NEIL FAIRBROTHER (ENGLAND)

Introduction:

Neil Fairbrother (born 9 September 1963) is a former English cricketer, named by his mother after her favourite player, the Australian cricketer Neil Harvey. He was educated at Lymm High School. Neil Fairbrother played for Lancashire, Transvaal and England. He was team captain of Lancashire in 1992-1993. Cricket writer, Colin Bateman, described Neil Fairbrother as 'an inventive, intelligent left hander'.

Career:

Neil Fairbrother made his international debut on 2 April 1987, in a ODl against India. Following a match winning century against a West Indies side including Malcolm Marshall, Curtley Ambrose and Courtney Walsh at Lord's in 1991, he established himself as a regular in middle order of the one day side for several years. Test success, however, proved elusive. Bowled for a duck on his debut, he made just ten Test appearances for England, with only one half century from 15 innings, at an average of 15.64. However his international honours included appearing for England in three Cricket World Cup. In 1990, Neil Fairbrother scored 366 for Lancashire against Surrey at The Oval. 311 of his runs came in a single day, and his feat is unique in that he scored at least 100 runs in each of the three sessions that day. Another mile stone came in 1998, when he became the first man to play in ten Lord's one day domestic cricket cup finals. Neil Fairbrother retired in 2002, and became Director of Cricket at International Sports Management.

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PHILLIP ANTHONY JASON DEFREITAS (ENGLAND)

Introduction:

Phillip Anthony Jason DeFreitas (born 18 February 1966) is a former English retired cricketer. He played county cricket for Leicestershire, Lancashire and Derbyshire, as well as appearing in forty four Test matches and 103 One Day Internationals. Cricket writer Colin Batemannoted that " Philip De Freitas was an explosive hitter when the mood took him, and also pace bowler.

Career:

Phillip DeFreitas went to Willesden High School, in London, where he played football and cricket. He had trials at Luton Town F.C. but although offered an apprenticeship, wanted to play cricket.

Phillip DeFreitas made his first class debut for Leicestershire in 1985 against Oxford University and recorded the starting bowling analysis of 3.4-2-3-3 as the students collapsed to a humiliating 24 all out. The following year he had a wonderful season, taking what was to remain a career high of 94 wickets and scoring his maiden century ''at number 9'' against Kent, and he was selected for the successful Ashes tour in 1986-87. He remained part of England's plans until the advent of Dominic Cork in the mid 1990, but was generally much less successful abroad than at home. His two best Test series were in 1991 against West Indies and, in 1994. against New Zealand, when he took 22 and 21 wickets respectively. His top Test score of 88, during which he hammered Craig McDermott for 42 runs off three overs with the new ball, helped England to a win against Australia in Adelaide, and earned him the Man of the Matchaward. Phillip DeFreitas was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1992.

Most would probably agree that Phillip DeFreitas never quite reached the heights his early promise suggested he would attain. In one day internationals, Phillip DeFreitas seldom let England down but bowled more economically than penetratively until his second Australian tour. In the World Series Cup that season, Phillip DeFreitas was often punished by the powerful Australian top order particularly Dean Jones. He performed creditably despite a persistent groin strain in the World Cup of 1992 but form was beginning to desert him by this stage. He was notoriously thrashed all over the

ground by Sanath Jayasuriya in the 1996 World Cup quarter final by no means alone in a game where England were thrashed and ended up making their tournament exit. In the course of his 21 seasons in first class cricket, Phillip DeFreitas had a somewhat nomadic county career, playing for Leicestershire from his debut in 1985 until 1988, then Lancashire from 1989 to 1993, and Derbyshire from 1994 to 1999. In 2000, he returned to Leicestershire, averaging over 45 with the bat that season, and captained the side in 2003 and part of 2004. He also played for the South African side, Boland, in 1993-94 and 1994-95. Phillip DeFreitas announced in April 2005 that he would retire from cricket at the end of that season. This meant that had England not beaten the Australians that summer, there would be no remaining Englishmen in first class cricket who had played in a victorious Ashes side, but this did not happen. On hearing the news, Mike Gatting, who had captained that 1986-87 team, told the BBC. "Phillip DeFreitas one of those guys you want in the game. It's sad he's going to retire but he's been good for the game." Phillip DeFreitas has the honour of being the 100 player in test cricket to take 100 wickets.

After Cricket Retirement:

Phillip DeFreitas became a cricket master at Oakham School in January 2009, under the school's director of cricket, Frank Hayes. As of 2009 he taught at Magdalen College School, Oxford.

His autobiography, "Daffy My Life in Cricket", was published on 16 June 2012.

