Cricketers

Pakistani players, banned for five years for taking bribes in the 2010 spot–fixing scandal	Captain (born 1984)	Salman Butt
	Fast bowler, born 1992	Mohammad Amir
	Fast bowler, born 1982 – played for Leics in 2006	Mohammad Asif

Played for Leicestershire 1979–90, and 3 Tests for England (1984–5 – 4 wickets); went on to become the BBC's cricket correspondent and a commentator on Test Match special		Jonathan Agnew
Pakistan bowler, suspended for throwing in 1999		Shoaib Aktar
New Zealand No. 11: dismissed for 0 after 101 minutes and 77 balls v. South Africa, at Auckland in 1999 (c. Pollock b. Kallis) – broke Godfrey Evans's record for the longest time at the crease in a Test match without scoring		Geoff Allott
First English bowler to take 400 Test wickets (2015), and the first to take 500 (2017); overtook Glenn McGrath's record (for a fast bowler) of 563 Test wickets, in September 2018; overtook Alastair Cook in 2021 to become England's most–capped player		James (Jimmy) Anderson
Most 'not outs' in Test cricket (Wikipedia); most runs as a No. 11 batsman in Test cricket (howstat.com); shared a Test record 198 stand for the 10th wicket with Joe Root (v. India, Trent Bridge, 2014 – Wikipedia)		James (Jimmy) Anderson
Bowled England's 'golden over' in the 2019 World Cup final		Joffra Archer
Dismissed 19 times by Australia's Glenn McGrath – a record for any bowler against any one batsman in Test cricket		Michael Atherton
Last to score 2,000 runs and take 100 wickets in a season		Trevor Bailey
Nottinghamshire fast–medium bowler: took 5 wickets on his ODI debut, against Bangladesh in October 2016 – the first Englishman to do so		Jake Ball
Australian opening batsman, caught by television cameras rubbing the ball with sandpaper in March 2018 (during a Test match against South Africa in Cape Town); banned for nine months; dropped by Somerset (for whom he was contracted to play in the 2018 English season), but appointed as captain of Durham in 2019 (after making his return to cricket with Perth Scorchers); see also Steve Smith and David Warner		Cameron Bancroft
Twins who played for Surrey in the 1950s		Bedser (Alec & Eric)
Warwickshire and England batsman: nicknamed Sherman, because of a perceived resemblance to the character played by Chris Owen in the American Pie film franchise		Ian Bell
Kent batter and wicket–keeper: England's 700th Test cricketer, when he made his debut in January 2022 against Australia in Hobart		Sam Billings
Second (after Gavaskar) to score 10,000 runs in Tests; first Australian (eighth overall) to play 100 Tests; beat Gavaskar's record number of 125 Tests (his record of 156 was broken by Steve Waugh); captained the Rest of the World v. England in the Bicentenary Test, 1987		Allan Border
Inventor of the googly – father of ITN newsreader Reginald		Bosanquet
Second player to take 100 wickets and 100 catches, and score 1,000 runs, in Tests		Ian Botham
England's leading Test wicket taker, until overtaken by Jimmy Anderson; still holds England's record for Ashes Tests (128 – Stuart Broad was on 118 prior to the 2021–2 series)
First to represent England while playing for three different counties
South Africa wicketkeeper–batsman (147 Tests and 295 ODIs, 1997–2012): took a record 555 Test dismissals (including 23 stumpings); also scored 5,515 Test runs		Mark Boucher
Second (after Cowdrey) to play 100 Tests		Geoffrey Boycott
First Australian cricketer to be knighted		Don Bradman
Scored 309 runs in a single day, in 1930, in the Third Test of his first series in England (at Headingley – he was out for 334, then a Test Match record)
Needing only 4 runs from his last Test inings to retire with a Test average of 100, was out second ball for a duck, and finished with an average of 99.94. (Australia won by an innings, so he didn't get a second chance.)
Named by Wisden in 2005 as No. 1 in its list of Cricketers of the (20th) Century; described there as "without any question, the greatest phenomenon in the history of cricket, indeed in the history of all ball games"
Faced Ben Stokes's final over, in the 2016 World Twenty20 final – with 19 needed off it to win; scored four sixes off the first four balls, to win the tournament for the West Indies		Carlos Braithwaite
Took a hat–trick for Zimbabwe in a one–day international against England, 1996–7		Eddo Brandes
Won 17, drew 10 and lost only 4 of his 31 matches as England captain, having been appointed in 1976 at the age of 34		Mike Brearley
Conceded six sixes in an over to India's Yuvraj Singh, in the 2007 World Twenty20 tournament		Stuart Broad
He and his father became the first father and son to score Test centuries for England, when he scored 169 against Pakistan at Lord's, in 2010
Took a Test hat–trick against India in 2011
Took 8–15 in 9.3 overs, with 5 maidens, at Trent Bridge, in the 4th test of the 2015 Ashes series, as Australia were bowled out for 60 in 18.3 overs by 12:39 on the first day; the first wicket (with the third ball of the match) was his 300th in Test cricket
Took 5 wickets for 1 run against South Africa in January 2016, when his eventual 6–17 set up a victory that clinched the series for England
England's third most capped player, after Alastair Cook and Jimmy Anderson (2020)
Surrey and England (71 Tests, 1997–2004): married, at one time during his playing career, to Alec Stewart's sister Judy		Mark Butcher
Captain of the England team that won the T20 World Cup in 2022		Jos Buttler
Took Brian Lara's wicket when he scored a record 375; took 4 wickets in an over v. West Indies, 2000		Andy Caddick
Bowled underarm in a one–day international, 1981, to prevent New Zealand scoring the six they needed off the last ball		Trevor Chappell
England's youngest Test player (18 years 149 days, 1949); recalled to the side in 1976 (aged 45), after a gap of almost 9 years, to face extremely hostile West Indian bowling in three Tests; played 22 Tests, 7 as captain (won 6, drew 1); died 2015 aged 84		Brian Close
Broke Alec Stewart's record for the most appearances for England in one–day internationals, in 2009		Paul Collingwood
Most runs in a season (3,816 in 1947)		Denis Compton
First England batsman to score 10,000 Test runs; retired in 2018 as England's leading run–scorer (12,472 runs in 161 Tests, from 2006); also England's most–capped player, until overtaken by Jimmy Anderson in 2021; captain for 59 Tests, 2009–16; knighted in Theresa May's resignation honours list (2019), along with Boycott (controversially) and Strauss		Alastair Cook
Took a hat trick against West Indies in 1995 – the first for England since Peter Loader in 1957 – in his debut series		Dominic Cork
First to play 100 Tests (total 114, 1954–75); scored 104 against Australia in his 100th (1968); initials MCC		Colin Cowdrey
Father and son who captained England (Mickey Stewart was never captain)		Cowdrey (Colin, Chris)
Born 1931 in Cape Town; relocated to England in 1962; played 41 Tests and 4 ODIs for England (1966–72); his selection for the party that was to tour South Africa in 1968–9 led eventually to the cancellation of the tour; died in Worcester, in 2011, aged 80		Basil D'Oliveira
Prime minister who played first–class cricket (10 matches, 1924–7, for Oxford University, Middlesex, and 3 for MCC against Argentina, on a tour of South America in 1927)		Alec Douglas–Home
Captain of the England women's team, 2005–16 – including the 2009 world cup win		Charlotte Edwards
England wicket keeper, the first (from any country) to achieve 20 Test dismissals; described by Wisden as "arguably the best wicket–keeper the game has ever seen"; took 97 minutes to get off the mark v. Australia, at Adelaide in 1947 (eventually scored 10 not out)		Godfrey Evans
Zimbabwean, appointed England coach 1999		Duncan Fletcher
England Test cricketer who once held the world long–jump record		C. B. Fry
Indian batsman: centuries (v. England) in his first two Tests		Saurav Ganguly
England captain 1986–8, played 79 Tests and 92 ODIs in total, 1978–95		Mike Gatting
England batsman: had his nose shattered by a delivery from West Indies bowler Malcolm Marshall during a one–day match in 1986
Involved in a controversial argument with Pakistani umpire Shakoor Rana, 1987
Caught behind when attempting to reverse sweep Allan Border in the 1987 World Cup final, probably costing England the game
Led the 1989–90 rebel tour of English cricketers to South Africa
Bowled by Shane Warne's first ever ball in the Ashes (1993) – which has been called the "Ball of the Century"
First to score 10,000 runs in Tests		Sunil Gavaskar
First to score a double century in the World Cup (215 for West Indies v. Zimbabwe, 2015)		Chris Gayle
South African batsman, scored six sixes in an over in the 2007 World Cup (v. The Netherlands)		Herschelle Gibbs
In the 1999 tournament, was said to have been told "You've just dropped the World Cup son" by Steve Waugh, after dropping an easy catch (although Waugh denied this)
Also involved in the Hansie Cronje match fixing scandal
West Indies spinner: second bowler to take 300 Test wickets; returned match figures of 11 for 157 at Old Trafford in 1963, and 10 for 106 on the same ground in 1966		Lance Gibbs
England spinner, known as the King of Spain following a misprint on a set of mugs produced in 2000		Ashley Giles
Australian bowler, scored 201 n.o. as night watchman v. Bangladesh, 2006		Jason Gillespie
England's highest Test run scorer, until overtaken by Alastair Cook (after making a 'pair' on his debut in 1975)		Graham Gooch
Most runs in a Test match (333 and 123 v. India at Lord's, 1990)		Graham Gooch
Took the 10th wicket when Devon Malcolm took 9–57 (v South Africa, 1994)		Darren Gough
First century for England		W. G. Grace
First New Zealander to be knighted for services to cricket		Richard Hadlee
Fred Trueman's 300th Test victim (Australian fast–medium bowler and capable lower–order batsman; also a leading Australian Rules footballer)		Neil Hawke
Last to score a century on his England debut, before Graham Thorpe		Frank Hayes
First non–white to play for South Africa		Omar Henry
Yorkshire and England opening batsman – said "We'll get 'em in singles Wilfred" to Rhodes when England needed 15 to win with 9 wickets down (The Oval, 1902) – England won the match		George Hirst
Most runs (61,237) and most centries (197) in a first–class career		Jack Hobbs
Scored 5,410 runs in 61 Test matches, 1908–30 – including 3,636 against Australia; only Bradman has scored more in Ashes Tests (2020)
First professional to be knighted
The only English player named as one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the (20th) Century
Took a hat–trick against West Indies in Barbados, 2004		Matthew Hoggard
England leg–spinner, bowled Bradman second ball for 0 in his last Test innings (The Oval, 1948)		Eric Hollies
England all–rounder, born Melbourne 1977, died in a road accident in Perth, 2002		Ben Hollioake
Australian captain, 1979–84 (including the famous 1981 Ashes series): broke down in tears while reading his resignation letter at the close of play press conference during a home Test match against West Indies		Kim Hughes
Australian batsman (26 Tests, 25 ODIs), died in 2014 (aged 25), two days after being hit in the back of the neck by a short ball (playing for South Australia v. NSW)		Phillip Hughes
First professional to captain England (1953)		Len Hutton
England captain on the Bodyline tour (1932–3)		Douglas Jardine
South–African born batsman: scored a century on his Test debut for England against India, at Mumbai, in December 2016		Keaton Jennings
Fastest Test century for England (76 balls, v. Australia at The Oval in 1902)		Gilbert Jessop
South African all–rounder: 166 Tests and 328 ODIs, 1995–2014; third highest run scorer in Tests (behind Tendulkar and Ponting); the only player (as of 2020) to score 10,000 runs and take 200 wickets in both Tests and ODIs		Jacques Kallis
Became the leading Test wicket taker in 1994		Kapil Dev
Captain of England Women's team, 2016 to date – including the 2017 World Cup win		Heather Knight
Kept wicket for England in 95 Test matches between 1967 and 1981, scoring 4,389 runs and taking 250 catches		Alan Knott
Second bowler (after Jim Laker) to take all ten wickets in a Test innings (India v. Pakistan, 1999); third highest wicket taker in Test cricket (behind Muralitharan and Warne, and 19 ahead of Jimmy Anderson in December 2020)		Anil Kumble
First bowler to take all 10 wickets in a Test innings, and the only one to take 19 wickets in a Test match (both for England v. Australia, Old Trafford, 1956)		Jim Laker
Born in South Africa (to British parents), 1954; joined Northamptonshire in 1981, making his England debut in 1982; scored centuries in three consecutive Tests v. West Indies, 1984		Allan Lamb
Youngest ever captain of the Australian women's team, in 2014; in January 2022, became the third woman – after England's Charlotte Edwards and India's Mithali Raj – to captain her national side in 150 matches		Meg Lanning
Holds records for the highest individual score in both first–class cricket (501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham in 1994) and Test cricket (400 not out for the West Indies against England in 2004)		Brian Lara
Scored 11,953 Test runs, 1990–2006; overtook Allan Border's total of 11,174 in 2005; overtaken by Sachin Tendulkar in 2008		Brian Lara
Unlikely hero of the latter half of England's 2019 season: a slow left–arm bowler and No. 11 batsman, he scored 92 as a nightwatchman in the second innings of the Test match against Ireland (turning defeat into victory); in the third Test against Australia he accompanied Ben Stokes in an unbeaten last wicket stand of 73 (scoring his only run right at the end!) and in the final Ashes Test he took the last two Australian wickets in successive balls, to win the match and level the series		Jack Leach
Took a hat–trick in the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup, 2007		Brett Lee
Welsh player, chosen to captain England when Ray Illingworth refused to tour India, 1972–3 – the only man ever to captain England on his Test debut; also played rugby for Neath and Gloucester; was the face of BBC TV's cricket coverage in the 1990s, and later President of the MCC		Tony Lewis
Used an aluminium bat in an Ashes test, at Perth, in 1979		Dennis Lillee
Captain of the West Indies, 1974–84: included victories in the first two World Cups (1975 and 1979) and a sequence of 27 Tests without defeat (1982–4), including 11 consecutive victories in 1984		Clive Lloyd
Man of the Match in the first World Cup final (1975), when he scored 102 from 85 balls		Clive Lloyd
Took the 20th wicket when Jim Laker took 19		Tony Lock
Jamaica–born fast bowler, took 9–57 for England in South Africa's second innings at The Oval in 1994 (after being hit on the helmet and knocked to the ground by Fanie de Villiers, while batting at No. 11)		Devon Malcolm
India bowler, controversially ran out Australian opener Bill Brown twice in one series, 1947, as he followed up (once without a warning)		Vinoo Mankad
Australian opening batsman – 50 Tests and 117 ODIs, 1985–92; later coached Australia, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka; both of his sons (Shaun and Mitchell) scored centuries on the same day of the 5th Ashes test, at Sydney in January 2018		Geoff Marsh
Durham, Northants and England batsman: known for his forceful strokeplay and his larger–than–life personality, retired in the early 1970s after his sight was seriously damaged in a car accident; died of a heart attack in 1990, aged 48		Colin Milburn
Youngest Test player for Pakistan, or any country, before Hassan Raza in 1997 (15 years 124 days, in 1959) – still holds the record as Raza's exact birth date is uncertain		Mushtaq Mohammed
Captain of the England team that won the World Cup in 2019: scored a record 17 sixes against Afghanistan		Eoin Morgan
Most Test wickets in a career (800, 1992–2010); also took a record 534 ODI wickets (1993–2011), overtaking Wasim Akram's 502		Muttiah Muralitharan
Bowler off whom Sobers scored six sixes in an over		Malcolm Nash
Leicestershire bowler: entered cricketing legend when, on coming in to bat in the first of his two Tests, against Australia in 2001, Mark Waugh asked him what he was doing out there – "there's no way you're good enough to play for England." His reply: "Maybe not, but at least I'm the best player in my own family"		Jimmy Ormond
Slow left–armer who became the third bowler (after Jim Laker and Anil Kumble) to take ten wickets in a Test innings, in December 2021 (New Zealand v. India, in Mumbai; figures 10–119 and 4–106)		Ajaz Patel
Warwickshire wicket keeper, also scored a century when Lara scored 501		Keith Piper
Substitute fielder who ran out Ricky Ponting in the 4th (Trent Bridge) Test of the 2005 Ashes series (England went on to win the game and the series)		Gary Pratt
Pakistani–born cricketer who in 2020 made allegations of racism and bullying at Yorkshire CCC during his time as a player there		Azeem Rafiq
Scored a record 14 sixes in a Test series, for Pakistan against the West Indies, 1976–7 – a record that has been equalled four times (to 2006) but never away from home – died 2006, aged 54, while taking part in an over 50s match in England		Wasim Raja
Pakistani umpire with whom Mike Gatting argued in 1987		Shakoor Rana
Sussex and England cricketer who later became Maharajah Jam Sahib of Nawanagar		K. S. Ranjitsinjhi
Claimed to be the youngest ever Test player on his debut for Pakistan, in 1996 – 14 yrs 227 days (see Mushtaq Mohammad)		Hasan Raza
Yorkshire all–rounder – England's oldest ever Test player (52 years 165 days, v. West Indies 1930)		Wilfred Rhodes
First West Indian to score 100 hundreds		Viv Richards
England Test captain, 2017–22: set records for most Test matches (64), most wins (27) and most losses (26) as captain		Joe Root
Second England player to score 10,000 Test runs (after Alastair Cook)
Wears squad number 66 in limited overs cricket
Hampshire bowler, took 100 wickets per season, every year from 1949 to 1968		Derek Shackleton
Indian batsman, scored 264 against Sri Lanka in November 2014 – the highest–ever innings in a one–day international		Rohit Sharma
The only batsman to score two double centuries in ODIs (scored 209 against Australia in 2013)		Rohit Sharma
Second (after Sobers) to score six sixes off an over		Ravi Shastri
English county player and Test match umpire, amused crowds by hopping from one foot to the other whenever the score was a 'Nelson' (111 or a multiple of it); d. 2009		David Shepherd
23 Tests for England, 1950–63; Anglican Bishop of Liverpool, 1975–93; died in 2005		David Sheppard
First woman to appear on the front cover of Wisden (2018 – after taking 6 for 46 in the 2017 World Cup Final, including a devastating final spell of 5 for 11 in 19 balls)		Anya Shrubsole
Lancashire spin bowler, first to raise over £100,000 in his benefit year		Jack Simmons
First player to hit six sixes in an over in Twenty20 – against England's Stuart Broad, in the 2007 World Twenty20		Yuvraj Singh
Last to gain full caps for England at both rugby (1 cap 1956) and cricket (50 Tests, last 1972); also captained the cricket team in 25 Tests, 1963–6		M. J. K. (Mike) Smith
Australian captain, banned for 12 months in 2018 (along with vice–captain David Warner) after admitting involvement in ball–tampering		Steve Smith
First to take 100 wickets and 100 catches, and score 1,000 runs, in Tests		Garfield Sobers
Scored six sixes in an over for Notts v. Glamorgan, at Swansea in 1968		Garfield Sobers
Last to achieve the "domestic double" of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in a season (1988, playing for Notts) – and only the second (after Richard Hadlee) to do it since the reduction in the number of games in 1969; but he was banned from playing for the West Indies after taking part in the rebel tour to South Africa in 1982–3, so never played Test cricket		Franklyn Stephenson
England's most capped player in Tests (133), and second highest run scorer (after Gooch), on his retirement in 2003; scored a century in his 100th Test match, in 2000 (v. West Indies)		Alec Stewart
The gates at the Vauxhall End of The Oval were named in his honour by Surrey CCC (the county he played for throughout his career, 1981–2003)		Alec Stewart
England captain, 2006 and 2009–12 – 50 matches, only one short of Vaughan's record; won 24 Tests and lost only 11; included the first Ashes win in Australia since 1986–7 (2010–11); scored a century in each innings of a Test match (v. India), in December 2008 – only the 10th English player to do so; knighted in Theresa May's resignation honours list (2019), along with Boycott (controversially) and Cook		Andrew Strauss
Only Englishman to score a century in each innings of a Test match, twice		Herbert Sutcliffe
First woman to be named as one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year (2009)		Claire Taylor
First player born outside the county to play for Yorkshire (1992)		Sachin Tendulkar
Overtook Brian Lara's record total of 11,953 Test runs, in 2008; first to score 12,000 Test runs; first to score 13,000 Test runs; retired in 2013, just 79 runs short of 16,000; still the only player with more than 14,000 runs (in April 2020, no current player had more than 7,600)
First to score 50 test hundreds (2010)
First to score 200 in a ODI (200 not out v. South Africa, 2010)
Known to his fans as 'the Little Master',' the Master Blaster', or even 'the God of Cricket'
Scored a century on his England debut, v. Australia at Trent Bridge, in 1993; a century v. Pakistan at Lahore in 2000 included only one boundary (he was eventually out for 118, having scored one more boundary); his highest Test score was 200 not out off 231 balls against New Zealand at Christchurch in 2002, when he and Andrew Flintoff together scored 281 in 51 overs		Graham Thorpe
Hit a ball over the pavilion at Lord's, in 1899 – believed to be the only time this has ever been done		Albert Trott
Lancashire–born fast bowler, described by Bradman as the fastest he'd seen: played for Northants, and took 76 wickets in 17 Test matches, 1954–9, including 28 in the 1954–5 Ashes series; retired in 1960 to become a schoolmaster in Australia		Frank 'Typhoon' Tyson
England captain 2003–7, during which the team rose to second in the rankings (behind Australia): captain for a record 51 Tests, winning 26; in 2005, became the first England captain to win an Ashes series since Gatting in 1986–7		Michael Vaughan
Took 10–10 for Yorkshire v Notts at Leeds, 1932		Hedley Verity
Holds the records for the most ducks (43) and most not–outs (61) in Tests		Courtney Walsh
The only current player (i.e. still playing in 2000) named as one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the (20th) Century – in fact the only one in the top 16		Shane Warne
Took 708 Test wickets, 1992–2007 (and 293 in ODIs), and scored 3,154 Test runs; his highest Test score was 99 (v. New Zealand in 2001), and no other player has scored more Test runs without making a century		Shane Warne
Australian vice–captain, banned for 12 months in 2018 (along with captain Steve Smith) after admitting involvement in ball–tampering		David Warner
Most ODI wickets, until overtaken by Muralitharan (502, 1984–2003); also took most Test wickets for Pakistan (414, 1985–2002)		Wasim Akram
Twin brothers who respectively played 168 and 128 Tests (325 and 244 ODIs) for Australia, 1985–2004 and 1991–2002; scored almost 19,000 Test runs between them, and took 151 wickets		Steve & Mark Waugh
England's third–highest Test wicket taker, with 325 – overtaken by Jimmy Anderson in 2013; took 8 for 43 in Australia's second innings at Headingley in 1981		Bob Willis
Played 187 first–class matches for Kent, Middlesex and Sussex; best known today for the eponymous Cricketers' Almanack which he launched in 1864, the year after he retired from first–class cricket		John Wisden
Influential captain who led Glamorgan to the County Championship in 1948		Wilf Wooller
19 Tests for England, 1975–81; coached South Africa, Warwickshire and Pakistan; died on the day of Pakistan's elimination from the 2007 World Cup		Bob Woolmer
Pakistani batsman: broke Viv Richards's record for the number of Test runs scored in a calendar year, in 2006 (1,788, including a record 9 centuries; average 99.33; equalled Bradman's record of 6 centuries in consecutive Tests, but took only 5 Tests to Bradman's 6		Mohammad Yousuf
Dismissed three times in the 190s (another record)		Mohammad Yousuf

You are here:

Cricketers