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Phil Tufnell

Personal information
Full name	Philip Clive Roderick Tufnell
Born	29 April 1966 (1966-04-29) (age 43) Barnet, London, England
Nickname	Tuffers, The Cat, Two Sugars
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Slow left arm orthodox
Role	Bowler, commentator, author
International information
National side	England
Test debut (cap 547)	26 December 1990 v Australia
Last Test	23 August 2001 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 111)	7 December 1990 v New Zealand
Last ODI	20 February 1997 v New Zealand
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1986 – 2002	Middlesex
1990	MCC
Career statistics
Competition	Test	ODI	FC	LA
Matches	42	20	316	93
Runs scored	153	15	2066	125
Batting average	5.10	15.00	9.69	8.92
100s/50s	0/0	0/0	0/1	0/0
Top score	22*	5*	67*	18
Balls bowled	11288	1020	76934	4663
Wickets	121	19	1057	103
Bowling average	37.68	36.78	29.35	32.30
5 wickets in innings	5	0	53	1
10 wickets in match	2	n/a	6	n/a
Best bowling	7/47	4/22	8/29	5/28
Catches/stumpings	12/–	4/–	106/–	17/–
Source: CricInfo, 3 January 2008

Philip Clive Roderick Tufnell (born 29 April, 1966 in Barnet, London) is a former English cricketer turned television personality. A slow left-arm orthodox spin bowler, "Tuffers" as he was known played 42 Tests and 20 One Day International matches for England, as well as playing for Middlesex between 1986 and 2002. With 121 Test wickets, Tufnell is as of 2009 35th in the list of most wickets by an England bowler,^[1] and his average of 37.68 is considered high for a genuine bowler, however Tufnell's personality, trademark behaviour and "great control of flight" when playing made him a popular sports personality.^[2]

Following his retirment in 2002, Tufnell has built on his popularity with several television appearances. These include I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! which he won, They Think It's All Over, A Question of Sport and Strictly Come Dancing.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Cricket career

A graph showing Tufnell's Test career bowling statistics and how they have varied over time.

As a slow left-arm orthodox spin bowler he played 42 Test matches 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." ^[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)." ^[4] 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 ^[5]

During his career spanning over a decade with Middlesex, Tufnell took more than 1,000 first class wickets in the English game. His autobiography What Now ? ISBN 0002188163 was published in 1999.

[edit] 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! which he won, 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.^[6]

Tufnell makes occasional appearances as a summariser on BBC Radio's Test Match Special. Tufnell is now taking on Matt Dawson and his guests as a team captain on on the BBC panel show A Question of Sport. He makes regular appearances as a reporter on BBCs The One Show Tufnell is appearing in one of the teams on BBCs Sport Relief Does The Apprentice

On 12 April 2008, Tufnell and his wife Dawn were guests on the ITV show All Star Mr & Mrs ^[7] where they won the top £30,000 prize for their chosen charity, The Children's Trust, Tadworth.

Tufnell made two guest appearances on the game show Hole in the Wall on 4 October 2008, and 1 November 2008. Tufnell has taken part in series 7 of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, partnering new pro dancer Katya Virshilas, but they were eliminated in week 9.^[8]

[edit] Personal life

Tufnell's first marriage to Alison Squires ended in 1989. He has two daughters; Ellie, 16, with ex-girlfriend Jane McElvoy, and six year old Poppy with ex-wife Lisa Bar. In 1994, after a tour of the West Indies, he went on a drinking binge so his partner, Jane McEvoy, walked out on him with their child. He slapped his partner across the face and McEvoy's father got revenge by slapping Tufnell in the face with a brick. Tufnell was fined £800 for assault and Michael McEvoy was fined £2,500 for malicious wounding. Three years later, on a tour of New Zealand in 1997 reports emerged that he left a toilet cubicle trailing the scent of marijuana but he was exonerated.^[9] During divorce proceeding ex- wife Lisa produced court documents accusing Tufnell of causing her to endure 'anxiety, stress and an eating disorder'. She also claimed he had continually harassed her.^[10] He is now married to wife Dawn.^[11]

[edit] Controversy

Michael Parkinson claimed in his book Parkinson: On Cricket that "the prejudice against Phil Tufnell [was] deep seated." ^[4] Tufnell's sporadic appearances during the mid-1990s may have also been due to his "tantrums on the field".^[4]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Player Profile: Phil Tufnell from Cricinfo

v • d • e England squad – 1992 Cricket World Cup (runners-up) 1 Gooch (c) • 2 Botham • 3 DeFreitas • 4 Fairbrother • 5 Hick • 6 Illingworth • 7 Lamb • 8 Lewis • 9 Pringle • 10 Reeve • 11 Small • 12 Smith • 13 Stewart (wk) • 14 Tufnell