Dean Warren Headley (born 27 January 1970) is a former English professional
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 international cricket 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 the 1990s.
Headley was born in
Stourbridge
Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The 20 ...
and comes from a famous cricketing family, being the son of
Ron Headley
Ronald George Alphonso Headley (born 29 June 1939) is a former West Indian cricketer who played in two Tests and one ODI in 1973. An opening batsman, in first-class cricket he scored 21,695 runs at an average of 31.12, with 32 hundreds and a hi ...
and grandson of
George Headley
George Alphonso Headley OD, MBE (30 May 1909 – 30 November 1983) was a West Indian cricketer who played 22 Test matches, mostly before World War II. Considered one of the best batsmen to play for the West Indies and one of the greatest cri ...
. He was 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), ...
cricketer to be both the son and grandson of Test cricketers. He was educated at
Old Swinford Hospital
Old Swinford Hospital is a secondary boarding school in Oldswinford, Stourbridge, West Midlands, England that has been in continuous operation since the 17th century. It is one of 36 state boarding schools in England, meaning school fees are ...
and then
Royal Grammar School Worcester
The Royal Grammar School Worcester (also known as RGS Worcester or RGSW) is an eleven-eighteen mixed, independent day school and sixth form in Worcester, Worcestershire, England. Founded before 1291, it is one of the oldest British independent d ...
where he excelled at
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
and
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 ...
.
He 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 ...
's second team in 1989, and played as a professional for Leycett Cricket Club
based in
Leycett
Leycett was a small mining village in Staffordshire in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme which was built in the late eighteen sixties to accommodate the miners and their families. Population details as taken at the 2011 census can be found ...
just outside
Newcastle-under-Lyme
Newcastle-under-Lyme ( RP: , ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. The 2011 census population of the town was 75,082, whilst the wider borough had a population of 1 ...
, Staffordshire, but his senior debut was in 1991 after he had moved to
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 ...
.
Clive Lloyd
Sir Clive Hubert Lloyd (born 31 August 1944) is a Guyanese-British former cricketer who played for the West Indies cricket team. As a boy he went to Chatham High School in Georgetown. At the age of 14 he was captain of his school cricket team ...
helped him a lot in those early years.
In 1993 he moved counties again, this time to
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 faces ...
. Whilst at Kent he was selected for England, playing
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), ...
and
ODI cricket
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 ...
between 1996 and 1999. One of his greatest moments was when he won the Man of the Match award for his performance in the
4th Ashes Test in 1998 at
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
: Australia was making light work of chasing a target of 175, before Headley took four wickets in three overs to reduce Australia from 130/3 to 140/7; he finished with 6/60 in the innings and England won by 12 runs, their only Test victory on that tour.
Due to injury he retired from cricket in 2001.
He played club cricket for Upchurch Cricket Club in
Upchurch
Upchurch is a village and civil parish in the Swale district of Kent, England. It is situated just off the A2 road, between Rainham and Sittingbourne.
History
Upchurch lay on a pre-Roman trackway; the many linking roads are the result of Ro ...
,
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 faces ...
and is a cricket coach for
Stamford School.
World record
On 14 September 1996, Dean Headley equalled a world record by taking three hat-tricks in a single English county season. He achieved this feat against
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 ...
in
Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour.
...
. He equalled the world record earlier set by
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...
in 1924 and
J.S. Rao in 1963–64.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Headley, Dean
1970 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Stourbridge
England One Day International cricketers
England Test cricketers
Kent cricketers
Middlesex cricketers
People educated at the Royal Grammar School Worcester
English cricketers
People educated at Old Swinford Hospital
Staffordshire cricketers
English cricket coaches
Black British sportspeople