John James Whitaker (born 5 May 1962) 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, who played in one

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and two ODIs for

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in 1986–7.

Life and career

Whitaker was educated at Uppingham School and spent his whole career with

Leicestershire County Cricket Club Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the count ...

, and captained them from 1996 until he retired in 1999. In 1986, Whitaker was the leading English batsman in the national batting averages with 1,526 runs at 66 apiece, and was named one of the

Wisden Cricketers of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

for 1987. He was selected to go on the 1986-87 Ashes tour. He started the tour well, scoring a hundred against

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in a tour match, and played one Test in Adelaide when

Ian Botham Ian Terence Botham, Baron Botham, (born 24 November 1955) is an English cricket commentator, member of the House of Lords, a former cricketer who has been chairman of Durham County Cricket Club since 2017 and charity fundraiser. Hailed as one ...

was out injured. However, his form fell away sharply. Whitaker also played two

one-day internationals 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 Cup ...

in 1987 for the England side which won the

Sharjah Cup The Sharjah Cup was an international limited-overs cricket tournament that took place at the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium in Sharjah, UAE on multiple occasions between 1984 and 2003. The stadium usually hosted two tournaments each season: ...

. Whitaker was one of his county's most successful first-class

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, leading Leicestershire to their second

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 ...

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, scoring 1046 runs at 58.11 that season, and also making his highest first-class score, 218, that year, in a match against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

. Whitaker also started the 1998 season, when Leicestershire also emerged as county champions, as captain, although he played little that season due to injury, the team being led on the field by Chris Lewis and

Phil Simmons Philip Verant Simmons (born 18 April 1963) is a Trinidadian cricket coach and former cricketer who was an all-rounder played as an opening batsman, a medium-fast bowler and a slip fielder. He is the current coach of the West Indies cricket ...

. He later became the

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and director of cricket at the club, before leaving in 2005. On 18 January 2008, Geoff Miller took over from David Graveney as the national selector, heading up a four-man panel which included Peter Moores, Whitaker and Ashley Giles.''Graveney axed as England selector''

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retrieved 18 January 2008 He was England's chairman of selectors from 2013 to 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitaker, James England Test cricketers England One Day International cricketers Leicestershire cricketers Leicestershire cricket captains Wisden Cricketers of the Year 1962 births Living people English cricketers People from Skipton England cricket team selectors People educated at Uppingham School Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Cricketers from Yorkshire English cricket coaches Test and County Cricket Board XI cricketers

Life and career

See also

References