compton-Miller Medal. He was also awarded the Freedom of the City of Preston.

In October 2005, Flintoff shared the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC player of the year award with Jacques Kallis of South Africa. In December 2005, Flintoff was crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 2005, the first cricketer since Botham in 1981. In the New Year's Honours List for 2006, Flintoff was appointed an MBE for his role in the successful Ashes side. In January 2006, Flintoff was presented with Freedom of the City award for Preston, Lancashire. The award was presented to Flintoff by the Mayor of Preston. Other recipients of the award include Sir Tom Finney and Nick Park.

England captaincy

In February 2006, following England captain Michael Vaughan and vice-captain Marcus Trescothick becoming unavailable for the first Test match against India, Flintoff was named captain of the England team and subsequently announced that he would be staying in India for the entire Test series, although he and his wife were expecting their second child. His wife gave birth to a son, Corey, shortly before the second Test on 9 March.

On the field, Flintoff was seen as a great success during the drawn series with India, with a 212-run victory in Mumbai. His contributions with both bat and ball ensured that he was named as the player of the series, with many commentators seeing Flintoff as someone who not only worked better under the responsibility but was also viewed as a great influence of an inexperienced side, which included many debutants, such as Alastair Cook, Owais Shah and Monty Panesar. Flintoff amassed four fifties in the series, and took 11 wickets, on unfriendly surfaces for seamers. Flintoff continued to captain England during the seven ODIs in India, although he was rested for two matches.

However, following a recurrence of his long-term ankle problem in May 2006, he missed both the ODI series against Sri Lanka, and the first Test against Pakistan. It was later announced in July that Flintoff's rehabiltation had not been sufficient to quell the injury, and that further surgery would be required. He was thus ruled out for the entire series against Pakistan. Despite injury concerns, Flintoff was later named for the ICC Champions Trophy, where he played as a specialist batsman, not as an all-rounder.

2006–07 Ashes series

After his previous stint as captain in the Test series against India, Flintoff returned as captain of the England team for the eagerly anticipated 2006-07 Ashes series in Australia. The series turned out to be a humiliating one for Flintoff, leading his side to five straight losses and thus losing the Ashes after having held them for the shortest time in history. In addition, he presided over England's worst ever defeat in an Ashes series, equalling the 1921 whitewash at the hands of the Warwick Armstrong-led Australian team in the wake of World War I.

Flintoff's own play in the 2006–07 series, both bowling and at the crease, was generally deemed disappointing. He made only two scores over 50 in the series, his best bowling figures were 4/99 in the first innings of the First Test in Brisbane, and he failed to get 5 wickets in a match. Flintoff played in only one first-class game in the lead up to the series. He was initially undone by Australia's excellent seam bowling but his batting improved throughout the series as he got more match practice. A persistent ankle injury prevented Flintoff from bowling long spells at full pace and Australia's batsmen took advantage of this. According to Nasser Hussain during the tour he also had three or four warnings for inappropriate behaviour and binge drinking, including arriving hungover for a training session.

Flintoff also captained England for several of the subsequent 2006-07 Commonwealth Bank Series One Day International matches. Michael Vaughan's return from knee surgery was cut short by a hamstring injury and he was only able to play two matches, leaving Flintoff in charge for the remaining games. England qualified in the last game of eight group matches for the best-of-three finals against Australia, but reversed their poor form on tour with a 2–0 series win in the finals.

Flintoff contributed significantly with the ball in both matches, taking three wickets in the first match and allowing only 10 runs off 5 overs in the second as Australia chased a reduced total in a rain-hit match.

2007 Cricket World Cup

With Michael Vaughan returning from injury for the Cricket World Cup in the West Indies, Flintoff was replaced as captain but appointed England's vice-captain.

