Phil Tufnell
Encyclopedia
Philip Clive Roderick Tufnell (born 29 April 1966) is a former English
cricket
er 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 from 1986 to 2002. With 121 Test wickets, Tufnell is as of 2009 35th in the list of most wickets by an England bowler, 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. Following his retirement 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
. He was presented with an honorary doctorate
by Middlesex University
on 20 July 2011, recognising his achievements in sport and the media.
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
. He then trained as a quantity surveyor and was faced with the tough decision of whether to play cricket professionally or to continue surveying quantities. He chose to do the former
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 1991, 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". 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". Parkinson also believes that his "ordinary fielding made him a luxury in the view of the ... (English cricket) management (circa August 1996)". 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.
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.
Tufnell also received an honorary doctorate
from Middlesex University
on 20 July 2011 in recognition of his achievements in sport and the media.
" 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 on the British soap opera Family Affairs
. He also co-presented the game show Simply the Best
that year. Tufnell also co-authored a humorous book, Phil Tufnell's' A To Z of Cricket with cricket journalist Adam Hathaway.
Tufnell makes occasional appearances as a summariser on BBC Radio's Test Match Special
, first appearing in 2008. He also hosted the Phil Tufnell Cricket show on BBC radio 5 during the 2010 season, although this ended before the conclusion of the season. Tufnell is a team captain on the BBC panel show A Question of Sport
. He makes regular appearances as a reporter on BBC
s 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. 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 on 1 November 2008. Tufnell took part in series 7 of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing
, partnering new pro dancer Katya Virshilas
and being eliminated in week 9.
in 1997 reports emerged that he left a toilet cubicle trailing the scent of marijuana but he was exonerated. 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 and abused her. He is now married to Dawn.
Tufnell is the president of a cricket charity– Cricket for Change. He is also a Vice-President of UK children's charity The Children's Trust, Tadworth
.
Tufnell is also a big fan of the football club Arsenal
.
claimed in his book Parkinson: On Cricket that "the prejudice against Phil Tufnell [was] deep seated." Tufnell's sporadic appearances during the mid-1990s may have also been due to his "tantrums on the field".
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
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 turned television personality. A slow left-arm orthodox spin
Left-arm orthodox spin
Left-arm orthodox spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket.Left-arm orthodox spin is bowled by a left arm bowler using the fingers to spin the ball from right to left of the cricket pitch...
bowler, "Tuffers" as he was known played 42 Tests and 20 One Day International matches for England, as well as playing for Middlesex from 1986 to 2002. With 121 Test wickets, Tufnell is as of 2009 35th in the list of most wickets by an England bowler, 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. Following his retirement 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
They Think It's All Over (TV series)
They Think It's All Over was a British comedy panel game with a sporting theme produced by Talkback Thames and shown on BBC One. The show's name is taken from Kenneth Wolstenholme's famous 1966 World Cup commentary quotation, "they think it's all over...it is now!" and the show used the phrase as...
, A Question of Sport
A Question of Sport
A Question of Sport is a long-running BBC quiz show which started on 2 December 1968 and continues to this day. It is currently recorded at The Studios, MediaCityUK...
and Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing is a British television show, featuring celebrities with professional dance partners competing in Ballroom and Latin dances. The title of the show suggests a continuation of the long-running series Come Dancing, with an allusion to the film Strictly Ballroom...
. He was presented with an honorary doctorate
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
by Middlesex University
Middlesex University
Middlesex University is a university in north London, England. It is located in the historic county boundaries of Middlesex from which it takes its name. It is one of the post-1992 universities and is a member of Million+ working group...
on 20 July 2011, recognising his achievements in sport and the media.
Early life
Tufnell went to Highgate SchoolHighgate School
-Notable members of staff and governing body:* John Ireton, brother of Henry Ireton, Cromwellian General* 1st Earl of Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice, owner of Kenwood, noted for judgment finding contracts for slavery unenforceable in English law* T. S...
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
Southgate School
Southgate School is a state comprehensive secondary school in the London Borough of Enfield. It has approximately 1574 pupils.The school has Specialist Science Status. The school is situated just east of the Cat Hill roundabout of the A111 and A110, between Cockfosters and Oakwood tube stations...
. He then trained as a quantity surveyor and was faced with the tough decision of whether to play cricket professionally or to continue surveying quantities. He chose to do the former
Cricket career
Left-arm orthodox spin
Left-arm orthodox spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket.Left-arm orthodox spin is bowled by a left arm bowler using the fingers to spin the ball from right to left of the cricket pitch...
bowler he played 42 Test matches
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 20 One Day Internationals for England
English cricket team
The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...
between 1990 and 2001, and 316 first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
matches, mainly for Middlesex
Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex 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 Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...
.
Tufnell was occasionally inspired with the ball, taking 11-93 against Australia
Australian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
at the Oval
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
in 1997 (for which he won the Man of the Match
Man of the match
In sport, a Man of the Match or Player of the Game or Man of the Series award is given to the outstanding player, almost always the one who makes the most impact, in a particular match or series. The term was originally used more often in cricket before being adopted by other sports. This can be a...
award after England won by 19 runs) and seven wickets in an innings against the West Indies at the Oval
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
in 1991, but he took his 121 Test wickets with a bowling average
Bowling average
Bowling average is a statistic measuring the performance of bowlers in the sport of cricket.A bowler's bowling average is defined as the total number of runs conceded by the bowlers divided by the number of wickets taken by the bowler, so the lower the average the better. It is similar to earned...
of 37.68 across his whole Test career. Mark Waugh
Mark Waugh
Mark Edward Waugh AM is a former Australian cricketer, who represented Australia in Test matches from early 1991 to late 2002, and made his One-Day International debut in 1988. Waugh is regarded as one of the most elegant and gifted stroke makers to ever play the game. His nickname is "Junior" as...
theorised that "if you attack him, he can go on the defensive, and it puts him off his game". According to Michael Parkinson
Michael Parkinson
Sir Michael Parkinson, CBE is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his interview programme, Parkinson, from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007.- Early life :...
, a British talk show host, "at the age of nine he was opening the bowling and the batting for his club's junior team". Parkinson also believes that his "ordinary fielding made him a luxury in the view of the ... (English cricket) management (circa August 1996)". 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
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
. According to England teammate Michael Atherton, Tufnell smoked more than occasionally.
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.
Tufnell also received an honorary doctorate
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
from Middlesex University
Middlesex University
Middlesex University is a university in north London, England. It is located in the historic county boundaries of Middlesex from which it takes its name. It is one of the post-1992 universities and is a member of Million+ working group...
on 20 July 2011 in recognition of his achievements in sport and the media.
Television and radio career
Tufnell retired from professional cricket before the 2003 season in order to participate in the "reality televisionReality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
" 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
They Think It's All Over (TV series)
They Think It's All Over was a British comedy panel game with a sporting theme produced by Talkback Thames and shown on BBC One. The show's name is taken from Kenneth Wolstenholme's famous 1966 World Cup commentary quotation, "they think it's all over...it is now!" and the show used the phrase as...
until 2005. In 2004, he made two guest appearances on the British soap opera Family Affairs
Family Affairs
Family Affairs was a British soap opera broadcast on Five, from 1997 to 2005. It was the second programme to be broadcast on the channel on 30 March 1997, the channel's launch night...
. He also co-presented the game show Simply the Best
Simply the Best (TV series)
Simply the Best was a game show broadcast on the UK terrestrial network ITV in 2004.Filmed in Jersey as a co-production of Channel Television and Carlton Television, it was hosted by Phil Tufnell and Kirsty Gallacher, and featured the cheerleaders from the American football team the Scottish...
that year. Tufnell also co-authored a humorous book, Phil Tufnell's' A To Z of Cricket with cricket journalist Adam Hathaway.
