Garfield David Harrison (born 1961) is one of four brothers to have played

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 ...

for the Ireland cricket team. Garfield was by far the most successful of the four, playing 118 times for Ireland between 1983 and 1997,CricketEurope Stats Zone profile
/ref> including twelve first-class matches against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

First-class matches played by Garfield Harrison at Cricket Archive
/ref> and 20

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 ...

matches.List A matches played by Garfield Harrison at Cricket Archive
/ref> He is one of only six players to have played more than 100 times for Ireland, behind only

Kyle McCallan William Kyle McCallan (born 27 August 1975), usually known as Kyle McCallan, is a former Irish cricketer. A right-handed batsman and off spin bowler, he has played more times for the Ireland cricket team than any other player, more than 40 caps ...

and Alan Lewis. He started his career as an opening bowler, but switched to

off spin 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 arm, right-handed spin bowling, spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal Delivery (cr ...

, becoming so good at this style of bowling that he took 9/113 against Scotland in 1990, the best bowling figures in first-class cricket in the UK that year,Cricinfo profile
/ref> the fourth best bowling figures in all cricket for Ireland and the second best for Ireland in first-class cricket.

Playing career

1980s

born 8 May 1961 in Lurgan,

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and ha ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

Cricket Archive profile
/ref> Harrison first played for Ireland in June 1983, playing two games against

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 ...

, closely followed by his List A debut 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 NatWest Trophy in June 1983 and his first-class debut in July against Scotland. He had a successful first-class debut, scoring 86 in the Irish first

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...

. He also played against

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a 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 is the city of Gl ...

, the MCC and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

during his first year in the Irish team. He retained his place in the Ireland team in 1984, playing against the MCC, Scotland,

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. ...

and the

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 Greater A ...

, though he played just once in 1985 against Scotland. He went on Ireland's tour of

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 Mozam ...

in early 1986, playing two matches, but again played just once during the summer, again against Scotland. He became a much more regular fixture in the Irish side in 1987, playing ten times that year, five times in 1988 and nine times in 1989, including internationals against

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, Scotland and Wales.

1990s

The first year of the decade saw his finest hour in the Irish side. After playing two matches 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 count ...

and Worcestershire and a match each against the MCC,

and Wales he played a first-class match against Scotland in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. The match was drawn, but Harrison took 9/113 in the only Scottish innings, the best bowling figures in UK first-class cricket that year. 1991 saw him tour Zimbabwe once again, with games 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 ...

, Scotland and the West Indies during the summer. 1992 saw games against the MCC, Middlesex and an England Amateur XI. 1993 was an important year for Irish cricket as they gained membership of the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are List of International Cricket Council members, 108 national associations, with 12 List of Internation ...

and Harrison continued to retain his place in the Irish side. That year he played against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

, the Netherlands and Scotland in addition to playing in that year's Triple Crown Tournament. In early 1994, he was named in Ireland's squad for the

1994 ICC Trophy The 1994 ICC Trophy (formally the ABN AMRO ICC Trophy) was a cricket tournament that took place in Kenya between 12 February and 6 March 1994. It was the fifth ICC Trophy tournament to be staged, and acted as the Cricket World Cup qualification to ...

,ICC Trophy matches played by Garfield Harrison at Cricket Archive
/ref> Ireland's first appearance in the

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

. The summer saw him scored his first and only

century A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

for Ireland against Scotland, in addition to playing against

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

, New Zealand, Northamptonshire and in the 1994 Triple Crown Tournament. Ireland began to play much more in 1995 and 1996, and Harrison played 24 times for them in those two years, including internationals against Scotland and the West Indies, several games against English

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

sides and the Triple Crown Tournament in 1995 and 1996, and the European Championship in 1996. before playing his final first-class game against Scotland in August 1996. His Ireland career finished in 1997, playing in the

ICC Trophy The ICC World Cup Qualifier (previously called the ICC Trophy and officially known as the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier) is a One-Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that serves as the culmination of the Cricket World Cup qualifi ...

that year, his last match coming against Scotland on 10 April.

Post Ireland

In 2003, he came out of retirement to play a match for the MCC against Ireland 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 and ...

in August, scoring 29 and taking 1/37.Scorecard
of MCC v Ireland match, 19 August 2003 at Cricket Archive

Statistics

In all matches for Ireland, he scored 2765 runs at an

average 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, ...

of 26.08, scoring twelve half-centuries and one century. He took 140 wickets at an

of 33.67, taking five wickets in an innings three times.

Family

Harrison came from a cricketing family. Three of his brothers ( Derryck, Jim and

Roy Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin. In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise to ...

) all played for Ireland, as did his brother-in-law Eddie Bushe and his nephew

Jonathan Bushe Jonathan Alexander Bushe (born 12 December 1978) is an Irish cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and a wicket-keeper. He played for the Ireland Under-19 team at the 1998 Under-19 World Cup, before making his debut for the Ireland senior t ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Garfield 1961 births Living people Irish cricketers Sportspeople from Lurgan Cricketers from Northern Ireland