Stephen Fleming

Stephen Fleming

Personal information
Full name	Stephen Paul Fleming
Born	1 April 1973 (age 43) Christchurch, New Zealand
Batting style	Left-handed batsman
Bowling style	Right-arm medium
Role	Captain, Higher middle orderbatsman
International information
National side	New Zealand
Test debut(cap 188)	19 March 1994 v India
Last Test	22 March 2008 v England
ODI debut(cap 88)	25 March 1994 v India
Last ODI	24 April 2007 v Sri Lanka
ODI shirt no.	7
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2000–2009	Wellington
2005–2007	Nottinghamshire
2003	Yorkshire
2001	Middlesex
1991–2000	Canterbury
2008	Chennai Super Kings
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC List A Matches 111 280[1] 247 461 Runs scored 7,172 8,037 16,409 14,037 Batting average 40.06 32.40 43.87 35.09 100s/50s 9/46 8/49 35/93 22/86 Top score 274* 134* 274* 139* Balls bowled – 29 102 35 Wickets – 1 0 2 Bowling average – 28.00 – 15.50 5 wickets in innings – 0 0 0 10 wickets in match – n/a 0 n/a Best bowling – 1/8 0/0 1/3 Catches/stumpings 171/– 133/– 340/– 226/–
Source: CricketArchive, 20 September 2008

Stephen Paul Fleming, ONZM (born 1 April 1973) is a former New Zealand cricketer, and captain of the New Zealand national cricket team, known as the Black Caps, in Test and one-day cricket. Known for his astute tactical abilities, he is New Zealand's second-most capped test player with 111 test appearances, longest-serving and most successful captain,^[2] having led the side to 28 victories and having won Test match series' against India, England, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh andZimbabwe. He retired from international cricket on 26 March 2008. Fleming played in the 2008 Indian Premier League for theChennai Super Kings after being signed for US$350,000 and became the team's coach from 2009.^[3] In February 2015 he was signed as coach of the Melbourne Stars of the Big Bash League.^[4]

He was particularly noted for his captaincy, having been praised from the likes of Shane Warne as the "best captain in world cricket"^[5] and most recently, Graeme Swann who said that Fleming is one of the two true leaders that he's ever seen, alongside Andrew Strauss.^[6]

Cricket career[edit]

A left-handed batsman, Fleming made his Test debut in March 1994 against India winning the Man of the Match award on debut after scoring 92. In 1995 he survived controversy when he was caught and admitted to smoking marijuana with teammates Matthew Hart and Dion Nash while on tour at their hotel.^[7] In England's tour of New Zealand in 1996/97 he scored his maiden Test century in the First Test at Auckland. In the Third Test of the tour he took over the captaincy from Lee Germonbecoming New Zealand's youngest captain at 23 years and 321 days.

Fleming became New Zealand's most successful captain in September 2000 with a victory over Zimbabwe. This was the 12th win under his captaincy overtaking Geoff Howarth. Fleming was regarded by some as an underperformer with the bat, with one of the worst 50 to 100 conversion ratios in world cricket. However, since the 2003 tour of Sri Lanka, Fleming started to gain form, with 274 not out against Sri Lanka – when he declared rather than staying to reach 300 which would have been a record in New Zealand cricket history.

Arguably Fleming's best ODI innings was his unbeaten 134 to help New Zealand beat hosts South Africa in the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Chasing a rain adjusted target of 229 off 39 overs, Fleming hit 134 off just 132 deliveries as New Zealand cruised to a 9-wicket victory over a team they had struggled against in the past.

Fleming adjusting the field atNottinghamshire. Fleming was regarded as one of the world's best cricket captains.

Fleming has played county cricket in England for Middlesex, Yorkshire andNottinghamshire. He captained Nottinghamshire to County Championship victory in 2005, their first Championship title in 18 years. (Richard Hadlee was their star then, narrowly missing the county 'double').

In the second Test between New Zealand and South Africa at Newlands, Cape Town in April 2006, Fleming scored his 3rd Test double-century and became the first New Zealander to achieve this feat. Fleming scored 262 as he and Wellington team-mateJames Franklin put 256 runs for the 8th wicket, the highest partnership to date in Tests between New Zealand and South Africa. It is also a New Zealand record for the 8th wicket against any country.

On 25 October 2006, Fleming captained his country for the 194th time in an ODI – a world record, overtaking Arjuna Ranatunga.He played well throughout the 2007 World Cup scoring 353 runs at an average of 39.22 and was New Zealand's second highest run scorer in the tournament.He failed in the semi-final against Sri Lanka scoring just 1 off 4 balls as New Zealand went on to lose the match and crashed out of the tournament. On 24 April 2007, Fleming resigned as the ODI captain of the Blackcaps. The announcement was made in a post-match press conference held after the Semi-Final defeat to Sri Lanka in the 2007 Cricket World Cup.^[8] After Fleming's last match as captain, Mahela Jayawardene added a tribute. "Stephen's been a great leader for New Zealand for some time, and you could learn a lot from him". Over a decade of leading the side he finished with 218 games, 98 wins, 106 losses.

