Richard Illingworth

Richard Illingworth
Personal information
Full name Richard Keith Illingworth
Born (1963-08-23) 23 August 1963
Bradford, Yorkshire, England
Batting style Right-handed batsman
Bowling style Slow left–arm orthodox
Role Umpire, Bowler
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 551) 4 July 1991 v West Indies
Last Test 26 December 1995 v South Africa
ODI debut (cap 113) 23 May 1991 v West Indies
Last ODI 9 March 1996 v Pakistan
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1982–2000 Worcestershire
1988–1989 Natal
2001 Derbyshire
Umpiring information
Tests umpired 23 (2012–2016)
ODIs umpired 49 (2010–2016)
T20Is umpired 16 (2010–2016)
Career statistics
Competition Tests ODIs FC LA
Matches 9 25 376 381
Runs scored 128 68 7027 1458
Batting average 18.28 11.33 22.45 14.87
100s/50s –/– –/– 4/21 –/1
Top score 28 14 120* 53*
Balls bowled 1485 1501 65868 16918
Wickets 19 30 831 412
Bowling average 32.36 35.29 31.54 27.08
5 wickets in innings – – 27 2
10 wickets in match – n/a 6 n/a
Best bowling 4/96 3/33 7/50 5/24
Catches/stumpings 5/– 8/– 161/– 93/–
Source: CricketArchive, 27 November 2016

Richard Keith Illingworth (born 23 August 1963) is an English former cricketer, who is currently a first-class cricket umpire. The bulk of his domestic cricketing career occurred with Worcestershire, although he had a spell with Derbyshire, and overseas with Natal. He played in nine Tests and twenty five ODIs for England, including participating in the 1992 and 1996 Cricket World Cups.

Playing career

Playing mainly as a left-arm spinner, 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; eighteen first-class wickets cost him over 45 apiece, and he bowled just eight overs in one-day cricket; but Worcestershire saw potential and persevered. By 1983, he was a first-team regular, taking forty eight 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 team 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 and 1996. During the 1992 World Cup, Illingworth played in the final, giving away 50 runs in his 10 overs for the wicket of Javed Miandad, and also catching Imran Khan at long-on. In the same match, he had the misfortune of being the last man dismissed as England fell short in the final for the third time.

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 selected 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.[1] He also bowled 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. Tufnell took 6–25 in the first innings of that match to help propel England to a series-levelling win. Illingworth did 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 Tufnell, and Illingworth never played international cricket again.

Umpiring career

Illingworth was appointed to the ECB full list of first-class umpires for the 2006 English cricket season.[2] As at the end of the 2008 English cricket season Illingworth had umpired 47 first-class matches.[3] It was confirmed that he, and Richard Kettleborough, were promoted onto the ICC International list on 9 November 2009. Richard Illingworth joined ICC's elite umpire panel on 25 June 2013.

He was selected as one of the twenty umpires to stand in matches during the 2015 Cricket World Cup.[4]

International umpiring statistics

As of 21 October 2016:

First Latest Total
Tests  Bangladesh v  West Indies at Dhaka, November 2012  Pakistan v  West Indies at Abu Dhabi, October 2016 23
ODIs  England v  Bangladesh at Bristol, July 2011  West Indies v  Australia at Basseterre, June 2016 47
T20Is  England v  Pakistan at Cardiff, September 2010  New Zealand v  Pakistan at Mohali, March 2016 16

See also

References

  1. ↑ Bateman, Colin (1993). If The Cap Fits. Tony Williams Publications. p. 98. ISBN 1-869833-21-X.
  2. ↑ "First-class umpires named for 2006". Cricinfo. 24 October 2005. Retrieved 6 March 2009.
  3. ↑ "Richard Illingworth as Umpire in First-Class Matches". Cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 6 March 2009.
  4. ↑ "ICC announces match officials for ICC Cricket World Cup 2015". ICC Cricket. 2 December 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
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