England cricket team

England

As of June 2007

File:ECB Logo.gif

The logo of the England Cricket Team which shows the three Lions of England below a five-pointed crown

The England cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales, operating under the auspices of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

The sport of cricket evolved in England, a founding Test cricket, One-Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 nation. Despite this fact, England have never won a Cricket World Cup. England played in the first ever Test match in 1877 against Australia in Melbourne and also the first ever One-Day International in 1971 (also against Australia in Melbourne). For history see: History of the England Cricket Team pre 1939 and History of the England Cricket Team 1945 - 2007.

Peter Moores was given the job of Head Coach on May 1 2007 following the resignation of Duncan Fletcher after a poor 2007 Cricket World Cup campaign. He subsequently employed Andy Flower as assistant coach and Allan Donald as bowling coach.

Performances

England has traditionally been one of the stronger teams in international cricket, fielding a competitive side for most of cricket's history. Up to the end of 2006 England had played 857 test matches, winning 298 (34.77%), losing 250 (29.17%), and drawing 309 (36.06%) 636 players had been capped for their country. Up to the Super 8 World Cup match against Australia on April 8, 2007, England had played 464 ODIs, winning 224 (48.28%), losing 221 (47.63%), tying 4 (0.86%) and having 15 (3.23%) with no result. 203 players had played for England in ODIs up to that date.

After Australia won The Ashes for the first time in 1881-82 England had to fight with them for primacy and one of the fiercest rivalries in sport dominated the cricket world for seventy years. In 1963 this duopoly of cricket dominance began to fall away with the emergence of a strong West Indies team.

England failed to win a series against the West Indies between 1969 and 2000. England similarly failed to compete with Australia for a long period and the The Ashes stayed in Australian hands between 1989 and 2005. England struggled against other nations over this period as well and after a series loss to New Zealand in 1999 they were ranked at the bottom of the ICC Test cricket ratings. From 2000, English cricket had a resurgence and England reached the final of the ICC Champions Trophy in 2004 and regained The Ashes in 2005. The team is currently ranked second behind Australia in the Test rankings, but ODI performances have been very poor with England falling to 7th place in the ICC rankings.

In the 2006/07 tour of Australia The Ashes were lost in a 0-5 "whitewash" (see 2006-07 Ashes series) but England did succeed in clinching victory in the Commonwealth bank ODI Tri-series against Australia and New Zealand. The loss of The Ashes prompted the announcement by the England and Wales Cricket Board of an official review of English cricket amid much criticism from the media, former players and fans. England failed to reach the semi finals of the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies after defeats against New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa.

Recent form

Since the historic Ashes win, the team has suffered from a serious and ongoing spate of injuries to key players. Andrew Flintoff, Michael Vaughan, Simon Jones and Ashley Giles all suffered serious injuries. Jones and Vaughan have both returned to cricket, although Jones has not been involved in the England set up. Some have also claimed that they seemed to suffer from a lack of focus and 'killer instinct'. This can be seen in their 22-run loss to Pakistan at Multan in November 2005 (a match which they had dominated before the last day), and their failure to wrap up victory against Sri Lanka at Lord's in May 2006 after securing a first-innings lead of 359 and enforcing the follow-on. However, especially in the recent series victory against Pakistan in July-August 2006, several new players have emerged who have performed well and promise much for the future, leading to suggestions that even when the injured players recover, they may struggle to get back into the team. Most notable has been the left-arm orthodox spin bowler Monty Panesar, the first Sikh to play Test cricket for England. He has impressed with the excellence of his bowling (including match figures of 8-93 in the innings victory over Pakistan at Old Trafford in July 2006) and has also become a crowd favourite. He was one of the favourites to win BBC Sports Personality of the Year, but did not receive the award. Other new players of note include left-handed batsman Alastair Cook and fast bowler Sajid Mahmood. The injury crisis has also allowed previously marginal players Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell to consolidate their places. The outstanding recent performances of the team, albeit against a Pakistan side which was also weakened by injuries, mean that the 2006/07 Ashes series was one of the most keenly anticipated of recent years, and was expected to provide a level of competition comparable to the 2005 series. In the event, England lost all five Tests, the first Ashes whitewash in 86 years.

The team's form in ODIs had been consistently poor, they are currently ranked 7th the world and have won only 38% of their matches against major test nations since 1992. They only narrowly avoided the ignominy of having the play in the qualifying rounds of the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, and were humiliatingly defeated 5-0 by Sri Lanka in June-July 2006. Steve Harmison now holds the unwanted record of the worst bowling figures for England in ODI history (0-97 in the match at Headingley) and retired from ODIs during the 2006/7 Ashes tour. There was some improvement in the latest one-day series against Pakistan in England, when England won the last two matches to record a 2-2 draw. A similar story unveiled in the one-day triangular in Australia, where England lost Kevin Pietersen to injury, and had won one and lost five of their first six games. Then, England won their next four games, scraping into the finals series before winning both finals and their first ODI tournament overseas since 1997.

