John Anderson (born 6 October 1982) is a former Irish

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 str ...

er. Anderson is a right-handed

opening batsman In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batters play through their team's innings, there always being two batters taking part at any one time. All eleven players in a team are required to bat if the innings is completed (i.e., if ...

who bowls right-arm

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-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which spi ...

Early career (2002–2013)

Anderson made his first-class debut for KwaZulu-Natal against

Griqualand West Griqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km2 that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province. It was inhabited by the Griqua people – a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin, wh ...

in October 2002. Anderson later moved to Ireland, where he played for

Merrion Cricket Club Merrion Cricket Club is a cricket club in Dublin, Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separ ...

. In 2012 Anderson was included in an Ireland A squad for a tour of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in April and May. He played three matches: a one-day match against

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

and two three-day matches against Kent 2nd XI and Gloucestershire 2nd XI. He was then kept in the Ireland A team for a series against the touring South Africa A cricket team in August and September. He played four matches, including two first-class matches and two List A matches, making his List A debut on August 19.

International career (2013–2018)

2011–13 ICC Intercontinental Cup (2013)

Anderson made his

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

debut in the 2011–13 ICC Intercontinental Cup against the

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in July 2013, and scored his maiden first-class century in a 279-run Irish victory. He played Ireland's last three matches for the tournament against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. He scored a half-century against Scotland in an innings victory, and Ireland progressed to the final against Afghanistan. He top-scored in the first innings with another half-century, scoring 55 while Ireland were bowled out for a paltry 187 runs. He only scored 2 runs in the second innings but Ireland went on to win the match by 122 runs regardless. Due to his performances in international cricket Anderson won Cricket Ireland's Aengus Fanning International Player of the Year award for 2013.

Limited overs matches (2014–2016)

In July 2014 Anderson made his way into Ireland's

limited overs Limited overs cricket, also known as one-day cricket or white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed in one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty ...

side for a series of unofficial One Day Internationals against Sri Lanka A. He kept his place in the side and made his One Day International debut against Scotland in September. He played all three matches of the ODI series but was unimpressive, only scoring 40 runs combined. He made his

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

debut against Scotland on 18 June 2015. After the 2015 season he was included in Ireland's Emerging Players Programme for 2015/16 to train over the winter. He was in Ireland's squad for their ODI series against Afghanistan in 2016, but he was struck on the head while batting in the second match and showed symptoms of concussion, forcing him out of the next match.

Return to Intercontinental Cup (2016)

Anderson impressed in domestic cricket in 2016 with strong performances for

Leinster Lightning Leinster Lightning is one of three provincial cricket teams in Ireland. Along with the North West Warriors and Northern Knights it makes up the Inter-Provincial Championship, Interprovincial One-Day Trophy and Interprovincial Twenty20 Cup. T ...

in the 2016 Inter-Provincial Championship. Across the four matches he scored 342 runs at an average of 85.50 with a high score of 135 not out. As a result, he returned to Ireland's Intercontinental Cup side for the first time since the 2013 final to play in Ireland's home match against

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. He played again in March 2017 and, though Ireland suffered an innings defeat to Afghanistan, he scored another half-century, having reached 50 in all of his first five Intercontinental Cup matches.

Retirement

In October 2018, he retired from international cricket. The following month, he was named the Male Club Player of the Year at the annual Cricket Ireland Awards.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, John 1982 births Living people Irish cricketers Leinster Lightning cricketers Cricketers from Durban KwaZulu-Natal cricketers Ireland One Day International cricketers Ireland Twenty20 International cricketers Joyce family