Ronnie Irani

Ronnie Irani

Personal information
Full name	Ronald Charles Irani
Born	26 October 1971 (1971-10-26) Leigh, Lancashire, England
Nickname	Reggie, Chicken
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right arm medium
International information
National side	England
Test debut (cap 577)	6 June 1996 v India
Last Test	22 August 1999 v New Zealand
ODI debut (cap 137)	23 May 1996 v India
Last ODI	26 February 2003 v India
ODI shirt no.	15
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1994–2007	Essex (squad no. 5)
1990–1993	Lancashire
Career statistics
Competition	Test	ODI	FC	LA
Matches	3	31	232	315
Runs scored	86	360	13,472	7,733
Batting average	17.20	14.40	41.58	30.93
100s/50s	0/0	0/1	28/72	7/46
Top score	41	53	218	158*
Balls bowled	192	1,283	20,389	10,453
Wickets	3	24	339	309
Bowling average	37.33	41.20	29.51	25.22
5 wickets in innings	–	1	9	4
10 wickets in match	–	n/a	0	n/a
Best bowling	1/22	5/26	6/71	5/26
Catches/stumpings	2/–	6/–	79/–	83/–
Source: Cricinfo, 19 April 2009

Ronald Charles "Ronnie" Irani (born 26 October 1971) is a former England cricketer who spent most of his career at Essex County Cricket Club, latterly as captain. He is of Irani descent, the Iranis being a community of Persian Zoroastrians who immigrated to India during the British Raj. He played only three Tests for England, with decidedly mixed success, but found a niche in One Day Internationals. Irani was once a genuine all-rounder, and as of 2005 had a first-class batting average above 38 and a bowling average nine points lower, but a knee injury in 2003 forced him to stop bowling and play as a specialist batsman. Although initially seen as a major blow, Irani has since said that his inability to bowl has enhanced his batting game as a result of being able to focus more on this side of his game. The recurring nature of this knee injury led to Irani being forced to retire prematurely from first-class cricket in June 2007.

Family

Irani's father Jimmy Irani arrived in Bolton from Bombay in 1961 to play a summer's club cricket. During that summer he met 16-year-old Lancastrian Anne Main. The two married and had a son, Ronnie. Jimmy Irani was an enthusiastic and successful club cricketer who often put up overseas players - as such Farokh Engineer and Javed Miandad among others stayed with the Iranis during Ronnie's childhood. [No Boundaries: Pain and Passion On and Off The Pitch by Ronnie Irani]

Career

Irani batting against Cambridge UCCE, April 2005

Originally playing for Lancashire, Irani moved to Essex in 1994 and quickly gained cult status before he became captain in 2000, and is generally accepted to have done a decent job in charge, helping to bring through promising players such as Alastair Cook, Will Jefferson and Ravinder Bopara. His ex-captain and England team-mate Nasser Hussain was critical of Irani in his autobiography, Playing with Fire, but Irani remains a "popular" figure at Chelmsford to this day. After Graham Gooch stepped down as the club's head coach prior to the start of the 2005 season, Irani assumed some of these responsibilities in addition to his role as county captain.

In June 2007, he rejected a new contract with Essex and announced his retirement from first class cricket at the end of the 2007 season. He retired with immediate effect later that month. He has now taken up a permanent position at talkSPORT, where he co-hosts The Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast with former Scottish international footballer Alan Brazil. He also hosts The Cricket Show with Andy Jacobs on Sunday nights during the summer.

He is known by many sports fans for an "Exercise" routine during an England One Day International. He was doing a warm-up while fielding, and unbeknownst to Irani, the Australian fans were imitating his routine behind his back. When he discovered what they were doing, he played up to the fans and became more pacey as to make the fans carry on even more. The camera panned on Nasser Hussein at one point, and showed him laughing at Irani. It is often replayed when Ronnie Irani is interviewed or is a guest at a show.

References

Preceded by Graham Beecroft

TalkSport breakfast show host with Alan Brazil 2007-

Succeeded by Incumbent