In the 2007 Cricket World Cup, England lost to most of the Test playing nations they faced, beating only the West Indies and Bangladesh, although they also avoided defeat by any of the non-Test playing nations. However, the unimpressive nature of most of their victories in the tournament, combined with their heavy defeats to New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, left many commentators criticising the manner in which the England team approached the one day game

HOME				AWAY
	Test	One Day International	Twenty20	Test	One Day International	Twenty20
Last match won	4th Test v West Indies 2007	1st ODI v West Indies 2007	2nd Twenty20 v West Indies 2007	3rd Test v India 2006	Super 8's v West Indies 2007	-
Last match lost	2nd Test v India 2007	3rd ODI v West Indies 2007	1st Twenty20 v West Indies 2007	5th Test v Australia	7th ODI Australia 2007	1st Twenty20 v Australia
Last series won	Wisden Trophy 2007	NatWest Challenge v India 2004	-	South Africa 2005	Commonwealth Bank Series 2007	-
Last series lost	npower Test series vs India 2007	NatWest Challenge v West Indies 2007	-	Ashes 2006	ICC Champions Trophy 2006	-
-	Source: Cricinfo.com. Last updated: 19 June 2007.	Source:Cricinfo.com. Last updated: 7 July 2007.	Source:Cricinfo.com. Last updated: 29 June 2007.	Source:Cricinfo.com. Last updated: 5 January 2007.	Source:Cricinfo.com. Last updated: 21 April 2007.	Source:Cricinfo.com. Last updated: 9 January 2007.

Current Squad

This is the squad for the 2007 Twenty20 World Championship currently being held in South Africa.

Name	Batting Style	Bowling Style	Domestic team
Captain
Paul Collingwood	RHB	Right-Arm Medium	Durham
Opening Batsmen
Darren Maddy	LHB	-	Warwickshire
Middle-Order Batsmen
Kevin Pietersen	RHB	Right-Arm Off-Spin	Hampshire
Owais Shah	RHB	Right-Arm Off=Spin	Middlesex
All rounders
Andrew Flintoff	RHB	Right-Arm Fast	Lancashire
Vikram Solanki	RHB	Right-Arm Off Spin	Worcestershire
Dimitri Mascarenhas	RHB	Right-Arm Medium	Hampshire
James Kirtley	RHB	Right-Arm Medium	Sussex
Luke Wright	RHB	Right-Arm Medium	Sussex
Jeremy Snape	RHB	Right-Arm Medium	Leicestershire
Pace Bowlers
James Anderson	LHB	Right-Arm Fast	Lancashire
Chris Tremlett	RHB	Right-Arm Fast	Hampshire
Stuart Broad	LHB	Right-Arm Fast Medium	Leicestershire
Spin Bowlers
Chris Schofield	LHB	Right-Arm Leg Spin	Surrey
Wicket-keepers
Matthew Prior	RHB	Right-Arm Medium	Sussex

Coaching Staff

• Team Manager: Phil Neale
• England Teams Director: Peter Moores
• Batting/Assistant Coach: Andy Flower
• Fast Bowling Consultant: Allan Donald
• Fast Bowling Coaches: Kevin Shine (senior coach), Ottis Gibson & Stuart Barnes
• Spin Bowling Coaches: David Parsons (senior coach) & Jeremy Snape
• Fielding Coach: (to be appointed as per Schofield Report recommendation)
• Computer Analyst: Mark Garaway
• Chief Medical Officer: Dr. Mark Peirce
• Team Physiotherapist: Kirk Russell
• Team Physiologist: Nigel Stockhill
• Team Psychologists: Dr. Steve Bull & Jeremy Snape
• Masseur: Mark Saxby

Upcoming tour fixtures

Indian tour of England

Main article: Indian cricket team in England in 2007

Match	Date	Venue	Result
1st Test	Thu 19th July	Lords, London	England won the toss and decided to bat. England 298 & 282 drew with India 201 & 282 for 9
2nd Test	Fri 27th July	Trent Bridge, Nottingham	India won the toss and decided to field. England 198 & 355 lost to India 481 & 73 for 3
3rd Test	Thu 9th Aug	The Oval, London	India won the toss and decided to bat. India 664 & 180-6dec drew with England 345 & 369-6
1st ODI	Tue 21st Aug (D/N)	The Rose Bowl, Southampton	India won the toss and decided to field. England 288-2 beat India 184
2nd ODI	Fri 24th Aug (D/N)	Country Ground, Bristol	India won the toss and decided to bat. India 329-7 beat England 320-8
3rd ODI	Mon 27th Aug	Edgbaston, Birmingham	India won the toss and decided to field. England 281-8 beat India 239
4th ODI	Thu 30th Aug (D/N)	Old Trafford, Manchester	India won the toss and decided to bat. England 213-7 beat India 212
5th ODI	Sun 2nd Sept	Headingley, Leeds	India won the toss and decided to bat. India 324-6 beat England 242-8 by 38 runs (D/L method)
6th ODI	Wed 5th Sept	The Oval, London	England won the toss and decided to bat. England 316-6 lost to India 317 for 8
7th ODI	Sat 8th Sept	Lord's, London	India won the toss and decided to bat. India 187 lost to England 188 for 3

(D/N) denotes a day and night match.

2007 Twenty20 World Championship

Main article: 2007 Twenty20 World Championship

England will play in the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa in September 2007. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), and is contested by all 10 Test-playing nations plus 2 qualifiers.

