Richard Illingworth

Infobox Cricketer


nationality = English
country = England
country abbrev = ENG
name = Richard Illingworth
picture = Cricket_no_pic.pngbatting style = Right-handed batsman (RHB)
bowling style = Slow left-arm orthodox (SLA)
tests = 9
test runs = 128
test bat avg = 18.28
test 100s/50s = -/-
test top score = 28
test overs = 247.3
test wickets = 19
test bowl avg = 32.36
test 5s = -
test 10s = -
test best bowling = 4/96
test catches/stumpings = 5/-
ODIs = 25
ODI runs = 68
ODI bat avg = 11.33
ODI 100s/50s = -/-
ODI top score = 14
ODI overs = 250.1
ODI wickets = 30
ODI bowl avg = 35.29
ODI 5s = -
ODI best bowling = 3/33
ODI catches/stumpings = 8/-
date = 30 May
year = 2005
source = http://content.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/15383.html

Richard Keith Illingworth (born 23 August 1963, Bradford, Yorkshire) was an English cricketer. He played mainly as a left-arm spinner.

Playing career

Illingworth made his first-class debut in 1982, promoted to the Worcestershire first team after just two Second XI appearances and taking 3-61 against Somerset. His figures that year were fairly modest - 18 first-class wickets cost him a shade over 45 apiece, and he bowled a mere eight overs in one-day cricket - but Worcestershire saw potential and persevered. By 1983 he was a first-team regular, taking 48 first-class wickets, a figure he improved on (with 57) the following year. He did play one season (1988/89) in the South African Currie Cup for Natal, but otherwise played only English domestic cricket.

For most of his twenty-season county cricket career Illingworth remained with Worcestershire, but after he failed to win a contract extension in 2000, the last two years of his time in the first-class game were spent with Derbyshire. He finished with 831 wickets at an average of 31.54, and more than 7,000 runs at 22.45, including four first-class centuries.

One-Day International Career

In 1990 Illingworth had his most productive year, taking 75 wickets at a bowling average of 28.29, and he went on that winter's A tour to Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The following season, a well-timed burst of 5-49 against Northants in a May Sunday League game helped to win him selection for the Texaco Trophy One Day International series against West Indies a few days later. He played a crucial part in the match, allowing the tourists just 20 runs from his ten overs for the wicket of Jeff Dujon, and then putting on an unbroken partnership of 23 with Mike Atherton as England recorded a thrilling one-wicket victory.

He also played in two Cricket World Cups, in 1992 & 1996. During the 1992 WC, he played in the final, giving away 50 runs in his 10 overs for the wicket of Javed Miandad and also catching Imran Khan out at long-on.

Test career

Although his performances in the other two Texaco Trophy matches were less impressive, he did take the wickets of Richie Richardson and a young Brian Lara in the seven-wicket win at Lord's, and also held a catch off Phil DeFreitas to remove captain Viv Richards. Illingworth missed out on selection for the first two Test matches, but was recalled for the Third Test at Trent Bridge, and took the wicket of Phil Simmons with his first ball in Test cricket, the first bowler since Intikhab Alam in 1959/60 to achieve this feat and only the eleventh of all time. He also bowled Viv Richards on his way to 3-110, but two stubborn rearguard displays with the bat (adding 42 with Robin Smith in the first innings and 38 with DeFreitas in the second) could not prevent England sliding to a nine-wicket loss.

Illingworth retained his place for the Fourth Test at Edgbaston, batting at number 11; this match was notable for the fact that all eleven England players had a first-class century to their name. Despite this, England were easily beaten, Illingworth going for almost five runs an over and picking up just one wicket in the match. He was dropped for The Oval, and replaced by Phil Tufnell. When Tufnell took 6-25 in the first innings of that match to help propel England to a series-levelling win, Illingworth looked to be out in the cold, and so it proved; he was not to play another Test until 1995, although he retained his one-day place for a couple of years and did well in the 1992 World Cup.

By 1995, Illingworth had been out of the England side for two years, but the selectors were impressed by his reliable performances for his county, and called him up for the Test series against West Indies. He played in all but the Fourth Test (for which he was replaced by John Emburey), and although his series figures of 6-215 were not particularly outstanding, he was selected for the winter tour to South Africa. It proved a good choice: Illingworth had his best series for England, taking nine Test wickets at an average of under 21. He also appeared four times in the 1996 World Cup, but thereafter the selectors' preference turned decisively to the mercurial Tufnell, and Illingworth never played international cricket again.

External links

* [http://content.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/15383.html Player profile] from Cricinfo