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Christopher Mark Wells Read (born 10 August 1978) is an English former
cricketer 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 str ...
who was the captain of
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Nottinghamshire. The club's limited overs team is called the ...
. He played for the
England cricket team The England cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club (the MCC) since 1903. Engl ...
in 15 Tests and 36 ODIs. He was a wicket-keeper.


Personal life

Chris is married to Louise and together they have two children, a son named Caleb Mattias Wells Read, who was born on 3 May 2009, and a daughter named Callista Lily Read. On 4 November 2007 Read ran the New York City Marathon to raise money for Bowel Cancer UK in honour of his first cricket coach, Trevor Ward, who died of the disease. Read finished 4,358th out of over 38,000 runners.


Domestic career

Read played for
Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon i ...
in a
NatWest Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scotland and Ireland. Lan ...
match at the age of 16, and in 1997 made a single AXA Life League appearance for
Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a Counties of England, county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town ...
, claiming an
NBC Denis Compton Award The NBC Denis Compton Award was an annual award given to 'The Most Promising Young Player' at each of the 18 first-class counties in England and Wales. The award was made between 1996 and 2011. A player may receive the award more than once. Hist ...
that year. After an England A tour to
Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...
and
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 ...
in the winter - making his first-class debut in
Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ...
- Read was picked up by
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 tradition ...
for the 1998 season. By June he had established himself in the side and he claimed 42 dismissals that summer as well as making 401 runs.


County years

Several years in the international wilderness followed, Read being overlooked in favour of first
Paul Nixon Paul Andrew Nixon (born 21 October 1970) is an English cricket coach and former professional cricketer who played for Leicestershire, England, England A, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and Kent. He is a wicket-keeper and left-handed batsman. N ...
and then James Foster as keeper-in-waiting in preparation for the retirement of
Alec Stewart Alec James Stewart (born 8 April 1963) is an English former cricketer, and former captain of the England cricket team, who played Test cricket and One Day Internationals as a right-handed wicket-keeper-batsman. He is the fourth-most-capped En ...
. Left to concentrate on his
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 ...
career, Read claimed 68 dismissals in 2002 and worked at his batting, that year
averaging 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, ...
nearly 35 with another hundred coming against
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 ...
. He made a one-day century against the same opponents early in 2003 and with Stewart's retirement from international one-day cricket, he was recalled by England that year, playing in all ten ODIs.


Return to county cricket

In the 2004 English season, Jones was preferred for the series 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 country ...
and West Indies in both Tests and One-Day Internationals, having made a century in the second Test of the New Zealand series. Read returned to Nottinghamshire and had by far his best season with the bat: he scored 807 first-class runs including two centuries, and averaged over 50. The selectors stuck with Jones, however, and by the summer of 2005 Read was not even second-choice keeper for England in ODIs, Matt Prior of
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 Englis ...
being preferred for the role. Read was again overlooked in the squad for the winter tour of
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-la ...
, instead being selected for the second-tier
ECB National Academy The National Cricket Performance Centre first came into existence in the winter of 2001–2002 and has been based at Loughborough University since 2003. In 2007 following the "Schofield Report" the National Academy was renamed the National Cricke ...
squad. As first choice wicket-keeper in the academy squad, Read got several opportunities to play, and had a successful tour, scoring 254 runs at an average of 66.25 in the West Indies before he had to prematurely return home to attend to a family emergency. Read continued to be on the fringes of England squads, and was selected for the England 'A' team against the touring Pakistan side in 2006, off the back of a strong start to the county season which had seen him average 50 in both formats of the game. He took advantage of his selection, scoring an unbeaten 150 in the tour match. Soon after,
Geraint Jones Geraint Owen Jones (born 14 July 1976) is a former cricketer who played for both England and Papua New Guinea. Born to Welsh parents in Papua New Guinea, between 2004 and 2006 he was the first-choice wicketkeeper for the England cricket team. ...
, who had remained first choice for England despite a slump in batting form, broke a finger in the second Test match against Pakistan in 2006; the next day Read scored a rapid 72 against
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 ...
in a Natwest Pro 40 League game. In September 2007, Read took over as the captain of Nottinghamshire. The team were promoted in the championship that summer and Read averaged 54.17 with the bat. In 2009 Read had an excellent season with Nottinghamshire, scoring 1,203 runs at an average of 75.18 including 4 centuries in first-class cricket. His form with the bat has largely continued since. He averaged 45.80 in 2010, as he led the team to their sixth championship. In 2013 he top-scored with 53 off 52 balls as they won the 2013 Yorkshire Bank 40 final. The next two years saw Read hit a purple patch, averaging 43.85 in 2014 and 51.35 in 2015 (topping the Nottinghamshire averages, and passing both 15,000 first-class runs and 1,000 first-class dismissals that season, with his 1000th dismissal being
Paul Collingwood Paul David Collingwood (born 26 May 1976) is an English cricket coach and former player, who played in all three formats of the game internationally for England. He played for Durham County Cricket Club and was the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 winn ...
.). This form wasn't sustained as Nottinghamshire were relegated in 2016. In March 2017, Read announced his plan to retire at the end of the season, after 20 years with the county, to become director of cricket at
Uppingham School Uppingham School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils 13-18) in Uppingham, Rutland, England, founded in 1584 by Robert Johnson, the Archdeacon of Leicester, who also established Oakham School. The headmas ...
]. In his final season, he led Nottinghamshire to promotion, secured in the last game when Read's 124 was crucial in getting Nottinghamshire the maximum batting points required to finish second. Nottinghamshire also won the Royal London One Day Cup in 2017, under the captaincy of Dan Christian, with Read scoring 58 off 57 balls in the final. In July 2014, he played for the MCC side in the Bicentenary Celebration match at
Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England an ...
.