England tour of Sri Lanka

Main article: England cricket team in Sri Lanka in 2007

England will play 5 One-day Internationals and 3 Test matches against Sri Lanka between October and December 2007.

International grounds

Main article: List of cricket grounds in England and Wales

Test and ODI

• Lord's
• Old Trafford
• Edgbaston
• The Oval
• Headingley
• Trent Bridge
• Riverside

ODI only

• Sophia Gardens
• Bristol
• Rose Bowl

Tournament History

World Cup

• 1975: Semi-Finals
• 1979: Runners up
• 1983: Semi-Finals
• 1987: Runners up
• 1992: Runners up
• 1996: Quarter-Finals
• 1999: First round
• 2003: First round
• 2007: Eliminated at Super-8 stage (5th Place)

ICC Champions Trophy

(known as the "ICC Knockout" in 1998 and 2000)

• 1998: Quarter-Finals
• 2000: Quarter-Finals
• 2002: Second in Group Pool 2
• 2004: Runners up
• 2006: Main Round

England Record in Test Matches

Table correct May 1, 2007.

		Won	Tied	Lost	Drawn	Total
v Australia	home	43	-	46	62	151
	away	54	-	85	26	165
	total	97	-	131	88	316
v Bangladesh	home	2	-	-	-	2
	away	2	-	-	-	2
	total	4	-	-	-	4
v India	home	23	-	4	18	45
	away	11	-	13	25	49
	total	34	-	17	43	94
v New Zealand	home	25	-	4	18	47
	away	16	-	3	22	41
	total	41	-	7	40	88
v Pakistan	home	17	-	8	18	43
	away	2	-	4	18	24
	total	19	-	12	36	67
v South Africa	home	26	-	9	22	57
	away	28	-	17	28	73
	total	54	-	26	50	130
v Sri Lanka	home	5	-	2	3	10
	away	3	-	3	2	8
	total	8	-	5	5	18
v West Indies	home	25	-	29	20	74
	away	13	-	23	24	60
	total	38	-	52	44	134
v Zimbabwe	home	3	-	-	1	4
	away	-	-	-	2	2
	total	3	-	-	3	6
Home		169	-	102	162	433
Away		129	-	148	147	424
Overall		298	-	250	309	857
% Breakdown		34.77%	0%	29.17%	36.06%	100%

Main article: List of England Test cricket records

Team records

• Highest team total: 903-7.dec v Australia at The Oval in 1938
• Lowest team total: 45 v Australia at Sydney in 1886/87

Individual records

• Most matches: 133 - Alec Stewart
• Longest Serving Captain: 54 tests - Michael Atherton

Batting

• Most runs: 8900 - Graham Gooch
• Best average: 60.73 - Herbert Sutcliffe
• Highest individual score: 364 - Len Hutton v Australia at The Oval in 1938
• Record partnership: 411 - Colin Cowdrey and Peter May v West Indies at Birmingham in 1957
• Most centuries: 22 - Wally Hammond, Colin Cowdrey and Geoffrey Boycott
• First century: - W.G. Grace who scored 152 on his Test debut at The Oval in September 1880 in the first Test to be staged in England.
• Four England players scored centuries against India at Old Trafford in 1990. Graham Gooch (116), Mike Atherton (131) and Robin Smith (121*) in the first innings and Alan Lamb (109) in the second.
• Five England players scored centuries against the West Indies at Lord's in May 2007 Alastair Cook(105 from 196 balls), Paul Collingwood (111 from 208) Ian Bell (109 from 190 balls) and Matthew Prior (126 from 128 balls) in the first innings and in the second Kevin Pietersen scored 109 from 138 balls.
• England's most prolific opening partnership was Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe. In 38 innings they averaged 87.81 for the first wicket, with 15 century partnerships and 10 others of 50 or more.

Bowling

• Most wickets: 383 - Sir Ian Botham
• Best average: 10.75 - George Lohmann
• Best innings bowling: 10/53 - Jim Laker v Australia at Manchester in 1956
• Best match bowling: 19/90 - Jim Laker v Australia at Manchester in 1956
• Best strike rate: 34.1 - George Lohmann
• Best economy rate: 1.31 - William Attewell
• 5 England bowlers have taken 4 wickets in an over, 3 of these at Headingley. Maurice Allom for England v New Zealand at Christchurch in 1929-30, Kenneth Cranston for England v South Africa at Headingley in 1947, Fred Titmus for England v New Zealand at Headingley in 1965, Chris Old for England v Pakistan at Edgbaston in 1978 and Andy Caddick for England v West Indies at Headingley in 2000.

Fielding

• Most dismissals: 277 - Alec Stewart
• Most dismissals in an innings: 7 - Bob Taylor v India at Bombay in 1979/80
• Most dismissals in a match: 11 - Jack Russell v South Africa at Johannesburg in 1995/96

England Record in One Day Internationals

Correct up to April 13, 2007.