Tufnell makes occasional appearances as a summariser on BBC Radio's Test Match Special
Test Match Special
Test Match Special is a British radio programme covering professional cricket, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 , Five Live Sports Extra and the internet to the United Kingdom and the rest of the world...
, first appearing in 2008. He also hosted the Phil Tufnell Cricket show on BBC radio 5 during the 2010 season, although this ended before the conclusion of the season. Tufnell is a team captain on the BBC panel show A Question of Sport
A Question of Sport
A Question of Sport is a long-running BBC quiz show which started on 2 December 1968 and continues to this day. It is currently recorded at The Studios, MediaCityUK...
. He makes regular appearances as a reporter on BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
s The One Show
The One Show
The One Show is a topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One and BBC One HD, hosted by Alex Jones and Matt Baker. Chris Evans joins Jones to present the programme on Friday...
Tufnell is appearing in one of the teams on BBCs Sport Relief Does The Apprentice
Sport Relief Does The Apprentice
Sport Relief Does The Apprentice was a celebrity version of the British reality television series The Apprentice, produced in 2008 to raise money for Sport Relief. Five male celebrities and five female celebrities took part in the show to complete a business-themed task...
. On 12 April 2008, Tufnell and his wife Dawn were guests on the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
show All Star Mr & Mrs. where they won the top £30,000 prize for their chosen charity, The Children's Trust, Tadworth
The Children's Trust, Tadworth
The Children's Trust, Tadworth is a national charity that provides care, education and therapy to children and young people with multiple disabilities and complex health needs...
.
Tufnell made two guest appearances on the game show Hole in the Wall
Hole in the Wall (UK game show)
Hole in the Wall was a game show that airs on BBC One in the United Kingdom. This game is an adaptation of the Japanese game Brain Wall in which players must contort themselves to fit through cutout holes of varying shapes in a large polystyrene wall moving towards them as they stand in front of a...
on 4 October 2008 and on 1 November 2008. Tufnell took part in series 7 of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing is a British television show, featuring celebrities with professional dance partners competing in Ballroom and Latin dances. The title of the show suggests a continuation of the long-running series Come Dancing, with an allusion to the film Strictly Ballroom...
, partnering new pro dancer Katya Virshilas
Katya Virshilas
Katya Virshilas is a Lithuanian-Canadian dancer and actress.-Life and career:Virshilas was born in Lithuania to a Jewish family. She subsequently moved to Israel at age six, and to Vancouver, Canada at thirteen....
and being eliminated in week 9.
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. On a tour of New ZealandNew Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
in 1997 reports emerged that he left a toilet cubicle trailing the scent of marijuana but he was exonerated. 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 and abused her. He is now married to Dawn.
Tufnell is the president of a cricket charity– Cricket for Change. He is also a Vice-President of UK children's charity The Children's Trust, Tadworth
The Children's Trust, Tadworth
The Children's Trust, Tadworth is a national charity that provides care, education and therapy to children and young people with multiple disabilities and complex health needs...
.
Tufnell is also a big fan of the football club Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
.
Controversy
Michael ParkinsonMichael Parkinson
Sir Michael Parkinson, CBE is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his interview programme, Parkinson, from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007.- Early life :...
claimed in his book Parkinson: On Cricket that "the prejudice against Phil Tufnell [was] deep seated." Tufnell's sporadic appearances during the mid-1990s may have also been due to his "tantrums on the field".
External links
- http://www.thechildrenstrust.org.uk/page.asp?section=1304§ionTitle=Phil+Tufnell+filmVideo of Phil Tufnell explaining his support for charity The Children's Trust, TadworthThe Children's Trust, TadworthThe Children's Trust, Tadworth is a national charity that provides care, education and therapy to children and young people with multiple disabilities and complex health needs...
]