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.
Nicholas Verity Knight is an English cricket commentator and former England cricketer. A left-handed opening batsman and a fine fielder,Knight played in 17 Test Matches and 100 One Day Internationals before announcing his retirement from international cricket after the 2003 World Cup.
The 2005 English cricket season was the 106th in which the County Championship had been an official competition. Before it began,a resurgent England cricket team had won four Test series in a row,going unbeaten through the 2004 calendar year. The start of the international season saw England defeat Bangladesh 2–0 in their two-match series,winning both Tests by an innings. This was followed by a tri-nations one-day tournament that also featured Australia. Australia still started the Test series as favourites but most fans expected England to put up a challenge.
Hampshire County Cricket Club played their cricket in Division One of both the County Championship and the National League in 2005. They started the season at 10–1 odds to win the Championship. With the first eleven including seven players who had represented their country at Test or ODIs at the end of the season,they nearly won the County Championship,beating eventual County Champions Nottinghamshire both home and away,and ended with the same win–loss record as Notts. However,with two bonus points less and half a point deducted due to a slow over rate against Sussex in July,they finished behind –something that had been apparent the week before the Championship ended. They did win the C&G Trophy,defeating three League Division Two sides and a minor county on the way to the title,in addition to Glamorgan from Division One,but their other limited-overs forays ended in relegation and elimination due to head-to-head results in the Twenty20 Cup.
Hampshire 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 Hampshire. Hampshire teams formed by earlier organisations,principally the Hambledon Club,always had first-class status and the same applied to the county club when it was founded in 1863. Because of poor performances for several seasons until 1885,Hampshire then lost its status for nine seasons until it was invited into the County Championship in 1895,since when the team have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England. Hampshire originally played at the Antelope Ground,Southampton until 1885 when they relocated to the County Ground,Southampton until 2000,before moving to the purpose-built Rose Bowl in West End,which is in the Borough of Eastleigh. The club has twice won the County Championship,in the 1961 and 1973 seasons.
Edmund "Ed" Christopher Joyce is an Irish cricket coach and former cricketer who played for both the Ireland and England national cricket teams. After beginning his career with Middlesex,he moved to Sussex in 2009,before returning to Ireland to play for Leinster Lightning in the fledgling first-class competition,the Irish Inter-Provincial Championship. A left-handed batsman and occasional right-arm bowler of medium pace,Joyce is widely regarded as one of the best cricketers produced by Ireland.
Owais Alam Shah is a former England cricketer. A middle-order batsman,he played for Middlesex from 1995 to 2010 and Essex from 2011 to 2013 before announcing his retirement from first-class cricket. He played Twenty20 cricket for Hampshire in 2014 and 2015. He also represented England in all forms of the game.
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.
Charlotte Marie Edwards is an English former cricketer and current cricket coach and commentator. She played primarily as a right-handed batter. She appeared in 23 Test matches,191 One Day Internationals and 95 Twenty20 Internationals for England between 1996 and 2016. She played domestic cricket in England for East Anglia,Kent,Hampshire and Southern Vipers,as well as overseas for Northern Districts,Western Australia,Perth Scorchers,South Australia and Adelaide Strikers.
The England cricket team toured Pakistan from October to December 2005. England were looking to maintain the form that had taken them to second place in the ICC Test Championship,and to victory in the 2005 Ashes series at home to Australia,but they suffered a sharp reversal of fortune,losing the Test series 2–0 to Pakistan. Pakistan also won the one day series by 3–2. This would be England's last tour of Pakistan until 2022.
Jeetan Shashi Patel is a former New Zealand international cricketer. A right arm off spin bowler,he plays for Wellington in New Zealand and Warwickshire in England. He is also the spin bowling coach for the England cricket team.
William Boyd Rankin is a Northern Irish former cricketer who played international cricket for Ireland,and briefly also played for England. He is a right-arm medium-fast bowler. He is the brother of fellow cricketer David Rankin.
The 2006 English cricket season was the 107th in which the County Championship had been an official competition. It included home international series for England against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. England came off a winter with more Test losses than wins,for the first time since 2002-03,but still attained their best series result in India since 1985. The One Day International series against Pakistan and India both ended in losses.
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.
The 2008 English cricket season was the 109th in which the County Championship had been an official competition. Four regular tournaments were played:The LV County Championship (first-class),Friends Provident Trophy,NatWest Pro40 League and the Twenty20 Cup (T20). All four tournaments featured the eighteen classic county cricket teams,although the Friends Provident Trophy also featured sides from Ireland and Scotland.
John Andrew Simpson is an English cricketer who plays for Sussex County Cricket Club. Simpson is a wicket-keeper and left-handed batsman who won the Denis Compton Award in 2004 at Lancashire,and 2011 at Middlesex. He made his international debut for the England cricket team in July 2021.
James Michael Vince is an English cricketer who is the captain for Hampshire County Cricket Club and plays for the England cricket team. Vince was part of the England squad that won the 2019 Cricket World Cup. He is a right-handed middle-order batsman who is also a right-arm medium pace bowler. He made his international debut for England in May 2015.
The Rose Bowl,known for sponsorship reasons as Utilita Bowl, is a cricket ground and hotel complex in West End,Hampshire. It is the home of Hampshire County Cricket Club,who have played there since 2001.
Mohammad Abbas is a Pakistani international cricketer who plays for Pakistan national cricket team and for Southern Punjab domestically.
Shaheen Shah Afridi is a Pakistani international cricketer who is the current captain of the Pakistan national cricket team in the T20I format. He captains the Lahore Qalandars in the PSL. Under his leadership,Lahore Qalandars won their first PSL title in the 2022 season and again went on to win the 2023 season,becoming the first team in PSL history to successfully defend their title. He is the first Pakistani to win the Garfield Sobers trophy.
