Andrew Richard Roberts (born 16 April 1971) is a former English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er. Roberts was a right-handed batsman who bowled

leg break Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery causes the ball to spin from right to left (from the bowler's perspective) when the ball bounces on the ...

. He was born in

Kettering Kettering is a market and industrial town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is located north of London and north-east of Northampton, west of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene. The name means "the place (or territory) of Ket ...

, Northamptonshire and is the brother of cricketer Timothy Roberts.

Northamptonshire

Roberts made his first-class debut for

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

against

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

in the

1989 County Championship The 1989 Britannic Assurance County Championship was the 90th officially organised running of the County Championship. Worcestershire won their second successive Championship title. A sub-standard pitch at Southchurch Park, for which Essex ...

. The following season he made three Youth

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

appearances for England Young Cricketers against Pakistan Young Cricketers. These were to be his only international honours. Roberts' first-class career with Northamptonshire continued until the 1996 season, when he made his final first-class appearance against

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

in the

1996 County Championship The 1996 Britannic Assurance County Championship was the 97th officially organised running of the County Championship. Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Mi ...

. He made 59 first-class appearances for Northamptonshire, scoring 1,119 runs at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

of 18.04, with a high score of 62. This score, which was one of two fifties he made, came against

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

in 1992. As a leg spin bowler (a rarity in modern first-class cricket in England), Roberts took 107 wickets at a

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

of 44.60, with best figures of 6/72. These figures, his only

five wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batsman. Taking ...

, came against

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

in 1988. His

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

debut came against

in the

1991 Refuge Assurance League The 1991 Refuge Assurance League was the twenty-third competing of what was generally known as the Sunday League. The competition was won for the first time by Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. The season Somerset played Lancashire at Taun ...

. He made thirteen further List A appearances for Northamptonshire, the last of which came against

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

in the

1995 AXA Equity & Law League The 1995 AXA Equity & Law League was the twenty-seventh competing of English cricket's Sunday League. The competition was won for the fourth time by Kent County Cricket Club. Standings Batting averages Bowling averages See also * Sunday ...

. In his thirteen List A matches for the county, he took 13 wickets at an average of 26.30, with best figures of 3/26. With the bat, he scored 42 runs at an average of 8.40, with a high score of 20. He left Northamptonshire at the end of the 1996 season. While at Northamptonshire and following the

1993 English cricket season The 1993 English cricket season was the 94th in which the County Championship had been an official competition. It included the debut in England of Shane Warne and his " Gatting Ball". Australia, led by Allan Border, won the Ashes series 4-1. Mi ...

, Roberts played two first-class matches for

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

in New Zealand, both against

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

Bedfordshire

Roberts joined

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

in 1997, making his debut for the county against

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

in the

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

. He played Minor counties cricket for Bedfordshire 1997 to 2010, making 85 Minor Counties Championship and 48 MCCA Knockout Trophy appearances. He made his first List A appearance representing Bedfordshire against Glamorgan in the

1997 NatWest Trophy The 1997 NatWest Trophy was the 17th NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 24 June and 7 September 1997. The tournament was won by Essex County Cricket Club who defeated Warwickshire Co ...

. The following season he made two List A appearances for the Minor Counties against Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire. Roberts made fifteen further List A appearances for Bedfordshire, the last of which came against Sussex in the

2005 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy The 2005 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy was the 4th Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy, an English county cricket tournament, held between 3 May and 3 September 2005. The competition was contested by all 18 first-class counties, as well as 10 minor c ...

. In his sixteen List A matches for Bedfordshire, he scored 379 runs at an average of 31.58, which included his only

century A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

in that format. This score came against the

Derbyshire Cricket Board The Derbyshire Cricket Board is the governing body for all recreational cricket in the historic county of Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, th ...

in the

2002 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy The 2002 Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 29 August 2001 and 31 August 2002. It was the second Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy, following its change of name from the Na ...

. With the ball, he took 25 wickets at an average of 19.92, with best figures of 5/28. These figures, which were one of two five wicket hauls he took in that format for Bedfordshire, came against Huntingdonshire in the

1999 NatWest Trophy The 1999 NatWest Trophy was the 19th NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 4 May and 29 August 1999. The tournament was won by Gloucestershire who defeated Somerset by 50 runs in the fin ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Andrew 1971 births Living people Sportspeople from Kettering English cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers Wellington cricketers Bedfordshire cricketers Minor Counties cricketers Cricketers from Northamptonshire