		Won	Tied	Lost	No Result	Total
v Australia	home	16	2	17	1	36
	away	19	-	30	1	50
	neutral	2	-	5	-	7
	total	37	2	52	2	93
v Bangladesh	home	3	-	-	-	3
	away	3	-	-	-	3
	neutral	2	-	-	-	2
	total	8	-	-	-	8
v Canada	home	1	-	-	-	1
	neutral	1	-	-	-	1
	total	2	-	-	-	2
v East Africa	home	1	-	-	-	1
v India	home	11	-	8	2	21
	away	13	-	16	-	29
	neutral	2	-	6	-	8
	total	26	-	30	2	58
v Ireland	away	1	-	-	-	1
	neutral	1	-	-	-	1
	total	2	-	-	-	2
v Kenya	home	1	-	-	-	1
	neutral	1	-	-	-	1
	total	2	-	-	-	2
v Namibia	neutral	1	-	-	-	1
v Netherlands	neutral	2	-	-	-	2
v New Zealand	home	9	-	5	1	15
	away	12	1	14	2	29
	neutral	6	-	9	-	15
	total	27	1	28	3	59
v Pakistan	home	19	-	11	1	31
	away	9	-	10	-	19
	neutral	7	-	5	1	13
	total	35	-	26	2	63
v South Africa	home	6	-	5	-	11
	away	3	1	13	1	18
	neutral	2	-	3	-	5
	total	11	1	21	1	34
v Sri Lanka	home	8	-	7	-	15
	away	1	-	7	-	8
	neutral	10	-	5	-	15
	total	19	-	19	-	38
v United Arab Emirates	neutral	1	-	-	-	1
v West Indies	home	13	-	13	1	27
	away	6	-	18	3	27
	neutral	11	-	6	-	17
	total	30	-	37	4	71
v Zimbabwe	home	6	-	2	1	9
	away	12	-	3	-	15
	neutral	3	-	3	-	6
	total	21	-	8	1	30
Home		94	2	68	7	171
Away		79	2	111	7	199
Neutral		52	-	42	1	95
Overall		225	4	221	15	465

Main article: List of England One-Day International cricket records

Team records

• Highest team total: 391-4 (50 overs) v Bangladesh at Nottingham in 2005
• Lowest team total: 86-10 (32.4 overs) v Australia at Manchester in 2001

Individual records

• Most matches: 170 - Alec Stewart
• England is one of only two Test-playing nations (the other being Bangladesh) to have no players over the 200-cap milestone in ODIs
• Longest Serving Captain: 56 matches - Nasser Hussain

Batting

• Most runs: 4677 - Alec Stewart
• Best average: 59.05 - Kevin Pietersen (as of 12 June 2007)
• Highest individual score: 167* - Robin Smith v Australia at Birmingham in 1993
• Record partnership: 226 - Andrew Flintoff and Andrew Strauss v West Indies at Lord's in 2004
• Most centuries: 12 - Marcus Trescothick

Bowling

• Most wickets: 234 - Darren Gough
• Best average: 19.45 - Mike Hendrick
• Best bowling: 6/31 - Paul Collingwood v Bangladesh at Nottingham in 2005
• Best strike rate: 32.2 - James Anderson
• Best economy rate: 3.27 - Mike Hendrick

Fielding

• Most dismissals: 184 - Alec Stewart
• Most dismissals in a match: 6 - Alec Stewart v Zimbabwe at Manchester in 2000

Most England Test Caps

Main article: List of English Test cricketers

• 133 Alec Stewart

• 118 Graham Gooch

• 117 David Gower

• 115 Mike Atherton

• 114 Colin Cowdrey

• 108 Geoff Boycott

• 102 Ian Botham

• 100 Graham Thorpe

• 96 Nasser Hussain

• 95 Alan Knott

• 91 Godfrey Evans

• 90 Bob Willis

• 86 Derek Underwood

• 85 Wally Hammond

• 82 Ken Barrington

• 79 Mike Gatting

• 79 Allan Lamb

• 79 Tom Graveney

• 79 Len Hutton

• 78 Denis Compton

• 77 John Edrich

• 76 Marcus Trescothick

Eligibility of players

The England cricket team represents England and Wales. However, under ICC regulations^[4], players can qualify to play for a country by nationality, place of birth or residence, so (as with any national sports team) some people are eligible to play for more than one team.

ECB regulations^[5] state that to play for England, a player must be a British or Irish citizen, and have either been born in England or Wales, or have lived in England or Wales for the last four years. This has led to players of many other nationalities becoming eligible to play for England. England have been captained by a Scot, Mike Denness, and three South Africans, Tony Greig, Allan Lamb and Andrew Strauss. The South African cape coloured, Basil D'Oliveira, famously played for England during the apartheid era. In recent times Graeme Hick (Zimbabwe); Andrew Caddick (New Zealand); Geraint Jones (Australia via Papua New Guinea); and Kevin Pietersen (South Africa) have all played for England. Some players have played for another (non Test-playing) country as well as England, for example Gavin Hamilton who played for Scotland in the 1999 World Cup and later played one Test match for England, while Ed Joyce played for Ireland in the ICC Trophy before making his England ODI debut in June 2006 against his former team.

England Facts and Feats

Notable Series

• Botham's Ashes. Ian Botham was sacked as England captain after the first Ashes test in 1981. The team were lambasted in the press and Botham mocked for his performances and captaincy. In the second Test at Headingley England were forced to follow on 227 runs behind. Botham came to the crease at 105 for 5 with the match and series all but over. Botham scored 149 and Bob Willis took 8 for 43. England won by 18 runs and went on to win the series.