There was speculation in 2007 that he might join controversial Indian rebel Twenty20 league, the Indian Cricket League.^{[citation needed]} However it turned out to be unfounded and he has since joined the 'official' Indian Twenty20 league, the Indian Premier League, and played for the Chennai Super Kings in the league's initial incarnation.

As of April 2007, Fleming had captained New Zealand in 80 Test matches—a New Zealand record and the second highest number worldwide .^[9] As a fielder, Fleming took over 170 catches giving him the 3rd highest Test aggregate for a non-wicketkeeper.^[10]

In September 2007, Fleming was replaced by Daniel Vettori as the New Zealand Test captain. He also left English county Nottinghamshire after three years as captain. In February 2008 Fleming ended speculation and confirmed his retirement from the New Zealand team at the end of England's 2008 tour of New Zealand to spend more time with his family, and to play for the Indian Premier League.^[2]

He played well in his final series, scoring 297 in six innings. In the first innings of the second test against England, he scored his 7000th run in his 110th match. In his final test at,Napier, he scored half-centuries in both innings to ensure that he finished with a Test match average of over 40 (40.06).

Source: wikipedia

Martin Crowe

Martin Crowe

Crowe batting in a charity game in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Martin David Crowe
Born	22 September 1962 Henderson, New Zealand
Died	3 March 2016 (aged 53) Auckland, New Zealand
Batting style	Right-hand bat
Bowling style	Right-arm medium
Relations	Dave Crowe (father) Jeff Crowe (brother) Russell Crowe (cousin) Lorraine Downes (wife)
International information
National side	New Zealand
Test debut	26 February 1982 v Australia
Last Test	12 November 1995 v India
ODI debut	13 February 1982 v Australia
Last ODI	26 November 1995 v India
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1979–1983	Auckland
1983–1990	Central Districts
1984–1988	Somerset
1990–1995	Wellington
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC List-A Matches 77 143 247 261 Runs scored 5444 4704 19608 8740 Batting average 45.36 38.55 56.02 38.16 100s/50s 17/18 4/34 71/80 11/59 Top score 299 107* 299 155* Balls bowled 1377 954 4010 2859 Wickets 14 29 119 99 Bowling average 48.28 32.89 33.69 28.87 5 wickets in innings 0 0 4 0 10 wickets in match 0 – 0 – Best bowling 2/25 2/9 5/18 4/24 Catches/stumpings 71/0 66/0 226/0 115/0
Source: CricInfo, 30 May 2009

Martin David Crowe MBE (22 September 1962 – 3 March 2016) was a New Zealand cricket player and commentator. He played for the New Zealand national cricket team between 1982 and 1995, and is regarded as the country's greatestbatsman.^[1]

Crowe made his first-class debut for Auckland at the age of 17, and his Test debut for New Zealand at the age of 19. He was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1985, and was credited as one of the "best young batsmen in the world".^[2] Crowe was appointed New Zealand's captain in 1990, and led the team until 1993. In a Test against Sri Lanka in 1991, he scored 299 runs, breaking the record for the highest score by a New Zealander. In the same match, he also set a new record for the highest partnership in Test cricket, putting on 467 runs with Andrew Jones. At the 1992 World Cup, which New Zealand co-hosted with Australia, Crowe was named the player of the tournament, and led his team to a semi-final. By the time he finished his international career in 1995, he held the records for the most Test and One Day International (ODI) runs scored for New Zealand.

After retiring from playing, Crowe remained involved in cricket as a writer and commentator. He was diagnosed with lymphomain 2012, but was declared cancer-free the following year. However, the disease returned in 2014, and eventually led to his death in 2016.

Source: wikipedia

Alfred Shaw

Alfred Shaw (Burton Joyce Nottinghamshire, 29 August 1842 – 16 January 1907 in Gedling, Nottinghamshire) was an eminent Victorian cricketer and rugby footballer, who bowled the first ball in Test cricket and was the first to take five wickets in a Test innings (5/35). He made two trips to North America and four to Australia, captaining the English cricket team in four Test matches on the all-professional tour of Australia in 1881/82, where his side lost and drew two each. He was also, along withJames Lillywhite and Arthur Shrewsbury, co-promoter of the tour. He also organised the first British Isles rugby tour to Australasia in 1888.

Alfred Shaw

Personal information
Full name	Alfred Shaw
Born	29 August 1842 Burton Joyce, Nottinghamshire, England
Died	16 January 1907 (aged 64) Gedling, Nottinghamshire, England
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right arm medium / slow-medium
International information
National side	England
Test debut(cap 9)	15 March 1877 v Australia
Last Test	14 March 1882 v Australia
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1864–1897	Nottinghamshire
1894–1895	Sussex
1865–1881	MCC
Career statistics
Competition Tests First-class Matches 7 404 Runs scored 111 6,585 Batting average 10.09 12.44 100s/50s 0/0 0/12 Top score 40 88 Balls bowled 1,096 101,967 Wickets 12 2,027 Bowling average 23.75 12.13 5 wickets in innings 1 177 10 wickets in match 0 44 Best bowling 5/38 10/73 Catches/stumpings 4/– 368/–
Source: CricketArchive, 21 September 2008

Career[edit]

Shaw was one of the few cricketers of his time whose Christian name was used more frequently than his initials. Standing only 5'6½" tall, he put on copious weight near the end of his career, when his naturally corpulent build was dramatically accentuated. It is unfortunate, therefore, that most photographs of him were taken so late in his cricketing life. A man of droopy aspect, bushed eyes, some classically Victorian facial hair and a belt nearer his breast than his substantial waist, he certainly didn't look the part of the era's finest medium-pacer, but there were few who questioned his credentials.

