Luke Jack Fletcher (born 18 September 1988) is an English

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

bats Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bi ...

right-handed and bowls right-arm

medium-fast 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 ...

. He has played for

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

since 2008, with loan spells at

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 ...

and

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. ...

. In franchise cricket, he has played for

Wellington Firebirds The Wellington Firebirds are one of six New Zealand men's first-class cricket teams that make up New Zealand Cricket. It is based in Wellington. It competes in the Plunket Shield first class (4-day) competition, The Ford Trophy domestic one da ...

and

Welsh Fire Welsh Fire ( cy, Tân Cymreig) are a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in the city of Cardiff. The team represents the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Glamorgan, Gloucestershire and Somerset in the newly founded competiti ...

. , Fletcher was voted the County Championship Player of the Year in 2021.

Biography

Fletcher was born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

and was educated at the Henry Mellish School in the city. He played local cricket for Papplewick and Linby in the Nottinghamshire Premier League before signing for Nottinghamshire. Fletcher made his first-class debut for Nottinghamshire against

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 2008. His

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 ...

debut came in 2009 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 ...

. Since his debut, he has played 130 first-class matches, 123 for Nottinghamshire, four for Derbyshire, and three for Surrey. In his 130 first-class matches to date he has scored 2,169 runs at a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of 13.72, with fives half centuries and a high score of 92. With the ball he has taken 409 wickets at a

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

of 26.00, with best figures of 7/37. His

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 ...

debut for the county also came in the 2008 season, against

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

in the 2008 Friends Provident Trophy. Since his debut, he has represented the county in 79 List-A matches. In his 79 List-A matches to date he has scored 505 runs at an average of 20.20, with a high score of 53 *. With the ball he has taken 87 wickets at an average of 35.25, with best figures of 5/56. During the 2009 season, he made his debut in

Twenty20 cricket 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 inning ...

for Nottinghamshire, which came against

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...

in the

2009 Twenty20 Cup The 2009 Twenty20 Cup was the seventh Twenty20 Cup competition for English and Welsh county clubs. The finals day took place on 15 August at Edgbaston, and was won by the Sussex Sharks. Fixtures and results Group stage Midlands/Wales/West Divis ...

. From 2009 to present, he has represented Nottinghamshire and

in 43 Twenty20 matches. In his 43 Twenty20 matches to date he has taken 58 wickets at an average of 22.68, with best figures of 4/30. Fletcher played for

as a Twenty20 specialist in the inaugural

Georgie Pie Super Smash The Men's Super Smash, currently named the Dream11 Super Smash for sponsorship purposes until 2026, is a men's domestic Twenty20 cricket competition in New Zealand. Since the 2018–19 season, the competition runs alongside the Women's Super Sm ...

during the 2014–15 season, but his spell in New Zealand was cut short due to injury. In April 2016, Fletcher joined Derbyshire on a month's loan. He previously had a loan spell with

during 2015. In July 2017, Fletcher was hit in the head by a shot from Birmingham Bears batsman

Sam Hain Samuel Robert Hain (born 16 July 1995 in Hong Kong) is an English cricketer who plays for Warwickshire County Cricket Club. He is a right-handed batsman who bowls right-arm off spin. He made his debut for the county in the 2013 Yorkshire Bank 4 ...

while bowling in a

NatWest T20 Blast 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 ...

match. He was taken to hospital with concussion. Fletcher received stitches for the injury and missed the remainder of the season. He returned to training in November. The incident led to the ECB providing more funding for medical support at county level, including second-team matches. In 2021 Fletcher took 66 wickets in the first class season, and was voted PCA most valuable player. When The Hundred launched in 2021, Fletcher was recruited as a replaced for the injured Jake Ball at

. In April 2022, he was bought by the

Trent Rockets Trent Rockets are a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in the city of Nottingham. The team represents the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire in the newly founded The Hundred (cri ...

for the 2022 season of The Hundred.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Luke 1988 births Living people Cricketers from Nottingham English cricketers Nottinghamshire cricketers Surrey cricketers Derbyshire cricketers Wellington cricketers Welsh Fire cricketers Trent Rockets cricketers

Biography

References

Further reading

External links