• The Bodyline series, Australia v. England 1932-3. England bowled the cricket ball at the body of the Australia batsmen in the hope of creating legside deflections that could be caught by fielders in the quadrant of the field behind square leg. A number of Australians were injured and the tactic led to a diplomatic incident between the UK and Australia.

Notable Matches

• At the Kennington Oval on 29 August 1882, in the ninth Test ever played, England, set 85 to win a one-off Test, were dismissed for 77 by Australia with 'the Demon' Fred Spofforth taking 7 for 44 . It was after this match that The Sporting Times carried a mock obituary stating that the body of English cricket would be cremated and The Ashes taken to Australia.

• England scored just 45 in their first innings at Sydney in 1886-87. They then bowled the Australians out for 119, scored 194 second time around and skittled the home team for 97 to win by 13 runs. The start of the test had been delayed to allow a state match, New South Wales v Victoria, to finish in the morning and a fresh pitch was used for each innings.

• England won the only Olympic cricket match ever held, at the 1900 Games, in a 12-a-side match at the Velodrome de Vincennes in Paris. England, represented by the Devon County Wanderers, scored 117 and 145 for 5 declared and beat All-Paris (78 and 26) by 163 runs. "All Paris" were largely British Embassy staff although one Frenchman, a M. Roques, was playing. The winners received models of the Eiffel Tower as Olympic medals were not introduced until 1908. The game was part of a 'Great Exposition' which was afforded Olympic status in 1912.

• The highest score in any fourth innings of a Test is England's 654-5 at Durban in 1938-39. Set 696 to win in a 'timeless' match England were just 42 runs short of victory when rain ended play at tea on the 11th day. England had to leave to catch a train to meet their homeward bound boat in Cape Town and the match ended in a draw. Bill Edrich scored 219.

• England beat South Africa at Durban in 1948-49 with a leg-bye off the last possible ball.

• The shortest 'Test' in history came in January 1998 at Sabina Park in Jamaica. Courtney Walsh and Curtley Ambrose reduced England to 17/3 in 75 minutes (10.2 overs) on a spiteful pitch before it was deemed unsafe and the match abandoned.

Batting Facts

• KS Ranjitsinhji made 154 not out on his Test debut, against Australia at Old Trafford in 1896, and 175 in his first Test overseas.

• Four England batsmen scored hundreds in one innings against Australia at Trent Bridge in 1938 - Charles Barnett (126), Len Hutton (100), Eddie Paynter (216*) and Denis Compton (102). Wally Hammond scored 905 runs in 5 Ashes Tests in 1928-29. Tip Foster scored 287 in his first Test at Sydney in 1903-04

• England's 315 against West Indies at Port-of-Spain on 9-11 March 1986 is the highest total in Test cricket in which no batsman scored 50. David Gower scored 47 and extras (59) top-scored for only the seventh time in 1039 matches to that date.

• Herbert Sutcliffe scored hundreds in both innings against Australia at Melbourne in 1924-25 and finished on the losing side, as did Robin Smith after his epic 167* in the Edgebaston ODI against Australia in 1993.

• When Graham Thorpe scored his match winning hundred in Barbados in 2004, the next-highest score off the bat was 17. He scored 21 ODI fifties without ever recording three figures. He and Andrew Strauss once top scored in five test innings in a row.

• Bobby Abel scored 120 at Cape Town in March 1889 before England dismissed South Africa for 47 and 43, in one innings he had scored more than the opposition managed in both of theirs. Len Hutton emulated the feat at The Oval in 1938, scoring a then world record 364 while Australia made only 201 and 123.

• 8 England batsmen have 'carried their bats' - Mike Atherton (1997), Bobby Abel (1891-92), Pelham Warner (1898-99), Len Hutton (1950 and 1950-51), Geoff Boycott (1979-80), Graham Gooch (1991) and Alec Stewart (1992).

• Mark Butcher (in 2003), Wally Hammond (1938-39), Tom Hayward (1907) and AN "Monkey Hornby" (1884), Bobby Peel (1894-95), Cec Parkin (1920-21), Winston Place (1947-48) and Malcolm Hilton (1951-52) were all stumped twice in a Test match.

• Mike Atherton make 24 ducks in 212 innings, an unwanted England record, while Bobby Peel in 1894-95 and Pat Pocock in 1984 bagged pairs in consecutive tests. Bob Willis posted a record 55 not outs in his 90 Test matches.

• Andrew Flintoff, Geoff Boycott and Allan Lamb have batted on every day of a test match.

• John Edrich hit a test record 52 boundaries in his triple century against New Zealand at Headingley in 1965.

• 3 players have a top score of 99 for England. Alex Tudor, who remained 99*, the highest ever score by an England nightwatchman, Martyn Moxon and Norman Yardley. Mike Smith and Mike Atherton both scored 99 on two occasions and were both once run out going for their hundredth run. Frank Woolley made 95 and 93 in a Test against Australia in 1921. Against West Indies at Port-of-Spain in 1973-74, Geoff Boycott was out for 99 in the first innings and scored 112 in the second.

• 8 English batsmen scored Test hundreds in the summer of 2004, Andrew Flintoff, Nasser Hussain, Geraint Jones, Robert Key, Andrew Strauss, Graham Thorpe, Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan.

• John Emburey, with 1713 runs and a best of 75, scored more test runs than any other Englishman without a test century. Fred Trueman scored 981 Test runs in 85 innings without reaching 50.

• Peter Richardson scored England's slowest hundred in 488 minutes against South Africa at Johannesburg in 1956-57. Trevor Bailey took 357 minutes to reach 50 at Brisbane in 1958-59. In all he batted 438 minutes for 68, scoring off only 40 of the 425 balls he received. Godfrey Evans took 97 minute to get off the mark at Adelaide in 1946-47. Bob Taylor faced 4260 balls for his 1156 Test runs, a strike rate of 27.14. Mike Brearley scored at 29.80 and Chris Tavare 30.60.

• Harry Wood (134*), Arthur Hill (124), Jack Sharp (105), Charles Russell (140), Geoffrey Legge (196), Andy Sandham (325), Maurice Leyland (187), Winston Place (107), Raman Subba Row (137), Colin Milburn (139) and Nasser Hussain (103*) all scored hundreds in their last test innings. Clive Radley (117*) and Dennis Amiss (108) scored scored hundreds in their last ODIs. Amiss had also scored one on his debut, 103 against Australia at Old Trafford in 1972.

Bowling Feats

• Sydney Barnes is rated as the best bowler of all time for any country according to the LG ICC Best Ever Test Bowling rating.

• Arthur Gilligan took 6 for 7 at Edgbaston in 1924 as South Africa were bowled out for 30. Steve Harmison took 7 for 12 for England against West Indies at Kingston in 2004. George Lohmann took 8 for 7 against South Africa at Port Elizabeth in 1895-96, and followed that in the next Test, at Johannesburg, with 9 for 28. He took 35 wickets in the three match series.

• Johnny Briggs bagged 15 for 28 (7 for 17 and 8 for 11) against South Africa at Cape Town in 1888-89.

• Hedley Verity bowled 768 balls in the Timeless Test against South Africa at Durban in March 1939.

• England reduced India to 0 for 4 at Headingley in June 1952. Fred Trueman, on leave from the RAF, dismissed Pankaj Roy, Madhav Mantri and Vijay Manjrekar in eight balls, while Alec Bedser removed Datta Gaekwad. Trueman took a wicket in every one of his 67 tests.

• Mark Ealham won 5 LBW decisions for 15 for England against Zimbabwe in an ODI in January 2000 at Kimberley.

• Two pairs of bowlers have taken 20 wickets in a Test for England. Colin Blythe (11) and George Hirst (9) against Australia at Edgebaston in 1909 and, famously, Jim Laker (19) and Tony Lock (1) against Australia at Old Trafford in 1956.

• Denis Lillee was caught Peter Willey bowled Graham Dilley at 4.08 p.m. on the fourth day of the Perth test in 1979.

• Alec Bedser claimed 10 wicket hauls in his first two test matches, 11-145 at Lord's and 11-93 at Old Trafford against India in England's first postwar Tests in 1946.

• Bill Bowes took 68 Test wickets but scored only 28 runs. Ken Farnes took 60 wickets and scored 58 while Roy Tattersall claimed 58 scalps and scored 50.

• David Gower is the only bowler to be called for throwing in a test in England. With New Zealand poised to win the Trent Bridge test of 1986 he threw the last ball to Martin Crowe, who hit it for four.

• Andy Caddick and Chris Lewis both took 0 for a hundred or more in 4 Test innings. Geoff Arnold, Bob Willis, Tony Greig, Derek Underwood and Ray Illingworth all went for more than 100 against the West Indies (652 - 8 dec) at Lords in 1973. Andrew Flintoff conceded a hundred with the ball in innings against South Africa at Lord's in 2003 and West Indies at St John's in 2003-04 but also scored centuries with the bat.

• England off-spinner Jim Laker holds the Ashes wicket taking record with 46 in five Tests in 1956. The series record in all Tests is 49 by Sydney Barnes for England on jute matting pitches in South Africa in 1913-14. Barnes missed the final game of the rubber after a management disagreement about his wife's accommodation.

• Andrew Caddick, Colin Blythe, Sydney Barnes, Jim Laker, Frank Tyson and Derek Underwood all took a wicket with their last ball in test cricket.

• John Warr's solitary Test wicket, in the 1950-51 Ashes, cost him 281 runs. Ray Illingworth and Trevor Bailey took 47 tests to reach 100 test wickets.

• Ashley Giles and Andrew Flintoff both completed the 'double' of a hundred test wickets and a thousand test runs on the 3rd day of the Cape Town test of 2004-5. Only Wilfred Rhodes, Maurice Tate, Trevor Bailey, Fred Titmus, Ray Illingworth, Tony Greig, Ian Botham and John Emburey had achieved it before. Flintoff's record included no runs or wickets against Australia, he didn't face them until his 63rd test, in 2005. Maurice Tate's batting strike rate of 74-75 runs per hundred balls is faster than Ian Botham (60.7) and Andrew Flintoff (64.2) and Kevin Pietersen (64.8) as of April 2007.

Captains

• Len Hutton is usually held to be England's first professional captain. However England's captain in the match latterly recognised as the first official Test match - against Australia at Melbourne in 1876-77 - was James Lillywhite of [Sussex CCC]. Lillywhite was a professional, like all the other players on that privately mounted tour.

