Graham Onions
Encyclopedia
Graham Onions is an English
cricket
er. He plays for Durham
and England as a right arm fast-medium
bowler and a right-hand tail-end batsman. After a successful start to the 2009 cricket season
, Onions was selected to face the West Indies in Test cricket, and following success in the series, was retained for the 2009 Ashes series
. In April 2010 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
named him as one of its five cricketers of the year for 2009.
school in Blaydon
, and at Gateshead leisure centre he took the opportunity to try a variety of sports. He was adept at badminton and was selected for the England at under under-15 level. From playing his early cricket on the streets, Onions became part of Gateshead Fell Cricket Club.
, Durham's coach, Onions made his second XI debut for the club at the age of 18. He was offered a contract with the club and opted to become a professional cricketer rather than than take a sports science choice at university, which was his other option. Onions started in the team as the fourth bowler. Looking back on his early career, he felt that he tried to hard early on. On one occasion he recalled how "I remember being thrown the ball at an important stage of a game at Scarborough, and Phil Jaques hit me for four successive fours. I was thinking 'I'm not sure I can do this.' But Dale Benkenstein was a huge influence as captain, and you have to learn from all those experiences. Otherwise I could not have done what I did in my first season of Test cricket. I often went for 15 to 20 runs in my first three overs, but always came back strongly." In 2006, Onions opened the bowling for Durham with Ottis Gibson
.
. However, he did not play any international fixtures.
Onions was named in England's provisional 30-man squad for the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy
after a successful season that year, and toured Bangladesh
with the England A team
under the future England coach Peter Moores
. In July 2007 he was selected for the England Lions team to face the Indian tourists in a warm-up match. On 21 February 2008 Onions took 7/39 in a one day fixture against Maharashtra
, his best one day bowling figures to date.
country cup competition played at the Sydney Cricket Ground
. On 29 April 2009 Onions was named in the England squad for the upcoming Test
series against West Indies, at the expense of his Durham team-mate Steve Harmison
.
He celebrated his call-up by taking 6/31 for his county against Somerset
. He followed this up by taking 5/38 in the first innings on his Test debut at Lord's
, going on to take seven wickets in the match. He picked up three further wickets in the second match.
In July 2009 he was named as part of the provisional sixteen man squad to face Australia in the Ashes
, at the expense of his Durham team-mate Steve Harmison, however he was not selected for the first Test. He took three wickets in the first innings of the second Test at Lord's, for 41 runs, and went wicketless in the second innings as England won, Andrew Flintoff
and Graeme Swann
taking the bulk of the wickets. He took 4/58 and 1/74 in the third Test at Edgbaston
, as England took a series lead. Two of these wickets fell with the first two balls on the second day. Australia took an innings victory in the fourth Test, Onions taking 2/80.
Onions was selected for England's tour of South Africa
in November 2009 to January 2010. His bowling average for the series was in the 40s, but his batting twice helped England save a Test in a battling rearguard action on the fifth day. He was dropped for the fourth and final Test in favour of Ryan Sidebottom. Onions felt that he was denied an opportunity to bowl in conditions more suited to his style of bowling than previous matches and was surprised by his omission. He commented that "When Straussy gave me the bad news, my reaction was one of sheer surprise. You could have knocked me down with last year's Newcastle season ticket. I tried to rationalise what had happened. I know my stats haven't been brilliant, but I feel I have bowled well enough to earn a better return." South African fast-bowler Dale Steyn
remarked that South Africa too were surprised at Onions being dropped: "He would have been a handful on this wicket, he gets very tight into the stumps and could have been very dangerous ... obviously Onions has troubled a lot of our batsmen throughout the series and it's surprising to see he wasn't playing. It was a bit if a relief in a way."
, England captain on the tour, voiced his disappointment that Onions would not be able to play for England: "He was a huge part of our plans and he still is, obviously, because of the way he bowled in South Africa, where he was unlucky not to take more wickets than he did. He bowled really well there, and I was expecting him come to these conditions and bowl well here as well." The injury prevented Onions from playing most of the English cricket season. He also underwent surgery on his left knee to repair cartilage
. Speaking of his disappointment at not being able to play for England, Onions said "The last few months have been massively frustrating. When you've had a place in the team for a while and you lose it it's hugely disappointing and hurts a lot. Before the injury everything had been like a dream for me, all I ever wanted to do was play for England, but the last six months have been tough." In April 2010 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
named him as one of its five cricketers of the year for 2009. Onions did not recover in time to play in the 2010–11 Ashes series
. However he was named in England's 27-man performance squad the following March after recovering from surgery. In August Onions was recalled to the England squad as cover for James Anderson
for the final match of the four Test series against India. At that stage in the season he had played nine County Championship matches, taking 39 wickets at an average of 28.82.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er. He plays for Durham
Durham County Cricket Club
Durham County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Durham. Its limited overs team is called the Durham Dynamos. Their kit colours are blue with yellow trim and the shirt sponsor was...
and England as a right arm fast-medium
Fast bowling
Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling...
bowler and a right-hand tail-end batsman. After a successful start to the 2009 cricket season
2009 English cricket season
-Knockout stage:-External links:* from Cricinfo...