International career


Debut years

He toured
Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Moz ...
and South Africa with the A team the following winter, and in 1999 his maiden first-class century, a well-timed 160 against Warwickshire, brought him selection for the first
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), ...
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 country ...
at
Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family ...
. Still not 21, Read made a good impression: although he failed with the bat, he claimed eight dismissals, six in the second innings alone. He was retained for
Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England an ...
, but suffered a very public embarrassment when he was bowled for zero, ducking what he thought was a beamer from
Chris Cairns Christopher Lance Cairns (born 13 June 1970) is a former New Zealand cricketer and former ODI captain, who played for the New Zealand cricket team as an all-rounder. Cairns finished his Test career with a batting average of 33.53 and a bowling ...
but was in fact a well-disguised slower ball. 37 in the second innings was followed by another duck at
Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...
, and he was dropped, though he did play in the 1999/2000 One Day International series in South Africa.


Return in 2004

Read was first-choice keeper for the 2003/04 tours and played in eight of the nine Tests that winter, against
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
,
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 ...
and
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 Grea ...
. However, for the final Test of the West Indies series, in
Antigua Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Barbu ...
, he was replaced by
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it fac ...
wicket-keeper
Geraint Jones Geraint Owen Jones (born 14 July 1976) is a former cricketer who played for both England and Papua New Guinea. Born to Welsh parents in Papua New Guinea, between 2004 and 2006 he was the first-choice wicketkeeper for the England cricket team. ...
. This would be the game in which
Brian Lara Brian Charles Lara, (born 2 May 1969) is a Trinidadian former international cricketer, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. He topped the Test batting rankings on several occasions and holds several cricketing re ...
made his world-record score of 400 not out. Read was retained for the one-day squad however, winning the man-of-the match award in the first game of that series, for a quickfire unbeaten 27 in a rain-affected run chase. On 31 July Read was recalled to the England squad as a replacement for Jones. Chairman of Selectors
David Graveney David Anthony Graveney (born 2 January 1953) is a leading figure in English cricket and former chairman of the England Test selectors, a post he held from 1997 until 2008. Graveney attended Millfield School in Somerset. He led a successful fi ...
stressed that this was down to Jones' poor form with the bat rather than his injury. Read took advantage of the opportunity with 38 in the first innings of the 3rd Test against Pakistan, and then completing his first Test half-century, shepherding the tail in the second innings whilst making 55, to add to a sharp performance (four catches and a stumping) behind the wickets. Despite finishing the summer as first choice, Read was passed over for a 12-month central contract for 2007 - the England selectors deciding to keep their options open by not contracting any wicket-keeper. Prior to the first Test in the 2006-2007 England Ashes tour of Australia, Read was dropped in favour of
Geraint Jones Geraint Owen Jones (born 14 July 1976) is a former cricketer who played for both England and Papua New Guinea. Born to Welsh parents in Papua New Guinea, between 2004 and 2006 he was the first-choice wicketkeeper for the England cricket team. ...
. England coach
Duncan Fletcher Duncan Andrew Gwynne Fletcher (born 27 September 1948) is a Zimbabwean cricket coach and former cricketer, who has coached the England and Indian national teams. He was England coach between 1999 and 2007, and is credited with the resurgence ...
said that Jones would be "a better prospect for batting at number seven". Notts Director of Cricket, Mick Newell, responded to Fletcher's decision by calling his selection "bizarre". Read was selected to play for two tour matches for England between the Second and Third Tests. In the first, against Australia Chairman's XI, Read was dismissed for a duck. In the two-day match against Western Australia, Read scored 59 not out while Jones, playing as a batsman, went for a first ball duck. Under increased pressure, Jones retained his place for the third Test but failed to score in either innings - the first and second ducks of his Test career - leading to Read being selected for the fourth Test. Though he struggled with the bat in the final two Tests, he took 6 catches in the first innings of the fourth Test, becoming only the 3rd player in Test history to take 6 dismissals in an innings twice. Read repeated that performance with another 6 dismissals in the first innings of the 5th Test in Sydney, making him the first, and so far only, keeper in Test history to achieve the feat in successive Tests. For the subsequent one-day tournament, and the following
World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
, Read was overlooked for selection, with
Paul Nixon Paul Andrew Nixon (born 21 October 1970) is an English cricket coach and former professional cricketer who played for Leicestershire, England, England A, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and Kent. He is a wicket-keeper and left-handed batsman. N ...
taking over the wicketkeeper position. The following summer, the Test wicketkeeping position was given to Matt Prior, who scored a century on his Test debut and retained his place for the subsequent one-day matches.


Career best performances

''Updated 9 September 2010''


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Read, Chris England Test cricketers England One Day International cricketers England Twenty20 International cricketers English cricketers Gloucestershire cricketers Nottinghamshire cricketers Nottinghamshire cricket captains Alumni of Loughborough University People from Paignton 1978 births Living people Chennai Superstars cricketers ICL World XI cricketers People educated at Torquay Boys' Grammar School Devon cricketers NBC Denis Compton Award recipients Wisden Cricketers of the Year Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers