Andrew Joseph Murtagh (born 6 May 1949) is an Irish-born former English
first-class cricketer. He is now a cricket biographer.
Cricket career
Andy Murtagh was a right-handed
batsman who bowled right-arm
medium pace. While reading English at
Southampton University, he was spotted by
Hampshire, making his first-class debut for the county against
Gloucestershire in 1973. That same season he made his
one-day debut against local rivals
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 ...
. After the end of the 1973
County Championship Murtagh played for
Eastern Province in
South Africa, representing them in a single first-class match against
Natal.
Murtagh represented Hampshire until 1977, his final first-class match against
Gloucestershire and his final one-day match against the same opposition at the
United Services Recreation Ground in
Portsmouth. He was more at home in the one-day form of the game. In his 48 one-day matches for Hampshire he took 23 wickets at an
average of 19.73 with best figures of 5 for 33 against
Yorkshire in 1977. He batted mostly in the lower-middle order, with one first-class fifty and one one-day fifty to his name: both scores of 65, which helped Hampshire to victories.
Later career
After he retired from professional cricket, Murtagh became an English teacher and cricket master at
Malvern College
Malvern College is an Independent school (United Kingdom), independent coeducational day and boarding school in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school (United Kingdom), public school in the British sen ...
. He stayed there for 30 years.
Since his retirement from teaching, writing as Andrew Murtagh, he has written several biographies of cricketers:
* ''A Remarkable Man: The Story of George Chesterton'' (2012)
* ''Touched by Greatness: The Story of Tom Graveney, England's Much Loved Cricketer'' (2014)
* ''Sundial in the Shade: The Story of Barry Richards, the Genius Lost to Test Cricket'' (2015)
* ''Test of Character: The Story of John Holder (cricketer), John Holder, Fast Bowler and Test Match Umpire'' (2016)
* ''Gentleman and Player: The Story of Colin Cowdrey, Cricket's Most Elegant and Charming Batsman'' (2017)
* ''If Not Me, Who? The Story of Tony Greig, the Reluctant Rebel'' (2020)
Family
His nephews, Tim Murtagh, Tim and Chris Murtagh, have played first-class and List-A cricket – Tim for Surrey County Cricket Club, Surrey, Middlesex County Cricket Club, Middlesex and Ireland cricket team, Ireland, Chris for Surrey.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murtagh, Andy
1949 births
Cricketers from Dublin (city)
Irish cricketers
Hampshire cricketers
Eastern Province cricketers
Living people
Cricket historians and writers