, Onions was selected to face the West Indies in Test cricket, and following success in the series, was retained for the 2009 Ashes series
2009 Ashes series
The 2009 Ashes series was that year's edition of the long-standing and storied cricket rivalry between England and Australia, and was part of the Australian cricket tour of England in 2009. Starting on 8 July 2009, England and Australia played five Tests, with England winning the series 2–1...
. In April 2010 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
named him as one of its five cricketers of the year for 2009.
Early life
Graham was born on 9 September 1982 to Richard and Maureen Onions. He has an older sister Christine. Onions attended St Thomas More RCSt Thomas More RC
St Thomas More RC school is a voluntary aided Roman Catholic secondary school in Blaydon, Tyne and Wear, England, providing teaching to 11 - 19 year olds....
school in Blaydon
Blaydon
Blaydon-on-Tyne is a town in the North East of England in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead. The former urban district, however, extends much further, its fourteen and a half square miles constituting the largest administrative district, after Newcastle, on Tyneside...
, and at Gateshead leisure centre he took the opportunity to try a variety of sports. He was adept at badminton and was selected for the England at under under-15 level. From playing his early cricket on the streets, Onions became part of Gateshead Fell Cricket Club.
Early career
After being spotted by Geoff CookGeoff Cook
Geoff Cook is a former English cricketer, who played in seven Tests and six ODIs from 1981 to 1983...
, Durham's coach, Onions made his second XI debut for the club at the age of 18. He was offered a contract with the club and opted to become a professional cricketer rather than than take a sports science choice at university, which was his other option. Onions started in the team as the fourth bowler. Looking back on his early career, he felt that he tried to hard early on. On one occasion he recalled how "I remember being thrown the ball at an important stage of a game at Scarborough, and Phil Jaques hit me for four successive fours. I was thinking 'I'm not sure I can do this.' But Dale Benkenstein was a huge influence as captain, and you have to learn from all those experiences. Otherwise I could not have done what I did in my first season of Test cricket. I often went for 15 to 20 runs in my first three overs, but always came back strongly." In 2006, Onions opened the bowling for Durham with Ottis Gibson
Ottis Gibson
Ottis Delroy Gibson is a cricket coach and former player from Barbados. A pace bowler and exploiter of the older cricket ball for the West Indies, Gibson is now head coach for the West Indies. He previously worked as bowling coach for England.- International career :Gibson made two Test...
.
First international selection
On 3 September 2006, he received his first England call-up, being brought into the ODI squad to face Pakistan, following an injury to Darren GoughDarren Gough
Darren Gough is a retired English cricketer and former captain of Yorkshire County Cricket Club. The spearhead of England's bowling attack through much of the 1990s, he is England's highest wicket-taker in one-day internationals with 234, and took 229 wickets in his 58 Test matches, making him...
. However, he did not play any international fixtures.
Onions was named in England's provisional 30-man squad for the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy
ICC Champions Trophy
The ICC Champions Trophy is a One Day International cricket tournament, second in importance only to the Cricket World Cup. It was inaugurated as the ICC Knock Out tournament in 1998 and has been played every two years since, changing its name to the Champions Trophy in 2002...
after a successful season that year, and toured Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
with the England A team
England A cricket team
The England Lions cricket team is a cricket team representing England and Wales. It is the "second-tier" of international English cricket below the full England cricket team, and is largely intended as a way for promising young cricketers to gain experience of playing international cricket...
under the future England coach Peter Moores
Peter Moores (cricketer)
Peter Moores is a former English county cricketer. He played as a wicketkeeper for Worcestershire and Sussex He became the coach of Lancashire County Cricket Club, on 11 February 2009....
. In July 2007 he was selected for the England Lions team to face the Indian tourists in a warm-up match. On 21 February 2008 Onions took 7/39 in a one day fixture against Maharashtra
Maharashtra cricket team
The Maharashtra cricket team is a domestic cricket team based in the Indian state of Maharashtra in the city of Pune. It is in the Plate Group of the Ranji Trophy...
, his best one day bowling figures to date.
International breakthrough
In January 2009, Onions, returning from injury, played in the losing Stockton (Newcastle) side against the Tamworth side in the New South WalesNew South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
country cup competition played at the Sydney Cricket Ground
Sydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...
. On 29 April 2009 Onions was named in the England squad for the upcoming Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
series against West Indies, at the expense of his Durham team-mate Steve Harmison
Steve Harmison
Stephen James Harmison MBE is an English cricketer. Primarily a fast bowler, he represented England in 63 Tests, 58 ODI's, and 2 T20's. He also plays county cricket for Durham....
.
He celebrated his call-up by taking 6/31 for his county against Somerset
Somerset County Cricket Club
Somerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Somerset...
. He followed this up by taking 5/38 in the first innings on his Test debut at Lord's
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...
, going on to take seven wickets in the match. He picked up three further wickets in the second match.
In July 2009 he was named as part of the provisional sixteen man squad to face Australia in the Ashes
Australian cricket team in England in 2009
The Australia national cricket team toured Great Britain to play a series of cricket matches during the 2009 English cricket season. The team played five Test matches – one in Wales – seven one-day internationals and two Twenty20 internationals against England. The Australians also...
, at the expense of his Durham team-mate Steve Harmison, however he was not selected for the first Test. He took three wickets in the first innings of the second Test at Lord's, for 41 runs, and went wicketless in the second innings as England won, Andrew Flintoff
Andrew Flintoff
Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff MBE is a former English cricketer who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club, England and the Indian Premier League team Chennai Super Kings. A tall fast bowler, batsman and slip fielder, Flintoff according to the ICC rankings was consistently rated amongst the top...
and Graeme Swann
Graeme Swann
Graeme Peter Swann is an English international cricketer. He is primarily a right-arm offspinner, and also bats right-handed. After initially playing for his home county Northamptonshire, for whom he made his debut in 1997, he moved to Nottinghamshire in 2005. He often fields at slip...
taking the bulk of the wickets. He took 4/58 and 1/74 in the third Test at Edgbaston
Edgbaston Cricket Ground
Edgbaston Cricket Ground, also known as the County Ground or Edgbaston Stadium, is a cricket ground in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham, England...
, as England took a series lead. Two of these wickets fell with the first two balls on the second day. Australia took an innings victory in the fourth Test, Onions taking 2/80.
Onions was selected for England's tour of South Africa
English cricket team in South Africa in 2009–10
-2nd T20I:-1st ODI:-2nd ODI:-3rd ODI:-4th ODI:-5th ODI:-1st Test:-2nd Test:-3rd Test:-4th Test:-50-over tour match: England XI v Diamond Eagles:-50-over tour match: England XI v Chevrolet Warriors :...
in November 2009 to January 2010. His bowling average for the series was in the 40s, but his batting twice helped England save a Test in a battling rearguard action on the fifth day. He was dropped for the fourth and final Test in favour of Ryan Sidebottom. Onions felt that he was denied an opportunity to bowl in conditions more suited to his style of bowling than previous matches and was surprised by his omission. He commented that "When Straussy gave me the bad news, my reaction was one of sheer surprise. You could have knocked me down with last year's Newcastle season ticket. I tried to rationalise what had happened. I know my stats haven't been brilliant, but I feel I have bowled well enough to earn a better return." South African fast-bowler Dale Steyn
Dale Steyn
Dale Willem Steyn is a South African cricketer who plays in Test and One Day International cricket for South Africa. He is currently the number one ranked Test bowler in the world and achieved the 900+ points benchmark on 13th Nov 2011. Steyn plays domestic cricket in South Africa for Cape Cobras...
remarked that South Africa too were surprised at Onions being dropped: "He would have been a handful on this wicket, he gets very tight into the stumps and could have been very dangerous ... obviously Onions has troubled a lot of our batsmen throughout the series and it's surprising to see he wasn't playing. It was a bit if a relief in a way."
Interrupted by injury
Although he embarked on the Test leg of England's tour of Bangladesh in March 2010, Onions returned home with a back injury without playing a match. Alastair CookAlastair Cook
Alastair Nathan Cook, MBE is an English international cricket player. He is a left-handed opening batsman who plays county cricket for Essex and International cricket for England, where he is their ODI captain. Cook played for Essex's Academy and made his debut for the first XI in 2003...
, England captain on the tour, voiced his disappointment that Onions would not be able to play for England: "He was a huge part of our plans and he still is, obviously, because of the way he bowled in South Africa, where he was unlucky not to take more wickets than he did. He bowled really well there, and I was expecting him come to these conditions and bowl well here as well." The injury prevented Onions from playing most of the English cricket season. He also underwent surgery on his left knee to repair cartilage
Cartilage
Cartilage is a flexible connective tissue found in many areas in the bodies of humans and other animals, including the joints between bones, the rib cage, the ear, the nose, the elbow, the knee, the ankle, the bronchial tubes and the intervertebral discs...
. Speaking of his disappointment at not being able to play for England, Onions said "The last few months have been massively frustrating. When you've had a place in the team for a while and you lose it it's hugely disappointing and hurts a lot. Before the injury everything had been like a dream for me, all I ever wanted to do was play for England, but the last six months have been tough." In April 2010 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
named him as one of its five cricketers of the year for 2009. Onions did not recover in time to play in the 2010–11 Ashes series
2010–11 Ashes series
The 2010–11 Ashes series was played in Australia as part of the England cricket team's tour of Australia during the 2010–11 cricket season. Five Tests were played from 25 November 2010 to 7 January 2011...
. However he was named in England's 27-man performance squad the following March after recovering from surgery. In August Onions was recalled to the England squad as cover for James Anderson
James Anderson (cricketer)
James Michael "Jimmy" Anderson is an English cricketer. He plays first-class cricket for Lancashire County Cricket Club and since bursting onto the scene in 2002/03, before his first full season of county cricket, Anderson has represented England in over 50 Test matches and over 100 One Day...
for the final match of the four Test series against India. At that stage in the season he had played nine County Championship matches, taking 39 wickets at an average of 28.82.