England cricket team

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England
Test status granted	1877
First Test match	v Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, 15-19th March 1877
Captain	Tests: Michael Vaughan ODIs: Paul Collingwood
Coach	Peter Moores
Official ICC Test and ODI ranking	5th (Test), 7th (ODI)
Test matches - This year	867 0
Last Test match	v Sri Lanka at Galle International Stadium, Galle 18-22nd December 2007
Wins/losses - This year	{{{win 3/loss record}}} 0/0
As of January 19th 2008

The England cricket team is the national cricket team which represents England and Wales. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) having been previously governed by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) from 1903 until the end of 1996.

England, along with Australia, were the first team to be granted Test status on 15 March 1877 and gained full membership to the International Cricket Council (ICC) on 15 June 1909. They also took part in the first ever One Day International (ODI) against Australia on 5 January 1971, while their first Twenty20 match occurred on 13 June 2005 with their opponents being Australia.

As of 3 Febuary 2008 the England team have won 301 of the 867 Test matches they have played and are ranked fifth in the ICC Test Championship . They have finished runners-up in three Cricket World Cups (1979, 1987 and 1992) and are currently ranked seventh in the ICC ODI rankings .

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

History

The first recorded incidence of a team with a claim to represent England comes from 9 July 1739 when an "All-England" team which consisted of eleven gentlemen from any part of England, exclusive of Kent. This team played against 'the Unconquerable County' of Kent and lost by a 'very few notches'. Such matches were repeated on numerous occasions for the best part of the century.

In 1846 William Clarke formed the All-England Eleven, this team would eventually compete against a United All-England Eleven with annual matches occurring between 1857 to 1866. These matches were arguably the most important contest of the English season, if judged by the quality of the players.

The first overseas tour occurred in September 1859 with England going to North America. This team comprised of six players from the All-England Eleven and six from the United All-England Eleven, and was captained by George Parr. With the outbreak of the American Civil War, attention turned to Australia and New Zealand with the inaugural tour of Australia taking place in 1861-2. England would visit New Zealand in 1863–64 with the tour being the first to be organised by the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC). Most tours prior to 1877 were played "against odds", meaning the opposing team was permitted to have more than 11 players (usually 22) in order to make for a more even contest. As a result these matches were not considered first-class matches and were organised purely for commercial reasons.

James Lillywhite led the England team which sailed on the P&O steamship Poonah on 21 September 1876. They would play a combined Australian XI, for once on even terms of 11 a side. The match, starting on 15 March 1877 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground came to be regarded as the first Test match. The combined Australian XI won this Test match by 45 runs with Charles Bannerman of Australia scoring the first Test century. At the time this match carried little significance and was classed as another tour match and was labelled as the James Lillywhite's XI v South Australia and New South Wales. The first Test match on English soil occurred in 1880 with England winning this series 1–0. The series was also the first for England to field a fully representative side with W.G. Grace being present in the team. England would lose their first home series 1–0 in 1882 with the Sporting Times famously printing an obituary on English cricket:

“

In Affectionate Remembrance of ENGLISH CRICKET, which died at the Oval on 29th AUGUST, 1882, Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances R.I.P. N.B. - The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.

”

As a result of this loss the tour of 1882–83 was dubbed by England captain Ivo Bligh as "the quest to regain the ashes". England with a mixture of amateurs and professionals won the series 2–1. Bligh was presented with an urn that contained some ashes, which have variously been said to be of a bail, ball or even a woman's veil and so The Ashes was born. A fourth match was then played which Australia won by 4 wickets but the match was not considered part of the Ashes series. England would dominate many of these early contests with England winning the Ashes series 10 times between 1884–98. During this period England also played their first Test match against South Africa in 1889 at Port Elizabeth.

The 1899 Ashes series was the first tour where the MCC and the counties appointed a selection committee. It comprised of three active players: Lord Hawke, W.G. Grace and HW Bainbridge who was the captain of Warwickshire. Prior to this, England teams for home Tests had been chosen by the club on whose ground the match was to be played.

The turn of the century saw England struggle as they lost four of the eight Ashes series between 1900 and 1914. They lost their first series against South Africa in 1908 4–1 as England's batting faltered.

The 1912 season saw England take part in a unique experiment. A nine Test triangular tournament involving England, South Africa and Australia was set-up. Hampered by a very wet summer and player disputes the tournament was considered a failure with The Daily Telegraph stating:

“

Nine Tests provide a surfeit of cricket, and contests between Australia and South Africa are not a great attraction to the British public.