In the opening match of the tournament against New Zealand Flintoff was out first ball in England's innings and failed to take a wicket, although his bowling was very economical conceding only 17 runs in 8 overs, and he took a stunning one-handed catch at slip to dismiss Ross Taylor for a duck. On the evening of England's defeat Flintoff – along with some other players and coaches from the England squad – indulged in some late night drinking in a night club, only two days before their vital match against Canada. In the early hours of the morning he was reported as having to be rescued after falling off a pedalo – this quickly became known in the media as the "Fredalo" incident (a portmanteau of "Freddie" and "pedalo"). Flintoff and the others involved were reprimanded and fined and with Flintoff being stripped of the vice-captaincy and, in addition, he was suspended for the match against Canada. It was revealed by England coach Duncan Fletcher that Flintoff had had a number of previous warnings about his behaviour. Flintoff has since issued a public apology.

Flintoff returned to the England team for the last group match against Kenya, taking two wickets. In the Super 8 matches, Flintoff often excelled with the ball but failed to recover his batting form. Against Ireland he took 4–43 and scored 43 runs; against Sri Lanka he took 3–35 but was out for 2 and against Australia he took 1–35 but was out for 4. In the next match against Bangladesh Flintoff took 1–38 in 8 overs and scored 23 runs off 21 balls. Ultimately, he failed to influence an ailing English side and had a poor tournament. Michael Vaughan later commented that Flintoff's pedalo antics had adversely affected team morale.

2007–09: Injuries, comeback, and retirement

Flintoff returned for a couple of games with Lancashire, in preparation for the West Indies tour of England but he re-injured his ankle and was ruled out for the first Test which started on 17 May 2007. Having undergone another operation on the troublesome ankle, he missed the whole Test and one-day series against the West Indies, and was also ruled out for the subsequent Test series with India. Following several games for Lancashire, Flintoff returned for England in the first of seven ODIs against India on 21 August 2007. He bowled seven overs and ended with figures of one for twelve in England's 104-run victory. He hit an eventful nine runs during the second ODI; however, while fielding, he injured his knee and sat out England's 42-run victory in the third ODI. He returned for the 4th ODI on 30 August. Flintoff missed England's two narrow defeats to India in the fifth and sixth ODIs before taking three for 45 in the seventh, helping England to win the series four-three with a seven-wicket victory.

His ankle injury recurred during the end of the 2007 season, and, although he played in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, he did not accompany the England squad to Sri Lanka, and a fourth operation made it highly unlikely that he would play again before the summer of 2008, missing both the Sri Lankan Test Series and the 2008 tour of New Zealand. Flintoff remained "upbeat" about his career, however.

He was back in action for Lancashire early in the 2008 season, but a side strain ruled him out of contention for the home series against New Zealand. After again returning to action in county cricket, he was recalled to the England squad for the second Test against South Africa. He took his 200th Test wicket in the Third Test, trapping Neil McKenzie lbw for 72. Flintoff bowled consistently against the South Africans, but South African coach Mickey Arthur felt that he was too defensive. His batting also began to show promise as he consistently made starts, before being moved back up to bat at six when Kevin Pietersen took over as captain. In the following one day series, Flintoff was an important player for England, leading Pietersen to describe him as "a superstar". Flintoff scored 78 in both the first and the third matches — he was not required to bat in the second — as well as 31 not out off twelve balls in the fourth, whilst taking three wickets in the same match. This led many pundits to speculate that Flintoff might just be back to his best. He won Man of the Series in the ODI home series against South Africa, where England won four-nil: the last match was washed out. He was both the top run-scorer and the top wicket-taker of that series. Still, though, his want of consistency frustrated the pundits. "Flintoff," wrote Peter Roebuck some time later, "is a fine cricketer who has never quite worked out how he takes wickets or score runs. Torn between hitting and playing, pounding and probing, he has performed below his highest capabilities."

On England's tour of India Flintoff started the series well. In the first warm-up match against the Mumbai Cricket Association, he scored exactly 100. It was his first century for England since the Fourth Test of the 2005 Ashes. His batting did not follow with similar successes in India and the West Indies, but his bowling remained strong, with a dozen wickets in the Caribbean at under thirty apiece, followed by a hat-trick in the final ODI series, becoming only the third English bowler ever to do so.

