PHIL TUFNELL

'Philip ("Phil") Clive Roderick "Tuffers" Tufnell' (born April 29, 1966 in Barnet) is a television personality and former English cricketer.

Contents

Early life

Cricket career

Television and radio career

Controversy

Notes

External links

Early life

Tufnell went to Highgate School where his cricketing prowess was recognised and he was appointed captain of the Junior School's First XI despite the fact he was not yet in the top year. On leaving Highgate he attended, and played cricket for, Southgate School.

Cricket career

As a slow left-arm orthodox spin bowler he played 42 Tests and 20 One-Day Internationals for England between 1990 and 2001, and 316 first-class matches, mainly for Middlesex.
Tufnell was occasionally inspired with the ball, taking 11-93 against Australia at the Oval in 1997 (for which he won the Man of the Match award after England won by 19 runs) and seven wickets in an innings against the West Indies at the Oval in 1990, but he took his 121 Test wickets with a bowling average of 37.68 across his whole Test career. Mark Waugh theorised that "if you attack him, he can go on the defensive, and it puts him off his game." Mark Waugh: The Biography, , James, Knight, HarperCollinsPublishers, 2002, ISBN 0-7322-7492-3 According to Michael Parkinson, a British talk show host, "at the age of nine he was opening the bowling and the batting for his club's junior team." It can be assumed that his bowling developed much more than his batting [he averaged 5.09 in Test cricket]. His batting might have been better had he not developed the habit of moving his back foot away from the wicket as the ball was bowled, making it harder for him to get in line with the ball (this was pointed out by Cricket commentator Simon Hughes on Channel 4). Parkinson also believes that his "ordinary fielding made him a luxury in the view of the...[English cricket] management [circa August 1996]." ^[1] However his fielding did improve during his career. He was nicknamed "The Cat" due to his propensity to be found sleeping in the dressing room. He also acquired the nickname "Two Sugars" due to his well known love of tea. According to England teammate Michael Atherton, Tufnell smoked more than occasionally ^[2]
During his illustrious career spanning over a decade with Middlesex, Tufnell took more than 1,000 first class wickets in the English game, a feat only achieved in the modern era by Phillip DeFreitas and Martin Bicknell.
His autobiography "What now?" was published in 1999.

Television and radio career

Tufnell retired from professional cricket before the 2003 season in order to participate in the "reality television" show ''I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!'' and was a team captain on the sports quiz show ''They Think It's All Over'' until 2005. In 2004, he made two guest appearances in UK Soap opera Family Affairs. He also co-presented the game show ''Simply the Best'' that year. Tufnell also co-authored a humorous book called 'Phil Tufnell's' A To Z of Cricket' with cricket journalist Adam Hathaway.
In 2006, at the Allan Border Medal ceremony, Tufnell made an appearance and gave a long, humorous speech aimed at poking fun at the Aussies after their recent loss in the 2005 Ashes series. Unfortunately, these digs were taken a little too seriously by Ricky Ponting, who failed to see the fun in Tufnell's speech.
Tufnell makes occasional appearances as a summariser on BBC Radio's Test Match Special

Controversy

Parkinson admits that "the prejudice against Phil Tufnell [was] deep seated." ^[1] Tufnell's sporadic appearances during the mid-1990s may have also been due to his "tantrums on the field". ^[1]

Notes

1. Michael Parkinson: On Cricket, , Michael, Parkinson, Hodder and Stoughton, 2002, ISBN 0-340-82508-1
2. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/07/08/scaths308.xml
3. Michael Parkinson: On Cricket, , Michael, Parkinson, Hodder and Stoughton, 2002, ISBN 0-340-82508-1
4. Michael Parkinson: On Cricket, , Michael, Parkinson, Hodder and Stoughton, 2002, ISBN 0-340-82508-1

External links

★ Cricinfo Player Profile : Phil Tufnell

★ PokerPlayer magazine interview

★ Article in the Scotsman newspaper on the cricket player