• Frank Woolley played under 14 Test captains in 64 Tests from 1909 to 1934 when England appointed various amateur skippers on lesser overseas tours. They were Archie MacLaren (1 match), Shrimp Leveson Gower (3), Frederick Fane (2), Johnny Douglas (18), Charles Fry (6), the Hon. Lionel Tennyson (3), Frank Mann (5), Arthur Gilligan (9), Arthur Carr (6), Percy Chapman (3), Jack White (1), Harold Gilligan (4), Douglas Jardine (2) and Bob Wyatt (1). He had 111 different team mates. Graham Gooch had 113.

• Aubrey Smith who captained England in his only Test, against South Africa at Port Elizabeth in 1888-89, became a Hollywood actor who appeared in over a hundred films as an archetypal English gent.

• The record for consecutive lost toss es by one country is 12 by England (1959-60 in WI (5); 1960 v SA (5); 1961 v A (2)). The captains were Peter May (3) and Colin Cowdrey (9).

• England had 4 captains - Mike Gatting, John Emburey, Chris Cowdrey and Graham Gooch - in the calamitous five-match home series against West Indies in 1988.

• 17 England captains were not born in England. Gubby Allen (Sydney, Australia), Freddie Brown (Lima, Peru), Donald Carr (Wiesbaden, Germany), Colin Cowdrey (Bangalore, India), Mike Denness (Bellshill, Scotland), Ted Dexter (Milan, Italy), Frederick Fane (Curragh Camp, Ireland), Tony Greig (Queenstown, South Africa), Lord Harris (St Anne's, Trinidad), Nasser Hussain (Madras, India), Douglas Jardine (Bombay, India), Allan Lamb (Langebaanweg, South Africa), Tony Lewis (Swansea, Wales), Sir Tim O'Brien (Dublin, Ireland), Cyril Walters (Bedlinog, Wales), Plum Warner (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad) and Andrew Strauss (Johannesburg, South Africa).

• Former England Captain Tony Greig played through his entire 58 match career without being dropped or missing a game through injury.

Wicket Keepers

• England used 4 wicket keepers in New Zealand's first innings at Lord's in 1986 when the appointed keeper, Bruce French was injured during England's first innings. Bill Athey kept for the first two overs before veteran Bob Taylor was pulled out of the sponsors tent to keep, immaculately, for overs 3 to 76. Bobby Parks, the Hampshire keeper, was called up for overs 77 to 140 and French returned for the final ball.

• England have twice selected 3 different wicket keepers in a series. Harry Smith, Harry Elliott and George Duckworth against West Indies in 1928 and Paul Downton, Bob Taylor and Alan Knott against Australia in 1981.

• Surrey wicket-keeper Harry Wood was the first player to score a century (134* against South Africa at Cape Town in 1891-92) in his final Test.

• The highest score by an England 'keeper is Alec Stewart's 173 against New Zealand at Auckland in January 1997.

• England's most capped 'keeper is Alan Knott with 95. He originally signed with Kent as a batsman who bowled useful leg breaks.

• When all 11 England players bowled during Australia's 551 at The Oval in 1884 wicket-keeper Alfred Lyttelton took four wickets for eight runs with his lobs.

• Matt Prior has the highest score by a wicket-keeper on debut, scoring 126 not out. He is the only wicket-keeper to score a century on debut.

Fielding

• England ran out 5 Australians in the Sydney Test of 1920-21.

• At 12.31 p.m. on the first day of the Lord's Test in 1990, India keeper Kiran More dropped Graham Gooch off the fourth ball of Sanjeev Sharma's fourth over. Gooch went on to score 333. He scored another century in the second innings, another of his record 6 centuries at Lords. He scored 2015 runs there in 21 Tests overall. Ted Dexter scored his 9 test centuries at 9 different venues.

• Neil Fairbrother was twice caught by the same substitute fielder, Asif Mujtaba, in the 3rd Test against Pakistan at Karachi in 1987-88.

One Test Wonders

• At least 86 players have made a solitary Test match appearance for England.

• Father Marriott took 11 for 96 with his leg-breaks and googlies on his only England appearance, against West Indies at The Oval in August 1933.

• John MacBryan of Somerset did not bat, bowl or take a catch in his only test, against South Africa in 1924 at Old Trafford. Heavy rain allowed less than three hours play over five days. He did play for his country however - at hockey in the Olympic Games.

• Buddy Oldfield scored 80 in his only test, against West Indies at The Oval in August 1939 in the final Test before World War 2.

• Opener Andy Lloyd retired hurt after being hit on the head by Malcolm Marshall when 10* in the first test of 1984. He was hospitalised and never played Test cricket again.

• Audley Miller made his first-class debut in the opening Test of Lord Hawke's first tour of South Africa in February 1896. He is one of the few England cricketers who never appeared for a first-class county.

Family Connections

• Three brothers, E.M., G.F. and W.G. Grace, made their debuts against Australia at The Oval in 1880, the first Test played in England.

