Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards is a retired Antiguan cricketer who represented the West Indies cricket team between 1974 and 1991. Usually batting at number three in a dominant West Indies side,Richards is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. Richards was part of the squads which won the 1975 Cricket World Cup and 1979 Cricket World Cup and finished as runners up in the 1983 Cricket World Cup.
Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Warwickshire.
Lancashire Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in English cricket. The club has held first-class status since it was founded in 1864. Lancashire's home is Old Trafford Cricket Ground,although the team also play matches at other grounds around the county. Lancashire was a founder member of the County Championship in 1890 and has won the competition nine times. Lancashire has won 26 major honours in its history. The club's limited overs team is called Lancashire Lightning.
Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Middlesex which has effectively been subsumed within the ceremonial county of Greater London. The club was founded in 1864 but teams representing the county have played top-class cricket since the early 18th century and the club has always held first-class status. Middlesex have competed in the County Championship since the official start of the competition in 1890 and have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England.
Ashley Fraser Giles is a former English first-class cricketer,who played 54 Test matches and 62 One Day Internationals for England before being forced to retire due to a recurring hip injury. Giles played the entirety of his 14-year first-class career at Warwickshire County Cricket Club.
Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Worcestershire. Its Vitality Blast T20 team has been rebranded the Worcestershire Rapids,but the county is known by most fans as 'the Pears'. The club is based at New Road,Worcester. Founded in 1865,Worcestershire held minor status at first and was a prominent member of the early Minor Counties Championship in the 1890s,winning the competition three times. In 1899,the club joined the County Championship and the team was elevated to first-class status. Since then,Worcestershire have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England except the 1919 County Championship.
The Scotland national men's cricket team represents the country of Scotland. They play most of their home matches at The Grange,Edinburgh,as well as at other venues around Scotland.
Timothy Alan Munton is an English cricketer. He had a long career in county cricket,playing over 500 games combined between first-class and List A,primarily with Warwickshire before ending his career at Derbyshire. He also played two Test matches for England in the 1992 series against Pakistan,and went on a number of England A tours. A medium pace bowler and lower order batsman,cricket writer Colin Bateman stated,"at 6ft 6in,with an ability to make the ball swing,Munton is at his best in English conditions". His time at Warwickshire was a particularly successful one for the club,winning 6 trophies between 1993 and 1995;as a crucial part of that side,Munton was honoured as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1995.
Rikki Clarke is a retired English cricketer,who last played for Surrey. He was educated at Broadwater School and then Godalming College. Clarke began his career as a professional cricketer with Surrey in 2000,making his list A debut in 2001 and First Class debut in 2002,and the following year made his One Day International debut for England;later in 2003 he played his first Test match. Between 2003 and 2006 he played two Tests,both against Bangladesh and 20 ODIs.
Shaun David Udal is an English cricketer. An off spin bowler and lower-middle order batsman,he was a member of England's Test team for their tours to Pakistan and India in 2005/06.
Mark Richard Benson is an English former cricketer and umpire. A left-handed batter,Benson played for Kent for 17 years and represented England in one Test match and one One Day International in 1986. He later took up umpiring and remained on the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires. In January 2016 he retired as an umpire.
The 1997 cricket season was the 98th in which the County Championship has been an official competition. The season centred on the six-Test Ashes series against Australia. England won the first,at Edgbaston,by the decisive margin of nine wickets,and the rain-affected second Test at Lord's was drawn,but any English optimism was short-lived. Australia won the next three games by huge margins to secure the series and retain The Ashes,and England's three-day victory in the final game at The Oval was little more than a consolation prize. It was the 68th test series between the two sides with Australia finally winning 3-2 The three-match ODI series which preceded the Tests produced a statistical curiosity,with England winning each match by an identical margin,six wickets.
The 1996 English cricket season was the 97th in which the County Championship had been an official competition. England hosted tours by India and Pakistan,who each played three Tests and three ODIs. Against India,England were unbeaten,winning the Test series 1–0 and the ODI series 2–0. However,against the Pakistanis England lost 2–0 in the Tests,and had to console themselves with a 2–1 ODI series victory.
Thomas Christopher Smith is a former English cricketer who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club. He had also been a member of the England Academy team. In 2008,he played for Leicestershire on loan because he was unable to break into Lancashire's first team. He is an all-rounder,bowling right-arm medium and batting left-handed. At the start of the 2009 season,Smith was promoted to open the batting,having previously batted in the lower order,and secured his place there. In 2011,the year Lancashire won the County Championship for the first time since 1950,Smith became the first Lancashire player to score a century and take four wickets in the same one-day match. In 2011/12 Smith played for the Matabeleland Tuskers in Zimbabwe as an overseas player in the domestic twenty20 competition.
Michael Burns is an English first-class list cricket umpire and former first-class cricketer who played county cricket for Warwickshire and Somerset in a first-class career which spanned from 1992 until 2005. He also played Minor Counties cricket for Cumberland and Cornwall. An adaptable cricketer,he appeared for Cumberland and Warwickshire as a wicket-keeper,but when he moved to Somerset he developed into an aggressive batsman who bowled at medium-pace when needed.
Steven Joseph "Steve" O'Shaughnessy is a former English professional cricketer who played for Lancashire and Worcestershire in the 1980s,and then had a substantial career in Minor Counties cricket with Cumberland. Since retiring from playing,he has become an umpire,and was promoted in December 2010 to the first-class panel for the 2011 season.
Mohamed Asif Din is a former British cricketer who played county cricket for Warwickshire from 1981 to 1995. A right-handed batsman and occasional legbreak bowler,he is most famous for scoring a hundred and winning the man-of-the-match award in the 1993 Natwest Trophy final,widely regarded as the best domestic final.
Luke Anthony Procter is an English cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and right-arm medium-fast bowler who captains Northamptonshire in first-class cricket.
Alistair Duncan Brown,commonly known as Ali Brown,is a former English cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club,before moving to Nottinghamshire for the 2009 season. He was nicknamed "Lordy",in allusion to Ted Dexter because of his aggressively big-hitting,confident batting style. He was a right-hand bat and occasional right-arm off-break bowler,who made 16 One Day International appearances for England between 1996 and 2001,with a best of 118.