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IAN TERENCE BOTHAM (ENGLAND)

Introduction:

Ian Terence Botham (born 24 November 1955) is a former England Test cricketer and Test team captain, and current cricket commentator. He was a genuine all rounder with 14 centuries and 383 wickets in Test cricket, and remains well known by his nickname "Beefy". While at times a controversial player both on and off the field, Ian Botham also held a number of Test cricket records, and until 17 April 2015 held the record for the highest number of wickets taken by an England bowler, when surpassed by James Anderson. He is generally regarded as being England's greatest ever all rounder, particularly in Test cricket, although having earned celebrity status, his award of a knighthood was in recognition of his services to charity. Just like fellow cricketers Denis Compton, Chris Balderstone and Arnold Side bottom, Ian Botham was also a talented footballer, and made 11 appearances in the Football League. Ian Botham was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2007 New Years Honours List and on 8 August 2009, was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

Personal Life:

Ian Botham married Kathryn Waller ''now Lady Botham'' whom he first met in June 1974. After their marriage, In 1976, they lived until the late 1980 in Epworth, near Scunthorpe. They have one son, Liam ''born August 1977'', and two daughters, Becky ''born November 1985'' and Sarah. Sarah works for Sky as a production assistant, and Liam is a former professional cricketer and rugby player. Viv Richards is godfather to Liam. Ian Botham is an enthusiastic football fan and supports, Chelsea. He is also a vice president at Scunthorpe United Football Club. Ian Botham is also passionate about playing golf. Ian Botham is also an avid trout and salmon angler, and presented a TV series Ian Botham on the Fly with guests such as Eric Clapton, Mike Atherton and Chris Tarrant.

Career:

Ian Botham bowling figures did not stand out, but there were some size able scores, namely 91 for the Under 25 v Glamorgan Under 25, 82 and 42 v Cornwall, 51 v Gloucester Under 25, 50 v Glamorgan 2nd XI and in his last game ''before his 1986 comeback match'' 100 against Glamorgan 2nd XI. In first class cricket, he scored 19,399 runs at 33.97, took 1,172 wickets at 27.22 and held 354 catches. He played for Durham, Somerset and Worcestershire, as well as a season ''1987-88'' in Australia playing for the Queensland Bulls. Ian Botham began his first class career in 1974 with Somerset. In that year, when playing against Hampshire and facing the West Indian fast bowler Andy Roberts, a bouncer hit him straight in the mouth. He spat out teeth and simply carried on batting. In 1986 he resigned from Somerset, in protest against the sacking of his friends Viv Richards and Joel Garner, and joined Worcestershire, playing for that county between 1987 and 1991. In 1992, he joined County Championship newcomers Durham before retiring midway through the 1993 season, his last match being Durham's match against the visiting Australian XI. Ian Botham made his Test debut for England on 28 July 1977 in the Third Test against Australia, where he took five wickets for 74 runs in the first innings. He went on to enjoy a Test career spanning 15 years, in which he played in 102 matches. Ian Botham finished his Test career with 5,200 runs at an average of 33.54, taking 383 wickets at an average of 28.40, and holding 120 catches. He is generally regarded as one of England's greatest Test players. He was also England's captain for 12 Tests in 1980 and 1981. As captain of the England XI, Ian Botham is generally considered to have been unsuccessful. His tenure was brief and under his captaincy the team achieved no wins, 8 draws and 4 losses. In his defence, 9 of his matches as captain were against the best team of that era, the West Indies, who won 12 out of the next 13 Tests played against England. He was renowned as a big hitting batsman, though with a classical technique of playing straight, and as a fast medium paced swing bowler who could be very effective when atmospheric conditions favoured his style. Ian Botham holds a number of Test records as an all rounder, including being the fastest ''in terms of matches'' to achieve the "doubles" of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets, 2,000 runs and 200 wickets, and 3,000 runs and 300 wickets. He briefly held the world record for the greatest number of Test 

wickets, although his tally has subsequently been passed by several specialist bowlers. Ian Botham scored a century and took 5 wickets in an innings in the same Test match on 5 occasions, no one else has managed this feat more than twice. In 1980, playing against India, he became the first player to score a century and take ten wickets in a Test match ''Alan Davidson was the first to score 100 runs and take 10 wickets in a Test but that did not include a century''. During the 1981 Ashes, Ian Botham set a record of six sixes in a single Test Match at Old Trafford. That record remained unbroken until 7 August 2005 when Andrew Flintoff scored five in the first innings and four in the second innings of the second Test at Edgbaston, and again until 12 September 2005, when Kevin Pietersen hit seven sixes in the second innings of the last Test at The Oval. Ian Botham's One Day Internationls career included 116 matches from 1976 to 1992. He made his debut on 26 August against the West Indie sat Scarborough. He finished with a batting average of 23.21 ''nine 50, no 100, cumulative score of 2113 runs'', and a bowling average of 28.5 ''strike rate 43.24, 145 wickets in total, best figures 4-31''. Ian Botham achieved the double of making a century and his danger bowling taking 5 wickets in an innings in the same Test match 5 times. Only three other players have achieved this feat more than once. Gary Sobers, Mushtaq Mohammad and Jacques Kallis, who have each done it twice. He is the only man to have made a century and take 8 wickets in an innings in the same Test match, 108 and 8-34 against Pakistan at Lord's in 1978. Ian Botham was also the first of only two men to make a century and take 10 wickets in the same Test match, the other being Imran Khan. Ian Botham did this in the Centenary Test in Bombay in 1979-80 ''114, 6-58 and 7-48'', the last match before he became England captain. In the 25 Tests he played before he became captain he made 6 centuries and took 5 wickets in an innings 14 times, including 10 in a match 3 times.

Football Interest:

Ian Botham An occasional professional footballer as well as cricketer, Ian Botham had to choose very early in his career whether to play football or cricket. At one point during his career, in an effort to get fit after an injury, in March 1980, he joined the football club Scunthorpe United, where he played as a centre half and made 11 appearances in the Football League.

Ian Botham also had a spell at Yeovil Town. Whilst with Yeovil, Ian Botham made an appearance for the Football Association XI ''a representative side for non league footballers'' against the Northern Football League at Croft Park during the 1984-85 Years season.

Charity Programe:

Ian Botham has been a prodigious fundraiser for charitable causes, undertaking a total of 12 long distance charity walks. His first, in 1985, was a 900 mile trek from John o' Groats to Land's End. His efforts were inspired after a visit to Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital whilst receiving treatment for a broken toe, when he took a wrong turn into a children's ward, he was devastated to learn that some of the children had only weeks to live, and why. Since then, his efforts have raised more than £12 million for charity, with Leukaemia Research.

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GRAHAM ALAN GOOCH (ENGLAND)

Introduction:

Graham Alan Gooch (born 23 July 1953) is a former England  cricketer, who captained Essex and England. He was one of the most successful international batsmen of his generation, and through a career spanning from 1973 until 2000, he became the most prolific run scorer of all time, with 67,057 runs across first class and limited overs games. His List A cricket tally of 22,211 runs is also a record. He is one of only twenty five players to have scored over 100 first class centuries. Internationally, despite being banned for three years following a rebel tour to ostracized South Africa, Graham Gooch is the second highest Test run scorer for England. His playing years spanned much of the period of domination by the West Indies, against whom his mid forties batting average is regarded as extremely creditable. His score of 154 against them at Headingley in 1991 is regarded as one of the greatest centuries of all time by many critics and former players. His career best score of 333 added to his second innings century remains the highest match aggregate at Lord's. As captain, Matthew Engel. After 118 Tests, aged forty two, he retired into coaching and as team selector, before becoming a commentator. In 2009 he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. He returned to coach Essex, in 2012.

Career:

Graham Gooch made his debut in Test cricket in 1975 at 21 against the touring Australia side captained by Ian Chappell. His debut was not a great success as Graham Gooch got a pair, and England lost the first Test by an innings and 85 runs. The second Ashes Test in the series was not much better, he scored 6 and 31 and was then dropped from the side. He was not selected again until 1978 where his scoring rate for Essex meant that he could not be ignored and he became a mainstay in the England line up. In 1980 he was awarded the Wisden Cricketer of the Year. Graham Gooch had a further hiatus in his career when he went on the controversial 1982 South African rebel tour, which resulted in all of the players concerned, including Geoff Boycott, Alan Knott and Bob Wool mer, being banned from Test cricket for three years. Geoffrey Boycott was generally perceived as the key player organising the tour party but it was Graham Gooch who captained the team who gained the most media attention and in some cases vilification. Graham Gooch was not handed the captaincy until the team arrived in South Africa at the beginning of March. It could be argued that more attention was on Graham Gooch however as he was reaching his peak as a Test Player, others were in the twilight years of their cricket careers and so the ban was arguably felt more acutely by the captain. Graham Gooch claimed in the film "Out of the Wilderness" that 'others' decided he "had no place in England cricket", hence his decision to join the tour. Graham Gooch was restored to the England team in 1985. Opting to miss the 1986-87 tour of Australia for personal reasons a severe loss of form resulted in failing to win back his England place for the 1987 summer and Test series against Pakistan indeed at one stage he was even dropped to the Second XI at Essex but his form returned at the end of the summer with a superb century in the MCC Bicentennial match. He returned to the England team for the Cricket World Cup in India and Pakistan, and the subsequent winter tour of Pakistan. His career blossomed later after being appointed captain, a position he held twice firstly and briefly, at the end of the "summer of four captains" in 1988, as a replacement for the injured Chris Cowdrey who never played another Test. In his first match ''last of the series against the West Indies'', England at least showed some spirit, taking a first innings lead for the only time in the series but Graham Gooch's second innings 84 stood alone as the rest of the batting collapsed, England losing the match series 4-0. His second match, the one off Test against Sri Lanka, was won, and all seemed fair for Graham Gooch to remain as captain for the tour of India that winter. But that tour was cancelled over the Indian government's refusal to grant visas to the eight players who had sporting links with South Africa, including Gooch himself. Gower was thus returned as captain for the losing 1989 Ashes series in which, for a second time, Graham Gooch's loss of form with the bat resulted in his being dropped, by his own request this time. After Gower's
resignation following the 4-0 Ashes defeat of 1989, and the loss of a large number of players with Test experience to a second rebel tour of South Africa under Gatting, Graham Gooch was re-appointed captain for the 1989-90 winter tour of the West Indies. England unexpectedly won the first Test, which was England's first victory over the Windies since 1973 and came close to winning the 3rd However, Graham Gooch suffered a broken hand and missed the rest of the tour England lost the two remaining matches and the series. Returning for the summer of 1990, Graham Gooch had a golden summer both as batsman and captain against India and New Zealand, scoring runs seemingly at will. Graham Gooch scored a record 456 runs in the Lord's Test against India in 1990, 333 in the first innings and 123 in the second. Kumar Sangakara of Sri Lanka is the only other player to score a triple century in the first innings and a century in the second innings. His aggregate of 456 for the match remains a world record for a Test match, as does his aggregate of 753 for the 3 match series. Both series were won, and in 1990 Graham Gooch was awarded Professional Cricketers' Association Player of the Year. The winter tour of Australia did not, however go according to plan, England losing 3-0 despite holding first innings leads in the first two tests ''both of which were lost'', although Graham Gooch scored a marvellous hundred chasing an improbable total in the drawn 4th test. Graham Gooch had a public falling out with David Gower, the England batsman, particularly after Gower hired a vintage aircraft and ''buzzed'' the ground where England was playing during the unsuccessful tour of Australia in 1990-91. Graham Gooch contributed to the decision to omit Gower from England's tour of India in 1993, which proved so controversial that an extraordinary vote of no confidence in the selectors was passed at the MCC. Gower never played another Test lending an ironic edge to Graham Gooch's surpassing him as England's leading run scorer in the 1993 Ashes series. It is this relationship between the two men that perhaps highlights best the differences between their approaches to the game, as Gower himself identified in 1995 in an interview in The Independent "I was never destined to be on the ball 100 per cent of the time. I don't have the same ability that Graham Gooch has to produce something very close to his best every time he plays. After the fourth Test match of the 1993 Ashes series, and with England now 3-0 down in the series, he resigned as captain the job being given to his fellow opening batsman, Mike Atherton. He continued playing for England for a couple of years notably scoring another double century against New Zealand in 1994, and retired from test cricket as England's all time highest run scorer. Over his 118 Test career, Graham Gooch played with a record 113 different team mates.

Coaching:

Graham Gooch returned to his beloved Essex in the capacity of head coach, In October 2001, taking over from Keith Fletcher. Graham Gooch held this role until stepping down in March 2005 to Paul Prichard, his long running opening partner. Graham Gooch remains at the club, continuing as the squad's specialist batting coach whilst also assuming commercial duties for the county. In November 2009 Graham Gooch was selected as a "temporary" batting coach for the impending four test tour of South Africa and to support ex-Essex colleague, Head England Coach Andy Flower. Graham Gooch's commitment to England cricket and passion for the game remains. When commenting on the new England coaching role he said, "It came out of the blue. I met Andy at Trent Bridge when I was working for radio and I was a bit surprised when he asked me to do it. But you spend your career trying to do your bit for England and when you're asked to help again the call of your country is special. He has since remained as England's batting coach on a permanent basis, continuing this role for the 2010 series against Bangladesh and Pakistan, and the winter Ashes series against Australia in Australia. Double centurion Alastair Cook ''at the first test at The Gabba in Brisbane'' hailed Graham Gooch's influence on England's and his own batting prowess. Graham Gooch subsequently has supervised England's batting, throughout their rise to number 1 in the Test cricket ICC Rankings. Prior to Graham Gooch taking over, English batsmen had scored 6 test double centuries in 15 years. 15 months after he became the batting coach, England had already beaten that total. Graham Gooch took the full time role as England Batting coach, In March 2012. Which came in the wake of the disappointing three match Test series against Pakistan, in which England were beaten 3-0, largely down to the failure of their batsmen.

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WILLIE WATSON (NEW ZEALAND)

Introduction:

Willie Watson (born 31 August 1965), he is a former New Zealand cricketer, Who played 15 Tests and 61 ODIs. Willie Watson played in the Auckland cricketer Association for the New Zealand.

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