James Andrew Tomlinson (born 12 June 1982) is an English former

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. A left-arm

medium pace Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

bowler, capable of producing swing at a brisk pace, Tomlinson first appeared in senior cricket for the

Hampshire Cricket Board The Hampshire Cricket Board (HCB) was formed in 1996 and is the governing body for all recreational cricket in the historic county of Hampshire. Following a restructuring in January 2010, the HCB now operates as a limited company. History and r ...

List A cricket 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 ...

in the

2000 NatWest Trophy The 2000 NatWest Trophy was the 20th and last NatWest Trophy before being renamed as the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy for the 2001 season. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 2 May and 26 August 200 ...

. He first appeared for

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 ...

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

in 2002, at this stage of career he had to work his cricket career around his studies at

Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

. In 2003 he was Hampshire's recipient of the

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 ...

. His early career with Hampshire was beset by injury, which limited his appearances. By 2008, Tomlinson had established himself in the Hampshire team, mostly as a specialist first-class player. It was in this season that he became the first Hampshire bowler since

Malcolm Marshall Malcolm Denzil Marshall (18 April 1958 – 4 November 1999) was a Barbadian cricketer. Primarily a fast bowler, Marshall is widely regarded as one of the greatest and one of the most accomplished fast bowlers of the modern era in Test cricket. ...

to end the season as the leading wicket taker in the

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 ...

, finishing with 67 wickets.

Career

Early life and career

Born at

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

, Hampshire on 12 June 1982, the son of Canon Ian Tomlinson, Tomlinson was educated at Harrow Way School and was captain of the school cricket team which reached the semi-finals of the Hampshire Schools Cup in 1995 (a notable achievement for a school from the state sector), from where he attended Cricklade College, Andover. He later studied for his degree at

. Tomlinson played his first senior match in

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 ...

match in the

for the

(HCB) against

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popul ...

at Grasmere Road, Cove, with Tomlinson going wicketless in the match, though his ten

over Over may refer to: Places *Over, Cambridgeshire, England *Over, Cheshire, England *Over, South Gloucestershire, England * Over, Tewkesbury, near Gloucester, England ** Over Bridge *Over, Seevetal, Germany Music Albums * ''Over'' (album), by Pe ...

spell conceded only 17 runs. In that same season, he also made two

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 for the HCB, against

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

and

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

. The following season, Tomlinson appeared in a single List A match for

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

2001 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy The 2001 Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 1 May and 1 September 2001. It was the first Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy following its change of name from the NatWest Tro ...

against the

Derbyshire Cricket Board The Derbyshire Cricket Board is the governing body for all recreational cricket in the historic county of Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, th ...

at Hardenhuish Park, Chippenham. He claimed his maiden one-day wicket in this match when he dismissed opening batsman Andrew Goodwin. Sangakkara (portrait)

In the 2002 season, Tomlinson, who was studying at

, was called up to the

British Universities cricket team The British Universities cricket team was a cricket team whose players were drawn from university students studying in Great Britain. The team played under the title of Combined Universities until 1995. The team played List A cricket from 1975 t ...

, making his first-class debut for the team against the touring

Sri Lankans This is a demography of the population of Sri Lanka including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Sri Lanka is an island in the ...

. He took the wicket of

Kumar Sangakkara Kumara Chokshananda Sangakkara ( si, කුමාර් චොක්ශනාද සංගක්කාර; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee and the ...

in this match to claim his maiden first-class wicket, with the match itself ending in a draw. He made his first appearance for

in that season, 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 a List A match in the 2002 Norwich Union League. He made eighty further appearances in that competition, taking 10 wickets 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 31.90. His first-class debut for the county came in that season as well, against the touring Indians at the Rose Bowl, with Tomlinson taking the wickets of

Wasim Jaffer Wasim Jaffer (born 16 February 1978) is an Indian retired professional cricketer. He was a right-handed opening batsman and an occasional right arm off-break bowler. He is currently the highest run-scorer in Ranji Trophy cricket, surpassing Am ...

and

Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh (born 3 July 1980) is a member of parliament in Rajya Sabha and an Indian retired cricketer and cricket commentator, who played for the Indian national cricket team from 1998 - 2016. Singh was a right-arm spin bowler. In India ...

. He also made four appearances in that seasons

. Tomlinson made his second and final first-class appearance for the British Universities at the start the

2003 season 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

against the touring

Zimbabweans This article is about the demographic features of the population of Zimbabwe, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Populat ...

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 an ...

. Despite featuring just once for Hampshire in limited-overs cricket that season, he did however make indirect appearances in the

, making seven first-class appearances. taking a total of 17 first-class wickets in that season, which came at an average of 146.70. He did however claim his maiden

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 ...

, taking 6/63 against

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

. Injury limited Tomlinson to just a single appearance each in first-class and List A cricket in the 2004 season, while a back injury meant he made no appearances for the county in the 2005 season in which Hampshire finished runners-up in the

. Under the captaincy of

Shane Warne Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international cricketer, whose career ran from 1991 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-handed batsman for Victoria, Hampshire and Australia ...

, Tomlinson found his opportunities limited. Following his return from injury, he played just a handful of games in the 2006 season, returning to the Hampshire side following his back injury in a low-key early season first-class match against

Loughborough UCCE Loughborough MCC University (previously known as Loughborough University Centre of Cricketing Excellence) is a cricket coaching centre based at Loughborough University in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England, and the name under which the universi ...

. He also made four List A appearances, as well playing what are to date his only

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...

appearances, which came against Sussex and

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 ...

in the

Twenty20 Cup The T20 Blast, currently named the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket competition for English and Welsh first-class counties. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (E ...

. The end of the 2006 season saw Tomlinson return to action in the

against

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

in Hampshire's final Championship match of that season. In what was to be Warne's last season as Hampshire captain, Tomlinson featured in just five County Championship matches, taking 30 wickets at an average of 40.61, with best figures of 5/78. He also featured in two List A matches against Middlesex in the

Friends Provident 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 ...

, and

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 ...

in the

Pro40 The NatWest Pro40 League was a one-day cricket league for first-class cricket counties in England and Wales. It was inaugurated in 1999, but was essentially the old Sunday League retitled to reflect large numbers of matches being played on days o ...

County Championship regular

Under new captain

Dimitri Mascarenhas Adrian Dimitri Mascarenhas (born 30 October 1977) is a former English cricketer. A right-handed batsman and right-arm medium-fast bowler, he played internationally for England, as well as domestically for Hampshire. He holds the record for most ...

, Tomlinson featured heavily in the 2008 County Championship, making his highest amount of first-class appearances in a season for the county, playing in all sixteen of Hampshire's Championship fixtures. At the forefront of Hampshire's attack, Tomlinson claimed four five wicket hauls across the season, including his career best figures of 8/46 against

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

, figures which remain his innings return to date. He ended the season with 67 wickets at an average of 24.76, to end the season as the leading wicket-taker in the County Championship, and becoming the first Hampshire cricketer to do so since

in 1982. His 8/46 against Somerset were also the best figures by a Hampshire since Peter Hartley's 8/65 in 1999. He won his Hampshire cap during this season, and was named the county's Player of the Year. His performances in 2008, coupled with being injury free, cemented his place as a regular for Hampshire in County Championship matches. In the

2009 County Championship The 2009 County Championship season, known as the LV County Championship for sponsorship reasons, was the 110th County Championship season. It was contested through two divisions: Division One and Division Two. Each team played all the others in ...

, he featured in twelve of Hampshire's sixteen matches, though with the ball he was less successful than in the previous season, taking 30 wickets at an average of 39.76. Having featured in two List A matches the previous season, Tomlinson featured in none during the 2009 season. The following season, Tomlinson appeared in fifteen of Hampshire's sixteen

matches, taking 46 wickets at an average of 35.30, with best figures of 7/85 against Somerset. This made him Hampshire's leading wicket-taker for the season. He also made his highest first-class score with the bat in this season, scoring 42 against Somerset at the Rose Bowl. His performances helped Hampshire maintain their status in Division One of the County Championship. He also made five List A appearances during this season in the

Clydesdale Bank 40 The ECB40, last known as the Yorkshire Bank 40 (YB40) for sponsorship reasons, was a forty-over limited overs cricket competition for the English first-class counties. It began in the 2010 English cricket season as a replacement for the Pro40 a ...

, making what is to date his last appearance in that format 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 ...

. He took 9 wickets in his five matches, at an average of 21.66 and with best figures of 3/33. At the start of the 2011 season, Tomlinson suffered a foot injury which ruled him out for the first part of the season. He didn't return to action for Hampshire until June when he appeared in the

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 ...

. He featured in just four further matches in the Championship after that, all four of which came in August. In the five matches he featured in, he took 15 wickets at an average of 38.20. Hampshire were relegated to Division Two of the County Championship at the end of this season. In December 2011, Tomlinson extended his contract with Hampshire by two years, taking him to 2013. He made twelve first-class appearances in the

2012 County Championship The 2012 County Championship season, known as the LV= County Championship for sponsorship reasons, was the 113th cricket County Championship season. Warwickshire won their seventh County Championship title. It was contested through two divisions ...

, taking a total of 43 wickets at an average of 26.30, taking two five wickets hauls and best figures of 5/69. He ended the season as Hampshire's second highest wicket taker in the County Championship, behind David Balcombe's 59. In December 2012, he added a further year to his contract, keeping at Hampshire until the 2014 season. He passed 250 first-class wickets in Hampshire's first match in the

2013 County Championship The 2013 County Championship season, known as the LV= County Championship for sponsorship reasons, was the 114th cricket County Championship season. It was contested through two divisions: Division One and Division Two. Each team played all the ...

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 ...

, with

Ned Eckersley Edmund John Holden Eckersley, (born 9 August 1989) is an English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper. He was a core player of Leicestershire from 2011 to 2018. After his release from Leicestershire he signed for Durham Ca ...

his 250th wicket.

Awards and achievements

*2003 **

*2008 **Leading wicket taker in the 2008 County Championship

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tomlinson, James 1982 births Living people Cricketers from Winchester Alumni of Cardiff University English cricketers Hampshire Cricket Board cricketers Wiltshire cricketers British Universities cricketers Hampshire cricketers NBC Denis Compton Award recipients