In February 2009, the Chennai Super Kings of the Indian Premier League bought Flintoff for USD 1,550,000 — a good $600,000 above his base price of $950,000. This makes him the highest-ever-paid IPL player, alongside compatriot Kevin Pietersen, and surpasses Mahendra Singh Dhoni's $1,500,000. But Flintoff did not find success at the tournament, held in South Africa after the Mumbai attacks, as after a difficult first few matches he was sent home for surgery following another knee injury.

during the first Ashes Test of the 2009 series]] as Flintoff comes to the wicket for his penultimate Test innings]]

However, speculation over Flintoff's form ahead of the much-awaited 2009 Ashes series died down as he seized six scalps in his first match back for Lancashire and left "several county batsmen [...] nursing bruised ribs and fingers". He also collected a half-century against Hampshire, although he was still yet to register a century in either domestic cricket or any form of the international game since that Trent Bridge instalment of the last home Ashes in 2005, which year also accounted for his most recent Test five-for. "It's always been an Australian trait to over-rate players who have done well against them (just ask VVS Laxman)," wrote Lawrence Booth. "But in the case of Andrew Flintoff, this phenomenon is getting so out of control you wonder whether Steve Waugh has returned to orchestrate a cunning mind-game. [...] In any case, does anyone honestly think a player with his fitness record will make it through a five-Test series condensed into less than seven weeks?" Flintoff did offer some hope with the willow in the Twenty20 Cup, however, hitting 93 off 41 balls for Lancashire against Derbyshire in June. He said that "Since 2005 I have just been plagued with injury so I've got the opportunity now to finish on a high by helping England to win the Ashes and it will give me great pleasure if I can play my last Test at the Oval and we can win the Ashes – it doesn't get any bigger than that." He was man of the match in England's victory at Lords in the Second Test Match, taking 5 wickets in the second innings after a fine display of fast bowling. On 23 August 2009, England defeated Australia at The Oval to seal a 2–1 series win, with Flintoff notably running out the Australian captain Ricky Ponting, ensuring Flintoff ended his England career on a high.

On 16 September 2010, however, Flintoff retired from all forms of cricket, having consulted with medical advisors.

Media career

In March 2010, Flintoff became a team captain on the Sky1 television sports panel show A League of Their Own, hosted by James Corden. In December 2010, Flintoff became a guest commentator during a few matches in the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship event.

In popular culture

He appears on the cover of the English version of EA Sports' video games Cricket 2005 and Cricket 07.

Flintoff was joint winner of the Beard Liberation Front's Beard of the Year award in 2004 with NATFHE union leader Paul Mackney and then won again in 2005.

Autobiographies

He has written several books: Being Freddie, Freddie, and Andrew Flintoff, My Life in Pictures.

Family

He married Rachael Wools on 5 March 2005 at the 30 Pavilion Road Hotel in Knightsbridge, London. They have three children: a daughter, Holly (born 6 September 2004); and two sons – Corey (born 9 March 2006), and Rocky (born 7 April 2008). He has the names Rachael, Holly, Corey and Rocky tattooed on his left shoulder.

Andrew's father, Colin, and his brother, Chris, both played cricket, with Colin still playing for Whittingham Cricket Club near Preston. During his innings of 167 against the West Indies at Edgbaston in July 2004, one six off Jermaine Lawson was hit high into the Ryder Stand and was almost caught by his father, who fumbled the ball and dropped it. Colin Flintoff remarked "If I'd taken it he'd have been the first Test batsman to be caught out by his dad!"

Indian Premier League

Flintoff was the most expensive player at the IPL auctions after the Chennai Super Kings brought him for a massive 1.55 million USD. This also made him the highest-paid cricketer ever in any cricket tournament. However, he wasn't able to deliver for the Super Kings due to an elbow injury he picked up during the first quarter of the season. Super Kings have sought the services of Justin Kemp from South Africa to make up for his absence.