• Eleven pairs of fathers and sons have represented England in test matches: Jeff and Simon Jones, Alan and Mark Butcher, Colin and Chris Cowdrey, Joe Hardstaff and his son, also called Joe, Len and Richard Hutton, Frank and George Mann, Jim Parks and his son, also called Jim, Arnie and Ryan Sidebottom, Mickey and Alec Stewart, Fred and Maurice Tate, Charlie and David Townsend. Three pairs have appeared in ODIs - Chris and Stuart Broad, David and Graham Lloyd and Colin and Chris Cowdrey.

• Charles and George Studd played in the four Tests against Australia in 1882-83. Alec and George Hearne appeared at Cape Town in 1891-92 while a third brother, Frank, represented South Africa. The Richardson brothers played at Trent Bridge 65 years later, and Adam and Ben Hollioake made their joint debut against Australia in August 1997.

• Dean Headley's father and grandfather played for West Indies while the senior Nawab of Pataudi, who represented England and India, had a son who captained India.

The Counties

• England have fielded a side consisting of players from 11 different counties on four occasions - 1930-31 v South Africa at Durban, 1950 v West Indies at Nottingham, 1992 v Pakistan at Lord's and 1992-93 v India at Calcutta. Nottinghamshire CCC contributed 6 players, W Barnes, W Flowers, W Gunn, WH Scotton, M Sherwin and A Shrewsbury, to the England team which played against Australia at Sydney in January 1887. Arthur Shrewsbury was the first player to score 1,000 test runs, reaching the landmark during the last of his three centuries for England, against Australia at Lord's on 17 July 1893.

Youngest and Oldest

• Denis Compton is the youngest, and Jack Hobbs the oldest, player to score a Test match century for England. 'Compo' was 20 years 19 days old when he completed his 102 against the 1938 Australians at Trent Bridge. It was his first Test against Australia, and his partnership of 206 in 138 minutes with Eddie Paynter remains the England record in Ashes Tests. Compton was incidentally out 'hit wicket' a record five times in his Test career. 'The Master' was 46 years and 82 days old when he made 142 at Melbourne in March 1929 which remains the record age for any batsman scoring a Test hundred. It was his 15th Test hundred and his 12th against Australia, which is still the England record.

• Wilfred Rhodes, the great Yorkshire all-rounder, was 52 years and 165 days old when he played his final day of Test cricket at Kingston, Jamaica in April 1930. He is the England's, and the world's, oldest Test cricketer. His career spanned 30 years and 315 days. It took Wilfred Rhodes from June 1899 to January 1921 to collect 50 caps, Marcus Trescothick won 50 caps in 1407 days. When England played four tests in the West Indies in 1929-30 their side included both Wilfred Rhodes (born Oct 29, 1877) and Yorkshire paceman Bill Voce (Aug 8, 1909), a difference of almost 32 years. Rhodes made his Test debut over a decade before Voce was born. George Gunn and W.G. Grace also played tests aged over 50, Gunn passing 1,000 test runs aged almost 51 against the West Indies in 1929-30.

• Brian Close is England's youngest test cricketer. He made his debut aged 18 years and 149 days and returned to the fray aged 45 against the fearsome West Indian pace attack in 1976, 27 years after his debut. He'd played only 22 matches in between.

• Norman Gifford was only six days short of his 45th birthday when he made his ODI debut at Sharjah in 1984-85 - over 20 years after his Test debut in the 1964 Ashes and almost 12 years after his final Test in 1973.

• James Southerton made his Test debut in the first ever Test in Melbourne in 1877, 23 years after his first class debut for Surrey. At 49 years and 119 days he remains the oldest Test match debutant. Three years later, when landlord of The Cricketer in Mitcham, he became the first Test cricketer to die.

• The longest lived England player is the Mackinnon of Mackinnon whose Test career encompassed just the three days of the Melbourne Test of January 1879. Francis MacKinnon, the 35th Chief of his Clan, died at his Morayshire home, Drumduan in Forres, in 1947 at the age of 98 years 324 days. He appeared in 78 matches for Kent (1875-85) and was the Club's president in 1889.

Series Trivia

• England kept an unchanged side through a five test series in Australia in 1884-85. This was in stark contrast to the Australian team which was completely changed from the first to second Test after a dispute about pay.

• England beat the West Indies by an innings in all three tests of a series, at Lord's, Old Trafford and The Oval, in 1928. England lost 10 tests in a row against the West Indies in 1984 and 1985-86.

• England drew all five tests against India on the tour of 1963-64.

The Long and the Short of it

• The shortest players to have played for England are Tich Freeman (5ft 2in), Willie Quaife (5ft 2in+) and Bobby Abel (5ft 4in).

Lost in War

First World War

• Leonard Moon
• Colin Blythe
• Major Booth
• Kenneth Hutchings

World War 2

• Ken Farnes
• Geoffrey Legge
• George Macaulay
• Maurice Turnbull
• Hedley Verity

History of England cricket team

• Cricket in England
• Bodyline
• History of the England Cricket Team pre 1939
• History of the England Cricket Team 1945 - 2007

See also

• ECB National Academy
• English women's cricket team
• English national cricket captains

External links

• Official ECB Broadband Console
• England and Wales Cricket Board
• LG ICC Test and ODI player ratings
• All Test Matches played by England
• Career Batting and Fielding statistics for all England Test Players
• Career Bowling statistics for all England Test Players