Phil Tufnell

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Phil Tufnell
England
Personal information
Full name	Philip Clive Roderick Tufnell
Nickname	Tuffers, The Cat, Two Sugars
Born	29 April 1966 (1966-04-29) (age 42)
	Barnet, England
Role	Bowler, commentator, author
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Slow left arm orthodox
International information
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
	Tests	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/–
As of 3 January 2008 Source: [1]

Philip ("Phil") Clive Roderick "Tuffers" Tufnell (born April 29, 1966 in Barnet) is a television personality and former English cricketer.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Cricket career 3 Television and radio career 4 Personal life 5 Controversy 6 References 7 External links

[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

As a slow left-arm orthodox spin bowler he played 42 Tests 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." ^[1] 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)." ^[2] 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 ^[3]

During his illustrious career spanning over a decade with Middlesex, Tufnell took more than 1,000 first class wickets in the English game, a feat only achieved in the modern era by Andrew Caddick, Phillip DeFreitas and Martin Bicknell.

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! 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.^[4]

In 2006, at the Allan Border Medal ceremony, Tufnell made an appearance and gave a long, humorous speech aimed at poking fun at the Aussies after their recent loss in the 2005 Ashes series. Unfortunately, these digs were taken a little too seriously by Ricky Ponting, who failed to see the fun in Tufnell's speech.

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 April 12th, 2008, Tufnell and his wife Dawn were guests on the ITV show All Star Mr & Mrs ^[5]

[edit] Personal life

Tufnell's first marriage to Alison Squires ended in 1989, she later became a prostitute. He has two daughters; Ellie, 16, with ex-girlfriend Jane McElvoy, and six year old Poppy with ex- wife Lisa Bar. He is now married to wife Dawn. ^[6]

[edit] Controversy

Parkinson admits that "the prejudice against Phil Tufnell [was] deep seated." ^[2] Tufnell's sporadic appearances during the mid-1990s may have also been due to his "tantrums on the field". ^[2]

Tufnell was charged by the police with assault on a girlfriend.[2]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Cricinfo Player Profile : Phil Tufnell
• Article in the Scotsman newspaper on the cricket player

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

Preceded by Tony Blackburn

I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! winner 2003

Succeeded by Kerry Katona