Christopher Keith Bullen (born 5 November 1962) 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. Bullen was a right-handed

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 ...

who bowled right-arm

off break Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which spi ...

. He was born in

Clapham Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Early history T ...

, London and educated at

Rutlish School Rutlish School is a state comprehensive school for boys, formerly a grammar school with the same name originally located on Rutlish Road, Merton Park, and relocated in 1957 on nearby Watery Lane, Merton Park, in southwest London. History The sc ...

which he attended from 1976 to 1982. An

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 handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...

, Bullen played for

Surrey County Cricket Club Surrey County Cricket Club (Surrey CCC) is a first-class club in county cricket, one of eighteen in the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Surrey, including areas that now form South London ...

Bedfordshire County Cricket Club Bedfordshire County Cricket Club is one of 20 Minor County clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Bedfordshire. The team is currently a member of the Minor Counties Championship ...

and the

Surrey Cricket Board The Surrey Cricket Board is the governing body for all recreational cricket in the historic county of Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East ...

in a career which spanned from 1982 to 2002.

Surrey

Bullen made his first-class debut for

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

against

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1982. He didn't play another first-class match for Surrey until 1985, when he appeared against

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. Bullen played two Youth Test matches in 1982 for England Under-19s against West Indies Under-19s, with both Tests coming in August 1982, after his June debut for Surrey. 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 for Surrey also came in 1985, 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

1985 John Player Special League The 1985 John Player Special League was the seventeenth competing of what was generally known as the Sunday League. The competition was won for the third time by Essex County Cricket Club. Rain affected most rounds of the Sunday League that se ...

. During the course of his career with Surrey, Bullen was viewed by the county as predominantly a limited-overs player: he made 104 List A appearances, as opposed to just 30 first-class appearances. Playing for Surrey until the end of the

1991 season File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, 1991 Russian presidential election, elected as Russia's first President of Russia, president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated ...

, Bullen scored 667 runs in limited-overs cricket, at a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of 23.00. He made a single

half century One half ( : halves) is the irreducible fraction resulting from dividing one by two or the fraction resulting from dividing any number by its double. Multiplication by one half is equivalent to division by two, or "halving"; conversely, ...

, which was to be the highest score of his List A career, scoring an unbeaten 93 against

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

in the

1990 NatWest Trophy The 1990 NatWest Trophy was the 10th NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 27 June and 1 September 1990. The tournament was won by Lancashire who defeated Northamptonshire by 7 wickets ...

. He took 92 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 34.22, with best figures of 5/31; 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 ...

in limited-overs cricket, which came against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

in the

1989 Refuge Assurance League The 1989 Refuge Assurance League was the twenty-first competing of what was generally known as the Sunday League. The competition was won for the third time by Lancashire County Cricket Club. Standings Batting averages Bowling averages ...

. Bullen had his best seasons with the ball in List A cricket in the

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

and 1989 season's, taking 20 more wickets in each. Despite not being a regular in first-class cricket for Surrey, Bullen nonetheless had some success when he did play. A competent

, he scored 663 runs in his 30 first-class matches for the county, coming at an average of 23.67. He made 4 half centuries, with a high score of 65 against the touring

Pakistanis Pakistanis ( ur, , translit=Pākistānī Qaum, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. According to the 2017 Pakistani national census, the population of Pakistan stood at over 213 million people, making it the w ...

in 1987. He took 38 wickets in first-class cricket, at an average of 28.36, which was a better average than his List A wickets came at. He took just one five wicket haul in first-class matches, which came against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

, with figures of 6/119. However, 1989 saw Bullen play just two

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

fixtures. In the following season he didn't make any first-class appearances, while in List A cricket he made 22 appearances, but struggled to make an impact. His 14 wickets that season came at an expensive average of 52.64. He made limited appearances in the 1991 English cricket season, with Surrey releasing him at the end of that season.

Later career

Bullen 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 ...

for the

1992 season Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the ...

, making his debut for the county 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 ...

against

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

. Bullen played

Minor counties The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

cricket for Bedfordshire from 1992 to 1997, making 51 Minor Counties Championship appearances and 14

MCCA Knockout Trophy The National Counties Cricket Association Knockout Cup was started in 1983 as a knockout one-day competition for the National Counties in English cricket. At first it was known as the ''English Industrial Estates Cup'', before being called the ...

appearances. He made his first appearance for Bedfordshire in List A cricket against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

in the

1994 NatWest Trophy The 1994 NatWest Trophy was the 14th NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 21 June and 3 September 1994. The tournament was won by Worcestershire County Cricket Club who defeated Warwick ...

. He made one further appearance for the county in limited-overs cricket, 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 1997 NatWest Trophy. He took 3 wickets for Bedfordshire in these 2 games, although all 3 wickets came against Warwickshire, with Bullen claiming figures of 3/58 from 10 overs. While playing for Bedfordshire, he made one final first-class appearance for the

Minor Counties cricket team The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

against the touring

South Africans The population of South Africa is about 58.8 million people of diverse origins, cultures, languages, and religions. The South African National Census of 2022 was the most recent census held; the next will be in 2032. In 2011, Statistics Sout ...

. In this match, he bowled 4 wicket-less overs in the South Africans first-innings, while in their second innings he took the wickets of

Daryll Cullinan Daryll John Cullinan (born 4 March 1967) is a former South African first-class cricketer who played Test cricket and One Day Internationals for South Africa as a specialist batsman. He was regarded as the most gifted batsman of his generation ...

and

Gerhardus Liebenberg Gerhardus Frederick Johannes Liebenberg (born 7 April 1972) is a South African 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, ...

for the cost of 42 runs from 8.4 overs. With the bat, he didn't bat in the Minor Counties first-innings, while in their second-innings he was dismissed for 2 runs by Pat Symcox. Bullen left Bedfordshire at the end of the 1997 season. He played for the

in the 1998 MCCA Knockout Trophy, while in the 1999 season he made his first appearance in List A cricket for the Board in the 1999 NatWest Trophy against

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. Bullen appeared in a further 5 List A matches for the Board, the last coming against

in the 2nd round of the 2002 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy, which was played in 2001. He scored 103 runs for the Board in the 6 matches, coming at an average of 25.75, with a high score of 36. With the ball, he took 7 wickets at 31.57 a piece, with best figures of 2/16. Bullen was an able fielder during his career, taking a total of 65 catches in limited-overs cricket. Bullen currently works for Surrey County Cricket Club as a Cricket Development Manager. His cousin,

David Roberts David or Dave Roberts may refer to: Arts and literature * David Roberts (painter) (1796–1864), Scottish painter * David Roberts (art collector), Scottish contemporary art collector * David Roberts (novelist), English editor and mystery writer ...

, played first-class and List A cricket.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bullen, Chris 1962 births Living people People from Clapham Sportspeople from the London Borough of Lambeth Cricketers from Greater London People educated at Rutlish School English cricketers Surrey cricketers Bedfordshire cricketers Minor Counties cricketers Surrey Cricket Board cricketers English cricket coaches