”

With Australia sending a weakened team and the South African bowlers being ineffective England dominated the tournament winning four of their six matches. The Australia v South Africa match, at Lord's, was notable for a visit by King George V, the first time a reigning monarch had watched Test cricket. England would go on one more tour against South Africa before the outbreak of World War I.

England's first match after the war was in the 1920–21 season against Australia. Still feeling the effects of the war England went down to a series of crushing defeats, and suffered their first whitewash losing the series 5–0. Six Australians scored hundreds while Mailey spun out 36 English batsmen. Things were no better in the next few Ashes series losing the 1921 Ashes series 3–0 and the 1924–5 Ashes 4–1.

England's fortunes were to change in 1926 as they regained the Ashes and were a formidable team during this period dispatching Australia 4–1 in the 1928–29 Ashes tour. On the same year the West Indies became the fourth nation to be granted Test status and played their first game against England. England won each of these three Tests by an innings, and a view was expressed in the press that their elevation had proved a mistake although Learie Constantine did the double on the tour.

In the 1929–30 season England went on two concurrent tours with one team going to New Zealand (who were granted Test status earlier that year) and the other to the West Indies. Despite sending two separate teams England won both tours beating New Zealand 1–0 and the West Indies 2–1.

The 1930 Ashes series saw a young Don Bradman dominate the tour, scoring 974 runs in his seven Test innings. He scored 254 at Lord's, 334 at Headingley and 232 at the Oval. Australia regained the Ashes winning the series 3–1. As a result of Bradman's prolific run-scoring the England captain Douglas Jardine chose to develop the already existing leg theory into fast leg theory, or bodyline, as a tactic to stop Bradman. Fast leg theory involved bowling fast balls directly at the batsman's body. The batsman would need to defend himself, and if he touched the ball with the bat, he risked being caught by one of a large number of fielders placed on the leg side.

Using his fast leg theory England won the next Ashes series 4–1. But complaints about the Bodyline tactic caused crowd disruption on the tour, and threats of diplomatic action from the Australian Cricket Board, which during the tour sent the following cable to the MCC in London:

“

Bodyline bowling assumed such proportions as to menace best interests of game, making protection of body by batsmen the main consideration. Causing intensely bitter feeling between players as well as injury. In our opinion is unsportsmanlike. Unless stopped at once likely to upset friendly relations existing between Australia and England.

”

Later, Jardine was removed from the captaincy and the laws of cricket changed so that no more than one fast ball aimed at the body was permitted per over, and having more than two fielders behind square leg were banned.

England's following tour of India in the 1933–34 season was the first Test match to be staged in the subcontinent. The series was also notable for Morris Nichols and Nobby Clark bowling so many bouncers that the Indian batsman wore solar topees instead of caps to protect themselves.

Australia won the 1934 Ashes series 2–1 and would keep the urn for the following 19 years. Many of the wickets of the time were friendly to batsmen resulting in a large proportion of matches ending in high scoring draws and many batting records being set.

The 1938–39 tour of South Africa saw another experiment with the deciding Test being a timeless Test that was played to a finish. England lead 1–0 going into the final timeless match at Durban. Despite the final Test being ‘timeless’ the game ended in a draw, after 10 days as England had to catch the train to catch the boat home. A record 1981 runs were scored, and the concept of timeless Tests was abandoned. England would go in one final tour of the West Indies in 1939 before the World War II, although a team for an MCC tour of India was selected more in hope than expectation of the matches being played.

After World War II, England fell under difficult times suffering a heavy defeat 3–0 to Australia. This followed by a 4–0 loss to Bradman's 'invincibles' and a stunning 2–0 loss to the West Indies. These loses were tempered by victories against India and South Africa.

Their fortunes would change in the 1953 Ashes tour as they won the series 1–0. England would not lose a series for five years and secured famous victories in the 1954–55 and 1956 Ashes series. The 1956 series was remembered for the bowling of Jim Laker who took 46 wickets at 9.62 which included bowling figures of 19/90 at Old Trafford. After drawing to South Africa, England defeated the West Indies and New Zealand comfortably. The England team would then leave for Australia in the 1958–59 season with a team that had been hailed as the strongest ever to leave on an Ashes tour but lost the series 4–0 as Richie Benaud's revitalised Australians were too strong.

