John Kenneth Lever (born 24 February 1949) is an English former international

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

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and

One Day International 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 ...

cricket for

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 ...

. Lever was a left-arm fast-medium bowler who predominantly swung the ball into right-handed batsmen. The cricket correspondent Colin Bateman remarked that "for 23 years he plied his trade with Essex, becoming the finest left-arm pace bowler in the country. Tough, astute, and entertaining in the dressing room, Lever was, as the title of his autobiography suggests, ''A Cricketer's Cricketer''".

Life and career

Lever is sometimes unfairly remembered for the Vaseline incident during his debut tour of India in 1976. It was one of the first publicised incidents of 'doctoring' (using unfair means to enhance the swing or seam abilities of the cricket ball by a bowler), when Lever was accused of rubbing vaseline onto one side of the ball so it would swing better. The claim was later rejected and Lever was cleared of any wrongdoing. In that Test against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

, Lever recorded the best Test bowling figures for an English debutant ( 7–46), a record that stood until

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beat it by three runs on his debut against 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 ...

in 1995. Lever finished the match with bowling figures of 10–70, another English debutant's record, which he enhanced with a half century while giving banter. Lever made his first-class debut for

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

and would represent the county until

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, in one of the most successful periods in the club's history. He was also involved in the rebel tour to South Africa in 1982 during the apartheid era, where he formed strong links in the country. In the warm-up match against Western Province, Lever broke down after bowling two balls, and subsequent X-rays showed a curvature in his spine. The discovery came as a surprise to Lever, who had bowled with a sore back for the best part of a decade. However, with an exercise regime in place to strengthen the back, Lever would recover in time to be available for the first unofficial Test match. He would later return to play a few matches for

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

in the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

. Due to his involvement in the rebel tour, Lever was banned from representing England for three years, but continued to play well for Essex. The selectors recognized his form and selected him for one final Test cap against the touring Indians in 1986, at the age of 37. After England lost the first Test, Lever was picked for the second test at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingle ...

, replacing Richard Ellison. In India's first innings, Lever had

Dilip Vengsarkar Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar (born 6 April 1956) is a former Indian cricketer and a cricket administrator. He was known as one of the foremost exponents of the drive. Along with Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath, he was a key player in the Indi ...

caught behind on 61, then trapped captain

Kapil Dev Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj (Pronunciation: əpiːl deːʋ born 6 January 1959) is an Indian former cricketer. He was a fast-medium bowler and a hard-hitting middle-order batsman, and was named by ''Wisden'' as the Indian Cricketer of the Centu ...

in front next ball. He dismissed Kapil again in the second innings to finish his final bowling innings with 4/64. Chasing 408 to win, England were dismissed for 128, Lever falling to Maninder Singh to give India victory by 279 runs, and a series win. Lever was appointed an

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

in the 1990 Birthday Honours for his services to cricket. More recently, Lever has taken up teaching physical education at

Bancroft's School Bancroft's School is a co-educational independent day school located in Woodford Green, London Borough of Redbridge. The school currently has around 1,000 pupils aged between 7 and 18, around 200 of whom are pupils of the Preparatory School a ...

. In 2002, he joined ITC Sports Travel as a tour host, accompanying cricket fans all over the cricket world.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lever, John 1949 births Living people English cricket coaches England Test cricketers England One Day International cricketers English cricketers Essex cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year Members of the Order of the British Empire Cricketers who have taken five wickets on Test debut Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Sportspeople from Essex People from Stepney Cambridgeshire cricketers D. H. Robins' XI cricketers Young England cricketers