Shaw's first-class career extended from 1864 to 1897, and most of his matches were for Nottinghamshire. He had the unusual distinction for a professional of frequently captaining that county, and this was vindicated when he took Notts to four successive Championships from 1883 to 1886. He was a natural leader with a powerful persona, but his connection with Notts all but ended after that last triumph. As his team-mates observed, the county went into rapid decline upon his departure.

A fervent champion of the professional cricketer's rights, Shaw did a lot of work in support of his contemporaries. He declined to tour with WG Grace in 1873/74 because the professionals in the squad were to be afforded only second-class facilities. In 1881, he led a strike of Notts professionals, demanding a formal contract of employment to guarantee an automatic benefit at the end of an agreed playing period. The high-handed Nottinghamshire committee thought this absolute anarchy and, apparently justified in its feeling that an amateur skipper was the way to go, dropped every member of the offending faction from the side. There was eventually a reconciliation, however, and Shaw took on the capaincy once more.

He was a remarkably accurate bowler, sending down more overs than he conceded runs in his entire career. A maiden over was more easily bowled then than it is now, as it comprised only four deliveries, but Shaw's unparalleled consistency in this regard scarcely dropped off when the five-ball over was launched in 1889. Nearly two-thirds of all the overs that he bowled were runless.

Although he might by today's terms be called a seamer, back then Shaw was fundamentally a length bowler, holding a line on or just outside the off-stump: certainly, he often employed the off-theory, with as many as eight fielders patrolling the offside. His run-up was made up of six rapid, economical steps, but, according to the man himself, "I really used to bowl faster than people thought I did, and I could make the ball break both ways, but not much. In my opinion, length and variation of pace constitute the secret of successful bowling." However, although he was regarded almost universally as "the high priest of length", he and Ted Peate together poured scorn all over suggestions that they were capable of "hitting the spot" with nearly every delivery (as was the common perception).

Shaw's first-class bowling average is, by a quite substantial margin, the lowest of any bowler to have taken 2,000 or more wickets, but must be remembered that the pitches of the nineteenth century (particularly those at the start of his career) were far more bowler-friendly than they later became and are today. Still, this did not stop WG Grace from asserting that, between 1870 and 1880, Shaw was "perhaps the best bowler in England".^[1] Certainly, he was supreme among slow bowlers.

For many years he was on the MCC groundstaff. In 1874 he took all ten wickets for the club in a first-class innings. In 1875 (against the MCC this time), he returned bowling figures of seven for seven off 41.2 overs,36 of them maidens.

At the end of that 1876 season, Shaw went to Australia with James Lillywhite Junior's side. He is famous for having bowled the first-ever delivery in Test Match cricket (unscored off, of course) to Charles Bannerman, who went on to score 165. On his debut, he took five wickets in the second innings.^[2] As a batsman, he became the first Test cricketer to be stumped; by Jack Blackham off the bowling of Tom Kendall.^[3] Shaw played in seven of the first eight Test Matches, missing out in 1882 because, according to a 1902 interview with Allan Steel, "he was not bowling quite at his best". Some, though, felt that his presence in the side that year might have turned the tide England's way and ruled out the birth of The Ashes. As it was, he never played another Test Match and thus finished his career at the highest level with twelve wickets at an uncharacteristically large average of 23.75.

Shaw helped fellow cricketers Andrew Stoddart and Arthur Shrewsbury to organise what became recognised as the first British Lions rugby union tour of Australia and New Zealand 1888/89. The team played 55 matches, winning 27 of 35 rugby union games and 6 out of 18 matches played under Australian rules.

After Shaw's first retirement, he became a renowned umpire, but perhaps his greatest playing achievements were still ahead of him. Along with his cricketing engagements under cricket-mad Arthur Stanley, 5th Baron Sheffield, he was employed to coach young Sussex cricketers, working part-time as a cricket coach at Ardingly College. It didn't go unnoticed that Shaw was still far better than most of the county's regular bowlers, thus, at the age of 52, Shaw returned to county cricket.

In 1894, he bowled 422 overs for his new county, conceding just 516 runs and capturing 41 wickets. The following year, at Trent Bridge (when it was so cold that KS Ranjitsinhjikept his hands in his pockets and fielded the ball with his feet), Shaw bowled 100.1 five-ball overs as his former team accrued a gargantuan 726. He finally retired again two matches later, when Sussex drew against Middlesex, and only ever returned to the first-class scene in 1897 to play the Gentlemen of Philadelphia. He subsequently became a publican and died aged 64.

Source: wikipedia