Edward Simon Hunter Giddins (born 20 July 1971) 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 st ...

er who played in four

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from 1999 to 2000. Giddins was born in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the l ...

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 ...

, Giddins was educated at St. Bedes Preparatory School in Eastbourne where he first showed his talent for cricket whilst playing for the school team. Giddins played for four counties during his career – Sussex, Warwickshire, Surrey and Hampshire. He was banned from cricket for 18 months and dropped by Sussex after testing positive for cocaine in 1996.

International career

New Zealand

Giddins made his international debut against New Zealand at

the Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

in August 1999, taking four wickets for 79 runs. Giddins' first Test match dismissal was former-Warwickshire batsman

Roger Twose Roger Graham Twose (born 17 April 1968) is an English-born former cricketer, who played 16 Test matches and 87 One Day Internationals for New Zealand in the mid-1990s. In February 2021, Twose was appointed as the director of New Zealand Cri ...

. New Zealand won this Test by 83 runs to clinch the four-game series 2–1.

Zimbabwe

Giddins was not selected for the winter tour of South Africa, but was back in the side for the two tests in England against Zimbabwe the following summer. England won the two-game series 1–0 and much of this is down to Giddins whose career best international figures of 5–15 in the first Zimbabwe innings helped swing the match in England's favour. Giddins also took two wickets in the second innings as well as scoring his highest score for England. The second Test finished as a draw, with Giddins getting figures of 1–46 and being the not out batsman in both England innings.

West Indies

Giddins was named in the team to face West Indies in the opening game the five match series of 2000. England lost this game by an innings and 93 runs and Giddins' figures of 0–73, as well as his only international pair, meant he was subsequently dropped from the side. This was to be his last appearance for the national side.

Controversies

In 1996 Giddens tested positive for the cocaine after Sussex's championship match against Kent at Tunbridge Wells at the end of May, and a second test on the sample also proved positive. The discipline committee of the Test and County Cricket Board rejected Giddins's story that he had taken cocaine by mistake and banned him for 20 months for "

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the game into disrepute". In 2004 Giddens was again banned for placing a bet in 2002 against Surrey, his county at the time, in a National League game against Northamptonshire. He pleaded not guilty but was given a 5-year ban from cricket.Giddens banned for betting on one day match
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giddins, Ed 1971 births Living people Sportspeople from Eastbourne English cricketers England Test cricketers English poker players Doping cases in cricket English sportspeople in doping cases People educated at Eastbourne College Hampshire cricketers Surrey cricketers Sussex cricketers Warwickshire cricketers First-Class Counties Select XI cricketers