Ronnie Irani
Encyclopedia
Ronald Charles "Ronnie" Irani (born 26 October 1971) is a former England
cricket
er who spent most of his career at Essex County Cricket Club
, latterly as captain
. He is of Irani descent, the Iranis being a community of Persian
Zoroastrians who immigrated to India during the British Raj
. He played only three Tests
for England
, with decidedly mixed success, but found a niche in One Day Internationals. Irani was once a genuine all-rounder
, and had a first-class
batting average
above 38 and a bowling average
nine points lower, but a knee injury in 2003 forced him to stop bowling and play as a specialist batsman. Although initially seen as a major blow, Irani has since said that his inability to bowl has enhanced his batting game as a result of being able to focus more on this side of his game. The recurring nature of this knee injury led to Irani being forced to retire prematurely from first-class cricket
in June 2007.
Originally playing for Lancashire
, Irani moved to Essex
in 1994 and quickly gained cult
status before he became captain
in 2000, and is generally accepted to have done a decent job in charge, helping to bring through promising players such as Alastair Cook
, Will Jefferson
and Ravinder Bopara
. His ex-captain and England team-mate Nasser Hussain
was critical of Irani in his autobiography
, Playing with Fire, but Irani remains a "popular" figure at Chelmsford
to this day. After Graham Gooch
stepped down as the club's head coach prior to the start of the 2005 season, Irani assumed some of these responsibilities in addition to his role as county captain.
In June 2007, he rejected a new contract with Essex
and announced his retirement from first class cricket at the end of the 2007 season. He retired with immediate effect later that month. He has now taken up a permanent position at talkSPORT
, where he co-hosts The Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast with former Scottish international footballer Alan Brazil
. He also hosts The Cricket Show with Andy Jacobs
on Sunday nights during the summer.
He is known by many sports fans for an "Exercise" routine during an England One Day International. He was doing a warm-up while fielding, and unbeknownst to Irani, the Australian fans were imitating his routine behind his back
. When he discovered what they were doing, he played up to the fans and became more pacey as to make the fans carry on even more. The camera panned on Nasser Hussein
at one point, and showed him laughing at Irani. It is often replayed when Ronnie Irani is interviewed or is a guest at a show.
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 who spent most of his career at Essex County Cricket Club
Essex County Cricket Club
Essex 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 Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...
, latterly as captain
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...
. He is of Irani descent, the Iranis being a community of Persian
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
Zoroastrians who immigrated to India during the British Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
. He played only three Tests
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...
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...
, with decidedly mixed success, but found a niche in One Day Internationals. Irani was once a genuine all-rounder
All-rounder
An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a few batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are considered specialists...
, and had a 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...
batting average
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
above 38 and 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...
nine points lower, but a knee injury in 2003 forced him to stop bowling and play as a specialist batsman. Although initially seen as a major blow, Irani has since said that his inability to bowl has enhanced his batting game as a result of being able to focus more on this side of his game. The recurring nature of this knee injury led to Irani being forced to retire prematurely from first-class cricket
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...
in June 2007.
Family
Irani's father Jimmy Irani arrived in Bolton from Bombay in 1961 to play a summer's club cricket. During that summer he met 16-year-old Lancastrian Anne Main. The two married and had a son, Ronnie. Jimmy Irani was an enthusiastic and successful club cricketer who often put up overseas players - as such Farokh Engineer and Javed Miandad among others stayed with the Iranis during Ronnie's childhood. [No Boundaries: Pain and Passion On and Off The Pitch by Ronnie Irani]Career
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...
, Irani moved to Essex
Essex County Cricket Club
Essex 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 Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...
in 1994 and quickly gained cult
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
status before he became captain
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...
in 2000, and is generally accepted to have done a decent job in charge, helping to bring through promising players such as Alastair Cook
Alastair 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...
, Will Jefferson
Will Jefferson
William Ingleby Jefferson is a professional cricketer who currently plays for Leicestershire and who played for Essex County Cricket Club until 2006, and for Nottinghamshire until 2009...
and Ravinder Bopara
Ravinder Bopara
Ravinder Singh Bopara is an English cricketer who plays for Essex and England. He is the second Sikh to play cricket for England, after Monty Panesar. Originally a top-order batsman, but with his developing medium pace bowling, he is becoming a vital all-rounder...
. His ex-captain and England team-mate Nasser Hussain
Nasser Hussain
Nasser Hussain OBE is a former Essex and England cricketer.Beginning his career in a strong Essex side in the late 1980s, he was an outstanding fielder and a stylish but inconsistent batsman. In first-class cricket from 1987 to 2004 Hussain scored 20,698 runs in 334 matches at an average of 42.06,...
was critical of Irani in his autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, Playing with Fire, but Irani remains a "popular" figure at Chelmsford
County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford
The County Cricket Ground, is a cricket venue in Chelmsford, Essex, England. It is home to Essex County Cricket Club.Chelmsford is a small ground, and therefore suits big-hitting batsmen. Essex stalwart Graham Gooch scored many of his runs here and Graham Napier scored 152 of 58 balls in a...
to this day. After Graham Gooch
Graham Gooch
Graham Alan Gooch OBE DL is a former cricketer who captained Essex and England. He was one of the most successful international batsmen of his generation, and through a career spanning from 1973 until 2000, he became the most prolific run scorer of all time with 67,057 runs...
stepped down as the club's head coach prior to the start of the 2005 season, Irani assumed some of these responsibilities in addition to his role as county captain.
In June 2007, he rejected a new contract with Essex
Essex County Cricket Club
Essex 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 Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...
and announced his retirement from first class cricket at the end of the 2007 season. He retired with immediate effect later that month. He has now taken up a permanent position at talkSPORT
TalkSPORT
Talksport , owned by UTV radio, is one of the United Kingdom's three terrestrial analogue Independent National Radio broadcasters, offering a sports and talk radio service broadcast from London to the United Kingdom....
, where he co-hosts The Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast with former Scottish international footballer Alan Brazil
Alan Brazil
Alan Bernard Brazil is a Scottish former football player and broadcaster. He was a forward before retirement due to injury. He is now a radio presenter on Talksport.-Club career:...
. He also hosts The Cricket Show with Andy Jacobs
Andy Jacobs
Andrew Eustace Jacobs is a British sports radio personality who presents the Hawksbee and Jacobs show alongside Paul Hawksbee on talkSPORT in the UK, every weekday from 1-4pm....
on Sunday nights during the summer.
He is known by many sports fans for an "Exercise" routine during an England One Day International. He was doing a warm-up while fielding, and unbeknownst to Irani, the Australian fans were imitating his routine behind his back
Back
- People :* Adam Back, British cryptographer* Charles Back, South African winemaker* Chris Back , Australian politician* Ernst Emil Alexander Back , German physicist* Frédéric Back , Canadian animator...
. When he discovered what they were doing, he played up to the fans and became more pacey as to make the fans carry on even more. The camera panned on Nasser Hussein
Nasser Hussain
Nasser Hussain OBE is a former Essex and England cricketer.Beginning his career in a strong Essex side in the late 1980s, he was an outstanding fielder and a stylish but inconsistent batsman. In first-class cricket from 1987 to 2004 Hussain scored 20,698 runs in 334 matches at an average of 42.06,...
at one point, and showed him laughing at Irani. It is often replayed when Ronnie Irani is interviewed or is a guest at a show.