Best performances

Batting

Test centuries

{|class="wikitable" align="center" |- ! width="40"| !! width="50"|Runs !! width="50"|Match !! width="100"|Against !! width="150"|City/Country !! width="200"|Venue !! width="50"|Year |- | 1 || 137 || 13 || New Zealand || Christchurch, New Zealand || Jade Stadium || 2002 |- | 2 || 142 || 23 || South Africa || London, England || Lord's || 2003 |- | 3 || 102* || 33 || West Indies || St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda || Antigua Recreation Ground || 2004 |- | 4 || 167 || 38 || West Indies || Birmingham, England || Edgbaston || 2004 |- | 5 || 102 || 51 || Australia || Nottingham, England || Trent Bridge || 2005 |}

One Day International centuries

{|class="wikitable" align="center" ! width="40"| !! width="50"|Runs !! width="50"|Match !! width="100"|Against !! width="150"|City/Country !! width="200"|Venue !! width="50"|Year |- | 1 || 106 || 73 || New Zealand || Bristol, England || County Cricket Ground || 2004 |- | 2 || 123 || 74 || West Indies || London, England || Lord's || 2004 |- | 3 || 104 || 78 || Sri Lanka || Southampton, England || Rose Bowl || 2004 |}

Bowling

Test five-wicket hauls

{|class="wikitable" align="center" ! width="40"| !! width="50"|Figures !! width="50"|Match !! width="100"|Against !! width="150"|City/Country !! width="200"|Venue !! width="50"|Year |- | 1 || 5/58 || 33 || West Indies || Bridgetown, Barbados || Kensington Oval || 2004 |- | 2 || 5/78 || 52 || Australia || London, England || The Oval || 2005 |- | 3 || 5/92 || 77 || Australia || London, England || Lord's || 2009 |}

One Day International five-wicket hauls

{|class="wikitable" align="center" ! width="40"| !! width="50"|Figures !! width="50"|Match !! width="100"|Against !! width="150"|City/Country !! width="200"|Venue !! width="50"|Year |- | 1 || 5/56 || 125 || India || Bristol, England || County Cricket Ground || 2007 |- | 2 || 5/19 || 141 || West Indies || Gros Islet, Saint Lucia || Beausejour Stadium || 2009 |}

Awards and honours

Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE): 2006

Freedom of the City of Preston: 2006

England captain: 2006, 2006–2007

Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2005

Wisden Cricketers of the Year: 2004

PCA Player of the Year: 2004, 2005

ICC Player of the Year: 2005

ICC ODI Player of the Year: 2004

ICC World One-Day XI: 2004, 2005, 2006

ICC World Test XI: 2006

Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year: 1998

Compton-Miller medal: 2005

Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy: 2005

BBC Sports Personality of the Year: 2005

BBC Sports Personality of the Year Third Place: 2004

NBC Denis Compton Award: 1997

Walter Lawrence Trophy: 1999

MCC Spirit of Cricket Award: 2005

References

External links

Andrew Flintoff photos & statistics at sporting-heroes.net

Player Profile: Andrew Flintoff from Cricket Archive

Roebuck, Peter. "Upwards, kicking and screaming." Cricinfo. 3 September 2008 (accessed February 11, 2009).

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Category:England One Day International cricketers Category:England Test cricketers Category:England Twenty20 International cricketers Category:English cricket captains Category:English cricketers Category:English cricketers of the 21st century Category:ICC World XI One Day International cricketers Category:Lancashire cricketers Category:One Day International hat-trick takers Category:Wisden Cricketers of the Year Category:World XI Test cricketers Category:Cricketers at the 1999 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup Category:BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners Category:People from Preston Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire Category:1977 births Category:Living people Category:English expatriates in the United Arab Emirates