Michael Howard Yardy (born 27 November 1980) 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 ...

coach and former professional

er who played limited over internationals for the

England cricket team The England cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club (the MCC) since 1903. Engla ...

between 2006 and 2015. He played as a left-handed batsman and captained

Sussex County Cricket Club Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Sussex. Its limited overs team is called the Sussex Sharks. The c ...

. His unusual batting technique attracted a great deal of attention due to a pronounced shuffle from leg to off immediately prior to the bowler releasing the ball. Yardy also bowled slow left arm with a characteristic round armed action, and was used as a bowling all-rounder in England's

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 ...

and

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 ...

teams. Yardy retired from professional cricket at the end of the 2015 season.

Early life

Yardy was born at

Pembury Pembury is a large village in Kent, in the south east of England, with a population of 6,128 at the 2011 Census. It lies just to the north-east of Royal Tunbridge Wells. The village centre, including the village green and High Street area is a ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

in 1980.Michael Yardy

CricInfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

. Retrieved 2019-12-31. He was educated at

William Parker School Ark Alexandra, previously known as Hastings Grammar School, William Parker School, William Parker Sports College, and later as Ark William Parker is a secondary school in Hastings, East Sussex in the United Kingdom. It was the only male single ...

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

, playing cricket for the school. He first played for the Sussex Second XI in 1996 whilst still at school.Michael Yardy
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2019-12-31.

Domestic career

Yardy made his Sussex debut in an early-season

NatWest 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 cricket, first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scott ...

game against

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

in May 1999. He played against Sri Lanka A the same year but did not play regularly in the Sussex side until the 2001 season. He played ten games in 2002, but only seven in total over the next two seasons, before cementing a place in the side in 2005. He enjoyed an excellent domestic summer that season, making 1,520 first-class 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 56.29 run an innings, with five centuries, including a career-best 257 against the touring Bangladeshis in May. His 257 was the highest for Sussex since 1945 at the time. In the one-day game, Yardy was less successful with the bat, averaging well under 20, but he achieved a career-best bowling performance of 6/27 against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

in the

Totesport League 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 ...

. He was appointed as Sussex's County Captain for the 2009 season, succeeding Chris Adams. In his first Season as captain he led Sussex to 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 ...

and the

Pro 40 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 ...

titles. He stood down as captain for the County Championship and CB40 in July 2012 and in the Twenty20 Cup at the end of the season.

International career

Yardy was picked for the England A tour of

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 2005–06, and the following summer he forced his way into the full England team. In August 2006, he was provisionally selected for England's

ICC Champions Trophy The ICC Champions Trophy is a One-Day International (ODI) cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council. The 2013 tournament was intended to be the final edition of the Champions Trophy, but it was extended to 2017 due to i ...

initial squad of 30, retaining his place in the final 14-man squad. On 23 August, he was also named in the 16-man squad for the NatWest Series of

s against

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. Making his full international debut in a

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 ...

at Bristol on 28 August, Yardy made an unbeaten 24 from 14 balls and took a wicket in debut. He went on to make his ODI debut against

Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nottingham. Trent Bridge is also t ...

in September, taking 3/24, the best figures by an England male spinner on ODI debut. In December, Yardy was not included in the England squad for the one-day series in Australia following a disappointing

2006 ICC Champions Trophy The 2006 ICC Champions Trophy was a One Day International cricket tournament held in India from 7 October to 5 November 2006. It was the fifth edition of the ICC Champions Trophy (previously known as the ICC Knock-out). The tournament venue was n ...

performance in India. He captained of the England A squad to tour Bangladesh in 2007Yardy handed England A captaincy

, 2007-01-02. Retrieved 2019-12-31. and in June was selected in the 14-man one-day squad for matches against the

After three years, he was recalled for the

2010 World Twenty20 The 2010 ICC World Twenty20 was the third ICC World Twenty20 competition, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament that was held in the West Indies between 30 April and 16 May 2010. It was won by England, who defeated Australia in the fin ...

in the West Indies. He was ever-present in the tournament, taking four wickets as England won the tournament, beating

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in the final. Yardy was then recalled to the ODI side and was again ever-present in the early-summer series against Australia and Bangladesh. Although he only took four wickets in eight games, he proved to be economical at only 4.36 runs an over and scored his first international half-century, making 57 at

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

against Australia. Yardy was selected in England's 15-man squad for the 2011 World Cup. He opened the bowling in a match against South Africa, just the second time a spinner had opened the bowling for England in ODIs but on 24 March it was announced that he had flown home from the competition suffering with depression. The competition were the last in his international career. In all he made 42 one-day appearances for England.Hopps D (2017
Yardy returns to his beloved Sussex as batting coach

, 2017-02-14. Retrieved 2019-12-31.

Coaching career

After his playing career ended, Yardy completed a sports psychology degree at

Chichester University , mottoeng = By teaching, we learn , type = public university, Public , established = 2005 , administrative_staff = 600 , vice_chancellor = Jane Longmore , city = Chichester, West Sussex , country ...

.Sport graduate Luke Dunning appointed Sussex cricket's team analyst

, 2018-11-12. Retrieved 2019-12-31. He coached cricket at

Hurstpierpoint College (''Blessed are the pure in heart'') , established = , closed = , type = Public SchoolIndependent School , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Dominic Mo ...

and in 2016 worked with Sussex's under-17 side. After working part-time with First XI players at the end of the 2016 season, Yardy was appointed batting coach at the club in February 2017. The club were clear that they considered he had made a "significant difference" to players.Michael Yardy: Sussex name former captain as full-time batting coach

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

, 2017-02-14. Retrieved 2019-12-31. He became the club's Second XI coach ahead of the 2018 season.Yardy named New South Wales batting coach

, 2019-07-09. Retrieved 2019-12-31. After two and a half seasons working at Sussex, during which time he had also coached the England under-19 side, Yardy left the club at the end of July 2019 and took up a position as batting coach at

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

ahead of the 2019/20 Australian season.Mike Yardy: Sussex coach to quit Hove for New South Wales

, 2019-07-09. Retrieved 2019-12-31.Bone S (2019
Sussex legend Yardy lands New South Wales role
''Chichester Observer'', 2019-07-09. Retrieved 2019-12-31. In February 2020

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ke ...

announced that Yardy would join the coaching team at the club as batting coach in April 2020.Yardy to join as Batting Coach

, 2020-02-28. Retrieved 2020-02-29.

Note

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yardy, Michael 1980 births Living people English cricketers England One Day International cricketers England Twenty20 International cricketers Sussex cricket captains Sussex cricketers Central Districts cricketers People from Pembury Sussex Cricket Board cricketers Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup