Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | John Ernest Emburey | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Peckham, London | 20 August 1952|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nickname | Embers, Ernie, Knuckle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bowling | Right arm off break | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Role | Bowler | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Test debut(cap 480) | 24 August 1978 v New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last Test | 30 July 1995 v West Indies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ODI debut(cap 52) | 14 January 1980 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last ODI | 20 March 1993 v Sri Lanka | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1973–1995 | Middlesex | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1982/83–1983/84 | Western Province | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1996–1997 | Northamptonshire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source:CricketArchive,22 August 2007 |
John Ernest Emburey (born 20 August 1952) [1] is a former English first-class cricketer who played for Middlesex,Northamptonshire,Western Province,Berkshire and England.
According to cricket writer Colin Bateman,Emburey's participation in two South African rebel tours "cost him six lost years as far as Test cricket was concerned... and,more significantly,probably an extended run as England captain,a job for which he was better suited than some who held the position post-Mike Brearley". [1]
Emburey was a right arm spin bowler and a slightly eccentric but useful lower-order batsman with the style of a grafter. He was more notable as an economical performer than a "demon" spin bowler,but on his day could leave the best batsmen groping outside off-stump. One of his dangerous balls was his arm ball outswinger. Emburey was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1984.
Emburey played an understated but significant role in England's storied victory in the Ashes in 1981,notably in the important fourth Test at Edgbaston,where he contributed runs and wickets as England took the lead in the series for the first time. According to the Wisden report on the match,while Ian Botham "was again named Man of the Match ... Emburey would have been the choice of many". [2] In all Emburey featured in four Ashes series won by England,in 1978–9,1981,1985,and 1986-7 (as well as in two defeats in 1989 and 1993). He also played for England (on the losing side) in the 1987 Cricket world cup final.
Emburey was briefly made England Test captain in 1988,the notorious "Summer of four captains". [3] Mike Gatting was sacked after the first Test match against the West Indies and Emburey was appointed for two matches,both of which were lost. Emburey too was fired and was replaced by Chris Cowdrey for the fourth Test. Cowdrey lasted just one match,replaced in turn by Graham Gooch. While not a successful Test captain,Emburey had some successes captaining England in one-day international cricket,leading them to victory (in the absence of Gatting and Botham) in the Sharjah Cup in 1986–7. [4]
Emburey was the only cricketer to go on both the England rebel tours to South Africa in 1981/2 and 1989/90;the rebels were banned from Test matches because of the apartheid régime,although it both cases Emburey was eventually restored to the England test team (respectively in 1985 and 1993). Emburey said of his decision to join the second rebel tour:"In hindsight it was a mistake. But at the time my decision was purely monetary. I'd lost my benefit money in a building society in Australia." [5] According to Graham Gooch's published tour diary,Emburey had dressed up as a member of the Ku Klux Klan at a fancy dress party on tour just before the news of the first rebel tour broke. [6]
Later in his Test career,Emburey tended to be picked for single Tests in England,as happened in 1993 against Australia,when statistically,he was the leading all rounder in the country,and 1995 against the West Indies. Broadly from 1987 his bowling was less effective in test cricket,although his batting became more successful;from February 1987 his Test wickets averaged almost twice as much as they had before.
At county level,Emburey's Middlesex career coincided with that of Phil Edmonds. The right and left arm spin combination was a powerful contribution towards Middlesex's successes in the 1980s. They also combined at England level,although the pair also sometimes competed for the same place in the Test team. A highlight of Emburey's Middlesex career was taking 12 wickets in a single day in a championship match at Lord's in 1980. He scored the winning runs from the last ball as Middlesex won the final of the NatWest Bank Trophy in 1984,and was man of the match when Middlesex won the Benson &Hedges Cup final in 1986 (in both cases defeating Kent). [7] Between 1977 and 1993,the County won the County Championship outright five times,with one shared title in 1977.
Emburey holds the dubious distinction of being the highest England Test run-scorer never to have made a Test century. Emburey held the batting record for the highest innings made entirely from boundaries. Despite his chronic lack of footwork,he scored 46 for the England XI against Tasmania at Hobart in 1986–87,with ten fours and a six.
Whilst not the most agile in the field,he seldom dropped anything,pulling off many a stunning catch,often at gully,and had an excellent arm in the deep.
Emburey coached the England A cricket team to a 3–0 win in India in 1995,and was considered for the position of manager for the senior side,but lost out to David Lloyd (whom he assisted for two test series in the West Indies and Zimbabwe). [8] [9] He subsequently coached Northamptonshire County Cricket Club from 1996 but was sacked in 1998 after a string of poor results. [10] [11] In 2001,he became coach for Middlesex County Cricket Club,but was sacked in 2008. [11] In 2007,after Greg Chappell left his position as India head coach,Emburey was shortlisted for the job,but declined it. [12] [13] [8] In February 2008,he signed on as the coach of the Ahmedabad Rockets,one of the expansion teams in the second season of the Indian Cricket League. As of May 2018,he works as a scout for the England and Wales Cricket Board. [14]
Politically,Emburey is a Conservative,and once appeared on stage at a Conservative Party conference in the 1980s alongside England teammate Bill Athey. [15]
In May 2014,he stated that he had skin cancer,attributing it to playing cricket without sunscreen or a hat. [8]
He is married,with a wife and has two daughters. [16]
Ian Terence Botham,Baron Botham,is an English cricket commentator,member of the House of Lords,a former cricketer who has been chairman of Durham County Cricket Club since 2017 and charity fundraiser. Hailed as one of the greatest all-rounders in the history of the game,Botham represented England in both Test and One-Day International cricket.
