John James Whitaker is an English

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...

 former 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, who played in one 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...

 and two ODIs for England in 1986.

Life and career

Whitaker spent his whole career with Leicestershire County Cricket Club

Leicestershire County Cricket Club

Leicestershire 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 Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....

, and captained

Captain (cricket)

The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player...

 them from 1996 until he retired in 1999. In 1986, Whitaker was the leading English batsman in the national batting averages with 1.526 runs at 66 apiece. He was selected to go on the 1986-87 Ashes tour, and played one Test in Adelaide when Ian Botham

Ian Botham

Sir Ian Terence Botham OBE 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"...

 was out injured. However, his form fell away sharply.

He later became the coach and director of cricket at the club, before leaving in 2005. On 18 January 2008, Geoff Miller

Geoff Miller

Geoffrey Miller is an English former cricketer, who played in thirty four Tests and twenty five ODIs for England from 1976 to 1984...

 took over from David Graveney

David Graveney

David Anthony Graveney OBE is a leading figure in English cricket and former chairman of the England Test selectors, a post he held from 1997 until 2008. Graveney attended Millfield School in Somerset....

 as the national selector, heading up a four-man panel which included 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....

, Whitaker and Ashley Giles

Ashley Giles

Ashley Fraser Giles MBE is a retired English cricketer. Giles played the entirety of his 14-year first-class career at Warwickshire County Cricket Club where he is now employed as Director of Cricket...

.