The early and middle 1960's were poor periods for English cricket. Despite England's strength on paper, Australia held the Ashes for the entire decade and the West Indies dominated England in the early part of the decade. England would the end the 60's on a high however regaining the Wisden Trophy in 1968 and drawing the Ashes series in the same year 1–1.

England carried their good form from the late 60's into the 70's regaining the Ashes in 1970 but then suffered a loss of form losing to India and a rising West Indian side. This culminated in a 4–1 defeat in the 1974 Ashes series. The inaugural 1975 Cricket World Cup saw England reach the semi-finals and was to be the turning point in England's fortunes. The results of the Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket were felt in Test cricket with Australia and Pakistan losing many of its star players. England replaced captain Tony Greig who had joined the league with Mike Brearley while Geoffrey Boycott returned from his England exile. England would defeat a divided Australian side 3–1 in the centenary Ashes series. This was followed by a comfortable 4–0 win against Pakistan and a World Cup final appearance against the West Indies.

With Ian Botham and Bob Willis at their peak with the ball, Boycott and Graham Gooch opening the batting, and a young David Gower in the middle order, England were a formidable team. Their results were initially promising narrowly losing to the West Indies who were the unofficial champions at the time. England would then fight back to win the 1981 Ashes series, often referred to as "Botham's Ashes" 2–1. The third Test at Headingley saw a revitalised Botham perform well with bat and ball taking 6/95 and then scoring a unbeaten 149. England won by 18 runs after following-on, only the second time in the history of England v Australia Tests that this has been achieved. England suffered their second whitewash series against the West Indies in 1984 but continued to produce good results defeating India 2–1 and regained the Ashes in the 1984–85 season with a comfortable 4–1 victory. Hopes that this victory could see a challenge mounted on the 1985–86 tour of the West Indies were dashed as England were soundly defeated 5–0. A shocked England team never really recovered from this defeat, and although England managed to retain the 1986–87 Ashes they would only win one further Test series in the 80’s against a relatively weak Sri Lankan team and suffered heavy defeats to Australia and the West Indies.

England continued their decline during the 1990s. This was not helped by squabbles between key players and the chairman of selectors, Raymond Illingworth. Another reason for their poor performances were the demands of County Cricket teams on their players, meaning that England could rarely lead a full strength team on their tours. This would eventually lead to the ECB taking over the MCC as the governing body of England and the implementation of central contracts.

In the early 90's players such as Botham, Gower and Allan Lamb all came to the end of their international careers and specifically in the case of Botham, England had trouble replacing these players. This lead to a string of disappointing results as England did not win a Test match for two and half years. England’s performance in ODI cricket was still good however as they defeated Australia, the West Indies and South Africa to reach the final of the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Shortly after the world cup Mike Atherton replaced Gooch as England captain but his captaincy was regarded as a failure with England winning only one Test series under his captaincy. A win against South Africa in 1998 was England’s first five series since 1986–87 this would be a false dawn as they were eliminated in the first round of the 1999 Cricket World Cup and lost a Test series against New Zealand 2–1 resulting in England being officially ranked as the worst Test nation.

With the appointment of Duncan Fletcher as coach and Nasser Hussain as captain England began to rebuild their team. They won four consecutive Test series which included impressive wins against West Indies (a first in 32 years) and Pakistan. England were still left wanting against Australia however and lost the 2001 Ashes 4–1. Promising results against India and Sri Lanka gave England some positive sentiments towards their chances against Australia in 2002-2003, yet a 4–1 defeat showed that they were still falling short. This setback did not stop England’s resurgence however as they defeated the West Indies 3–0 and followed this up by whitewashes over New Zealand and the West Indies at home. A victory in the first Test against South Africa at Port Elizabeth meant England had won their eighth successive Test, their best sequence of Test match wins for 75 years. In 2005 England, under Michael Vaughan's captaincy and aided by Kevin Pietersen's batting contributions in his maiden series (most notably 158 at the Oval), and Andrew Flintoff's superb allround performances, defeated Australia 2–1 to regain the Ashes for the first time in 18 years.

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 match figures of 10/187 against the West Indies at Old Trafford in June 2007) 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. In the summer of 2007, England played home Test series' against the West Indies and India, winning a 4 test series 3-0 against a weak West Indian team but losing the three test series with India 1-0. At the end of 2007, England toured Sri Lanka where they lost the 3 test series 1-0 and never really looked like challenging the hosts.

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 English summer of 2007, England lost to the West Indies 2-1 in a three match series despite outclassing them in the Test matches, whilst they beat India 4-3 in a seven game series after being outplayed in the Test matches. The ODI tour of October saw England beat Sri Lanka 3-2 away, in a series in which they were expected to struggle.

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	7th ODI v India 2007	2nd Twenty20 v West Indies 2007	3rd Test v India 2006	3rd ODI Sri Lanka 2007	Group B v Zimbabwe
Last match lost	2nd Test v India 2007	6th ODI v India 2007	1st Twenty20 v West Indies 2007	1st Test v Sri Lanka 2007	1st ODI Sri Lanka 2007	Super 8s v India
Last series won	Wisden Trophy 2007	NatWest Challenge v India 2007	-	South Africa 2005	Sri Lanka 2007	-
Last series lost	npower Test series vs India 2007	NatWest Challenge v West Indies 2007	-	Ashes 2006	ICC Champions Trophy 2006	2007 ICC World Twenty20
-	Source: Cricinfo.com. Last updated: 13 August 2007.	Source: Cricinfo.com. Last updated: 8 September 2007.	Source: Cricinfo.com. Last updated: 29 June 2007.	Source: Cricinfo.com. Last updated: 5 January 2007.	Source: Cricinfo.com. Last updated: 4 October 2007.	Source: Cricinfo.com. Last updated: 19 September 2007.

Upcoming fixtures

England will tour New Zealand from February to April 2008. There will be three Test matches and five ODI matches.

England will host New Zealand for three Test matches and five ODI matches from May until June 2008.

England will travel to Scotland to play a one-off ODI match in June 2008.

England will host South Africa for four Test matches and five ODI matches from July until September 2008.

England will tour India from November to December 2008. There will be three Test matches and seven ODI matches.

England will tour the West Indies from February to March 2009. There will be four Test matches and five ODI matches.

England are scheduled to host Zimbabwe from May to June 2009. Two Test matches and three ODI matches are scheduled although it is doubtful that Zimbabwe will have returned to playing Test cricket by then and the tour may be cancelled due to political reasons.

England will host Australia from June till September 2009. The teams will contest the five match Ashes Test series and also play seven ODI matches.

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 2007 England had played 867 test matches, winning 301 (34.72%), losing 252 (29.06%), and drawing 314 (36.22%) 639 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 was recently 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.

Governing body

The (ECB) is the governing body over the England cricket team. The Board has been operating since 1 January 1997 and represents England with the International Cricket Council. The ECB is also responsible for the generation of income from the sale of tickets, sponsorship and broadcasting rights, primarily in relation to the England team. The ECB's income in the 2006 calendar year was £77.0 million.

Prior to 1997 the MCC was the governing body of England and outside of Test matches the touring England team officially played as MCC up to and including the 1976-77 tour of Australia. The last time the England touring team wore the bacon-and-egg colours of the Marylebone Cricket Club was on the 1996-97 tour of New Zealand.

Team colours

When playing Test match cricket, England’s cricket whites contain blue piping across the front and sleeves while the three lion badge is on the left and the sponsor Vodafone on the right. English fielders may wear a navy cap or sun hat with the ECB logo in the middle of the cap/sun hat. Helmets are coloured similarly.

England's ODI team wears a union blue shirt and trousers. The shirt sleeves are red with the three lion badge on the left and the kit sponsor admiral on the right. The name and logo of their main sponsor Vodafone is at the centre of the shirt. The one-day cap is also union blue with the ECB logo on the front. In Twenty20 cricket England wear the same colour union blue pants but their shirt is red with blue stripes on the sleeves. This kit is not sponsored by Vodafone: the centre of the shirt simply reads 'England'.