Graham Alan Gooch,is a former English first-class cricketer who captained Essex and England. He was one of the most successful international batsmen of his generation,and through a career spanning 1973 until 1997,he was the most prolific run scorer of all time,with 67,057 runs across first-a class and limited-overs games. His List A cricket tally of 22,211 runs is also a record. He is one of only 25 players to have scored over 100 first-class centuries.
Alan Philip Eric Knott is a former cricketer who represented England at international level in both Tests and One-Day Internationals (ODI). Knott is widely regarded as one of the most eccentric characters in cricket and as one of the greatest wicket-keepers ever to play the game. He was described by cricket journalist Simon Wilde as "a natural gloveman,beautifully economical in his movements and armed with tremendous powers of concentration".
Kenneth Frank Barrington,was an English international cricketer who played for the England cricket team and Surrey County Cricket Club in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a right-handed batsman and occasional leg-spin bowler,known for his jovial good humour and long,defensive innings "batting with bulldog determination and awesome concentration".
Christopher Stuart Cowdrey is a former English cricketer. Cowdrey played for Kent,Glamorgan and England as an all-rounder. He is the eldest son of the cricketer and life peer,Colin Cowdrey,Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge. He was educated at Tonbridge School.
Robert George Dylan Willis was an English cricketer,who represented England between 1971 and 1984. A right-handed fast bowler,Willis is regarded by many as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time.
Derek Raymond Pringle is an English former Test and One Day International cricketer for England,and is now a cricket journalist.
Graham Roy Dilley was an English international cricketer,whose main role was as a fast bowler. He played first-class cricket for Kent County Cricket Club and Worcestershire County Cricket Clubs,and appeared in 41 Test matches and 36 One Day International (ODIs) for the England cricket team.
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The South African rebel tours were a series of seven cricket tours staged between 1982 and 1990. They were known as the rebel tours because the international cricketing bodies banned South Africa from competitive international cricket throughout this period because of apartheid. As such the tours were organised and conducted in spite of the express disapproval of national cricket boards and governments,the International Cricket Conference and international organisations such as the United Nations. The tours were the subject of enormous contemporaneous controversy and remain a sensitive topic throughout the cricket-playing world.
Richard Mark Ellison is an English former cricketer who played in 11 Tests and 14 One Day Internationals (ODIs) from 1984 to 1986,playing a key role in the 1985 Ashes series. He was born in Willesborough in Kent.
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Edward Ernest Hemmings is a former English cricketer,who played in 16 Test matches and 33 One Day Internationals for the England cricket team between 1982 and 1991. He made his England debut relatively late in his career,at the age of 33,having predominantly represented Nottinghamshire in the County Championship. His chance came when several England players announced their intention to go on a rebel cricket tour to South Africa.
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59,playing as England in the 1958–59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores,comparable with the great teams of Johnny Douglas in 1911-12 and Percy Chapman in 1928-29. It had no obvious weaknesses,and yet it was beaten –and beaten badly. By the First Test the top batsmen had made runs,the Surrey trio of Loader,Laker and Lock had taken wickets,as had Lancashire's Brian Statham. South Australia,Victoria and an Australian XI had all been beaten –the last by the crushing margin of 345 runs –and all seemed rosy for Peter May's touring team. But in the Brisbane Test they lost by 8 wickets and the rest of the series failed to offer any hope of reversing their fortunes. The reasons for their failure were manifold;the captain was too defensive;injuries affected their best players;others were too young and inexperienced such as Arthur Milton,Raman Subba Row,Ted Dexter,Roy Swetman and John Mortimore,or at the end of their career;Godfrey Evans,Trevor Bailey,Jim Laker,Willie Watson and Frank Tyson. Their morale was further bruised when faced with bowlers of dubious legality and unsympathetic umpires. Peter May was criticised for seeing his fiancée Virginia Gilligan,who was travelling with her uncle the Test Match commentator Arthur Gilligan. The press blamed the poor performance on the team's heavy drinking,bad behaviour and lack of pride –a foretaste the treatment losing teams would receive in the 1980s. It was not a happy tour by any means and it would take 12 years to recover The Ashes. As E.W. Swanton noted
It was a tour which saw all sorts of perverse happenings –from an injury list that never stopped,to the dis-satisfaction with umpiring and bowlers' actions that so undermined morale. From various causes England gave below their best...
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