Neal Victor Radford (born 7 June 1957) is an English former

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

er, who appeared in three Tests and six ODIs 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 ...

. Radford was born at

Luanshya Luanshya is a town in Zambia, in the Copperbelt Province near Ndola. It has a population of 117,579 (2008 census). Luanshya was founded in the early part of the 20th century after two prospector/explorer, William Collier shot and killed a Roan A ...

in Northern Rhodesia (now

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

). He played domestically for

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

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 Lancash ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

, and

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthsh ...

. The cricket writer, Colin Bateman, noted "Neal Radford took a circuitious route to Test cricket".

Life and career

Radford was born in Zambia and educated in South Africa, making his first-class debut for Transvaal B in the 1978/79 President's Cup. However, opportunities in South Africa were limited owing to that country's isolation from world cricket, and so Radford moved to England and signed for

in 1980 as an overseas player. Radford was not a particular success at Lancashire, failing to take 50 first-class wickets in any of his five seasons with the club, and he was dismissed at the end of 1984. By this time, however, he had qualified for

by residence, and so was sought after by several other counties. He chose to join

, and his decision was repaid handsomely: he took 101 wickets with his right-arm fast-medium bowling in 1985, more than anyone else, 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 ...

the following year. His fine form continued into the 1986 season, and he was rewarded with an international call-up for the third

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

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 ...

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family a ...

. He also played in the following Test of the summer against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, but his aggregate bowling figures over the two matches of 3–219 were far from impressive, and he was dropped from the England team in favour of debutant

Gladstone Small Gladstone Cleophas Small (born 18 October 1961) is an English former cricketer, who played in 17 Test matches and 53 One Day Internationals (ODIs) for the England cricket team. Small was primarily a pace bowler, he was selected for the 1986� ...

. Concentrating entirely on domestic cricket in 1987, Radford had another fine year, again taking more than 100 first-class wickets and forcing his way back into contention for an England place, gaining selection for the winter tour of New Zealand. He was picked to play at

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, but again failed to make the breakthrough, finishing with match figures of 1–132. He was dropped again from the Test side, this time for good, although he did play four One Day Internationals against New Zealand (and one against Australia) on that tour. After that, Radford's career with England consisted of just one more ODI, against

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 Greate ...

in 1988. From that time onward he was never close to international selection again, but he played another eight seasons for Worcestershire. He had an excellent year in

one-day cricket 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 ...

in 1991: he took 48 wickets, including 7–19 against

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

in the

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 counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scotland and Ireland. La ...

; as of the end of 2006, both statistics remain records for Worcestershire. He was awarded a

benefit season A benefit season is a method of financially rewarding professional cricketers that is used by English county cricket teams to compensate long serving players. The system originated in the 19th century to help out professional cricketers who were ...

in 1995, and when he retired from the first-class game at the end of that year, he had 994 wickets to his name at that level. In 1993 Radford established the cricket supplies business Radford EZY Net. In 1997 and 1998, Radford played

Minor counties cricket The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

for

. In March 2014, Neal Radford announced his intention to stand for the

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...

in the local elections. He said: "I was getting increasingly frustrated as a dissatisfied voter and as such and wanted to do something about the situation – so I joined

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest p ...

. I have been approached to stand in

Fladbury Fladbury is a traditional English village located in rural Worcestershire, England. The village was mentioned in the Domesday Book, almost 1,000 years ago. It is sited on the banks of the River Avon, with many interesting and original buildin ...

for the local elections and it is something I intend to do." UKIP leader

Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Brexit Party (renamed Reform UK in 2021) from 2 ...

said: "He was one of the hardest working and gutsy bowlers in first-class cricket and I know that he will apply that work ethic to his campaigning with us." Radford's two brothers, Glen and Wayne, both played domestic first-class cricket in South Africa.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Radford, Neal 1957 births Living people Zambian people of British descent Zambian people of English descent Zambian emigrants to the United Kingdom England One Day International cricketers England Test cricketers English cricketers Lancashire cricketers Gauteng cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year Worcestershire cricketers Minor Counties cricketers Herefordshire cricketers People from Luanshya

Life and career

See also

References

External links