International grounds

Test and ODI

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

ODI only

• Sophia Gardens
• Bristol
• Rose Bowl

Statistics and records

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: Super-8 stage (5th Place)

ICC Champions Trophy

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

• 1998: Quarter-Finals
• 2000: Quarter-Finals
• 2002: Pool Stage
• 2004: Runners up
• 2006: Pool Stage

ICC World Twenty20

• 2007: Super-8 stage (7th place)

England Record in Test Matches

Table correct December 22, 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	-	5	20	48
	away	11	-	13	25	49
	total	34	-	18	45	97
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	-	4	4	11
	total	8	-	6	7	21
v West Indies	home	28	-	29	21	78
	away	13	-	23	24	60
	total	41	-	52	45	138
v Zimbabwe	home	3	-	-	1	4
	away	-	-	-	2	2
	total	3	-	-	3	6
Home		172	-	103	165	440
Away		129	-	149	149	427
Overall		301	-	252	314	867
% Breakdown		34.72%	0%	29.06%	36.22%	100%

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
• 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

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

• 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

Current Squad

This lists all the active players who have played for England in the past year.

Name	Batting Style	Bowling Style	Domestic team	Forms	Shirt Numbers
ODI and Twenty20 Captain and All-Rounder
Paul Collingwood	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Medium	Durham	Test, ODI, Twenty20	5
Test Captain and Opener or Middle-Order Batsman
Michael Vaughan	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Off-Break	Yorkshire	Test, ODI	99
Opening Batsmen
Alastair Cook	Left-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Off-Break	Essex	Test, ODI, Twenty20	26
Mal Loye	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Off-Break	Lancashire	ODI	48
Darren Maddy	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Medium	Warwickshire	Twenty20	6
Andrew Strauss	Left-Handed Bat	Left-Arm Medium	Middlesex	Test, ODI	23
Middle-Order Batsmen
Ian Bell	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Medium	Warwickshire	Test, ODI	7
Ed Joyce	Left-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Medium	Middlesex	ODI	36
Kevin Pietersen	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Off-Break	Hampshire	Test, ODI, Twenty20	24
Owais Shah	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Off-Break	Middlesex	Test, ODI, Twenty20	3
Vikram Solanki	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Off-Break	Worcestershire	Twenty20	38
Jonathan Trott	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Medium	Warwickshire	Twenty20	4
Wicket-keepers
Phil Mustard	Left-Handed Bat	-	Durham	ODI	52
Paul Nixon	Left-Handed Bat	-	Leicestershire	ODI	47
Matt Prior	Right-Handed Bat	-	Sussex	Test, ODI, Twenty20	13
( Vikram Solanki, though not a regular keeper, kept wicket in two Twenty20 World Cup matches.)
All rounders
Ravi Bopara	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Medium	Essex	Test, ODI	42
Jamie Dalrymple	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Off-Break	Glamorgan	ODI	34
Andrew Flintoff	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Fast-Medium	Lancashire	ODI, Twenty20	11
Dimitri Mascarenhas	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Medium-Fast	Hampshire	ODI, Twenty20	32
Luke Wright	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Medium-Fast	Sussex	ODI, Twenty20	45
Michael Yardy	Left-Handed Bat	Left-Arm Medium	Sussex	ODI, Twenty20	40
Pace Bowlers
James Anderson	Left-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Fast-Medium	Lancashire	Test, ODI, Twenty20	9
Stuart Broad	Left-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Fast-Medium	Nottinghamshire	Test, ODI, Twenty20	39
Steve Harmison	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Fast	Durham	Test	(28)
Matthew Hoggard	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Fast-Medium	Yorkshire	Test	20
James Kirtley	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Medium-Fast	Sussex	Twenty20	16
Jon Lewis	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Medium	Gloucestershire	ODI	18
Sajid Mahmood	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Fast-Medium	Lancashire	ODI	19
Liam Plunkett	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Fast-Medium	Durham	Test, ODI	17
Ryan Sidebottom	Left-Handed Bat	Left-Arm Fast-Medium	Nottinghamshire	Test, ODI, Twenty20	78
Chris Tremlett	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Fast-Medium	Hampshire	Test, ODI, Twenty20	22
Spin Bowlers
Monty Panesar	Left-Handed Bat	Slow Left-Arm Orthodox	Northamptonshire	Test, ODI	46
Chris Schofield	Left-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Legbreak	Surrey	Twenty20	28
Jeremy Snape	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Off-Break	Leicestershire	Twenty20	29
Graeme Swann	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Off-Break	Nottinghamshire	ODI	66

Coaching Staff

• Managing Director England Cricket: Hugh Morris
• Managing Driector Cricket Partnerships: Mike Gatting
• Team Manager: Phil Neale
• England Teams Director: Peter Moores
• Batting/Assistant Coach: Andy Flower
• 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

