Andrew John Bichel (born 27 August 1970) is a former Australian

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, who played 19

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

es and 67

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s for Australia between 1997 and 2004. He was a right-arm medium-fast bowler, but was also a hard-hitting lower-order

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...

. Bichel represented

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

in the Australian domestic competitions. He also played for

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 ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

and

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

in English

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches are known to have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Since the late 19th century, there have been two county championship ...

. Since retiring from playing, Bichel has been a coach and a selector. He is a cousin of

Chris Sabburg Christopher John Martin Sabburg (born 2 January 1990) is an Australian cricketer. He played two seasons for Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League in 2012 to 2014, before being added to the Perth Scorchers squad in 2022 as a COVID-19 replacement ...

Personal life

Born to parents of German ancestry, Bichel married Dion in 1997 and they have two children.

Domestic career

As well as Queensland's state team, he has played for the English Counties

and

, where he had successful sessions on Essex with the bat and ball.

International career

Early years

Bichel made his Test debut for the Australian Cricket Team in Adelaide in 1996 in a match against the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

, and his One-day International Debut in Brisbane, also against the West Indies. His rise to prominence coincided with the appearance of a young

Brett Lee Brett Lee (born 8 November 1976) is an Australian former international cricketer, who played all three formats of the game. During his international career, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in the world. In each of his first two ...

, with whom he was often in a battle for a third fast-bowler spot in the lineup behind

Glenn McGrath Glenn Donald McGrath (; born 9 February 1970) is an Australian former international cricketer who played international cricket for 14 years. He was a fast-medium pace bowler (cricket), bowler and is considered one of the greatest international ...

and

Jason Gillespie Jason Neil Gillespie (born 19 April 1975) is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer who played all three formats of the game. A right-arm fast bowler, he was also a competent lower-order batsman whose unbeaten 201 in his last Test matc ...

holding the other two positions. As the younger and pacier Lee was often selected ahead of him, Bichel now holds the test match record of being twelfth man for Australia on 19 occasions. He has recently made comments that he believes his bowling suffered during these times, as he missed out on the valuable match practice that he could have earned either playing for Australia or Queensland.

2003 Cricket World Cup

A highlight of Bichel's career was Australia's 2003 World Cup campaign. He was initially back up to

and

. He played his first game against

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

making a good impression with the ball and after injury had ended Gillespie's World Cup campaign he took over his position in the side. Bichel retrieved Australia from serious trouble on more than one occasion, most notably his 7–20 against England. This bowling performance rated as the best bowling against England in ODIs, best bowling at St George's Park in ODIs, and his best bowling in World Cups as well. In the same match, he went on to play a crucial role with

Michael Bevan Michael Gwyl Bevan (born 8 May 1970) is a former Australian cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and a slow left arm wrist-spin bowler. He has been credited for initiating the art of finishing matches. For several years, he was considered as ...

to score an unbeaten 73-run 9th wicket partnership to ease Australia to victory which saw him hit 34 not out. In the Super Six stage, he came in against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

at 84–7. He and

again saved Australia with his highest score of 64 as Australia put up a winning total batting first. In the semi-final against

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, he bowled tightly conceding 0–18 in 10 overs but his pressure caused the spectacular run out of

Aravinda de Silva Deshabandu Pinnaduwage Aravinda de Silva ( si, අරවින්ද ද සිල්වා; born 17 October 1965) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and captain, who has also played in English county cricket. de Silva helped Sri Lanka to win the ...

as he picked up spun around and threw down the stumps to prevent a tight single off his own bowling. In the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, he picked up one wicket bowling

Rahul Dravid Rahul Sharad Dravid (; born 11 January 1973) is an Indian cricket coach and former captain of the Indian national team, currently serving as its head coach. Prior to his appointment to the senior men's national team, Dravid was the Head of ...

as Australia won, completing an undefeated campaign.

Injury and retirement

At the start of the 2004–05 Australian summer, Bichel was not offered a contract by the Australian Cricket Board, an indication that the Board did not believe he would represent Australia in that season. His performances in the domestic competition, however, continued to be at the same high standards as before and it was clear that he wanted to make another return to the international scene. Bichel's performances at State level during the 2004–05 domestic season earned him the Domestic Player of the Year award at the 2005 Australian cricket awards. However, he announced his retirement on 9 February 2009, saying he never fully recovered from his shoulder injury.

Post retirement

Chennai Super Kings Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise cricket team based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Founded in 2008, the team plays its home matches at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The team is owned by India ...

, the

IPL The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's T20 franchise cricket league of India. It is annually contested by ten teams based out of seven Indian cities and three Indian states. The leagu ...

Champions of 2010 season, acquired Andy Bichel's services as a bowling coach for the team's youngsters for

IPL 2011 The 2011 Indian Premier League season, abbreviated as IPL 4 or the IPL 2011, was the fourth season of the Indian Premier League, the top Twenty20 cricket league in India. The tournament was hosted in India and the opening and closing ceremonies ...

season. He was later the coach of Papua New Guinea. On 11 November 2011, it was announced that Andy Bichel would join the Cricket Australia selection panel. In 2014 it was announced that Bichel had partnered Tangalooma Island Resort to be an official brand ambassador. Bichel has been well credited for his art in the fast bowling coaching landscape. His mantra of 'FTOO' is preached throughout Queensland Cricket.

References

External links

Andy Bichel Official Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bichel, Andrew Australia One Day International cricketers Australia Test cricketers Queensland cricketers Worcestershire cricketers Essex cricketers Hampshire cricketers Cricketers from Queensland 1970 births Living people Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Australian cricketers Indian Premier League coaches Australian cricket coaches Commonwealth Games medallists in cricket Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Australian people of German descent Australia national cricket team selectors Coaches of the Papua New Guinea national cricket team