Eligibility of players

The England cricket team represents England and Wales. However, under ICC regulations , 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 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, England v. Australia 1981. Ian Botham was sacked as England captain after the second Ashes test. The team were lambasted in the press and Botham mocked for his performances and captaincy. In the third Test at Headingley, after Mike Brearley had replaced Botham as captain, England were forced to follow on 227 runs behind, despite Botham's first-innings contributions of 6 for 95 and 50. Botham came to the crease in the second innings at 105 for 5 and, with the match and series all but over, scored 149 not out. With Bob Willis taking 8 for 43, England won by 18 runs. They went on to win the 6-test series 3-1, with Botham contributing a spell of 5 for 1 to the victory in the fourth test at Edgbaston and an innings of 118 from 102 balls to the fifth test victory at Old Trafford.

• The Bodyline series, Australia v. England 1932-3. In a tactic devised by England captain Douglas Jardine and effected by Nottinghamshire fast bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce to counter a strong Australian batting side, and in particular Donald Bradman, the greatest batsman of all time, 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. England won the series 4-1, but a number of Australians were injured (though the most sensational injury, Bert Oldfield's fractured skull, was brought about when he ducked into a full ball from Larwood), and the tactic led to a diplomatic incident between the UK and Australia. Larwood in particular was villified, though he would subsequently emigrate to 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 (to go with a first-innings haul of 7 for 46). 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, an 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 Curtly Ambrose reduced England to 17/3 in 1 hour 15 minutes (10.2 overs) on a spiteful pitch before it was deemed unsafe and the match abandoned. Alec Stewart (9 not out) top-scored, the lowest score ever to be the highest in a Test innings. The Lord's Ashes 'Test' of 1902 was similarly short, with play totalling 1 hour 45 minutes (38 overs) due to torrential rain. England recovered from 0/2 to reach 102/2.

Batting Facts

• The first England Test century was W.G. Grace's 152 on his Test debut at The Oval in September 1880 in the first Test to be staged in England.

• 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.

• 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 Kevin Pietersen (109 from 138 balls) in the second.

• 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.

• When 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 entire 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' - Bobby Abel (132no in 1891-92), Pelham Warner (132no in 1898-99), Len Hutton (202no in 1950 and 156no in 1950-51), Geoff Boycott (99no in 1979-80), Graham Gooch (154no in 1991) and Alec Stewart (69no in 1992) and Mike Atherton (94no in 1997).

• Tom Hayward (1907), AN " Monkey Hornby" (1884), Bobby Peel (1894-95), Cec Parkin (1920-21), Walter Hammond]] (1938-39), Winston Place (1947-48) and Malcolm Hilton (1951-52) and Mark Butcher (in 2003) have all been 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 not out, 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.

• No England nightwatchman has ever made a century. Alex Tudor (99 not out) in 1999, Harold Larwood (98) in 1932-33, Eddie Hemmings (98) in 1982-83 and Jack Russell (94) in 1988 all came close.

• 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 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 took 5 for 15 (all five wickets LBW) 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 tosses 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. None of the four keepers effected a dismissal.

• 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.

• Alec Stewart holds the highest Test score (173 against New Zealand at Auckland in January 1997) and the highest ODI score (116 against India in December 1997) ever made by an England 'keeper.

• England's most capped 'keeper is Alan Knott with 95. He originally signed with Kent as a batsman who bowled useful leg breaks. Alec Stewart received 133 caps, 82 of them as designated 'keeper.

• Les Ames has the highest Test batting average of any regular England 'keeper, with an average of 40.56. He is also the only regular wicket-keeper in the world ever to have made 100 first-class centuries. He completed the double of 1000 runs and 100 dismissals in three seasons, a feat which has only been achieved on one other occasion.

• 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. They were his only first-class wickets.

• Matt Prior (126 not out) has the highest score by a wicket-keeper on debut. He is the only wicket-keeper to score a century on Test debut. Paul Gibb (93 & 106) and Billy Griffith (140) both scored centuries on Test debut, being selected as specialist openers despite keeping wicket regularly at county, and subsequently Test, level. Jack Russell scored 94 on debut, having been promoted to no.3 as a nightwatchman.

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 October 29, 1877) and Yorkshire paceman Bill Voce ( August 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 (5 ft 2 in), Willie Quaife (5 ft 2 in+) and Bobby Abel (5 ft 4 in).

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