Paul William Jarvis (born 29 June 1965) is a former 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 played in nine

Tests 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), ...

and sixteen 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 ...

from 1988 to 1993. Cricket writer, Colin Bateman, remarked, "Jarvis always had much potential as a well-coordinated pace bowler who skiddied the ball through with considerable venom". He retired from the game in 2000, and worked in a firm which helps current players find agent representation. In 2009, he was appointed Director of Cricket at

Framlingham College Framlingham College is a public school (independent day and boarding school) in the town of Framlingham, near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. Together with its preparatory school and nursery at Brandeston Hall, it serves pupils from 3 to 18 yea ...

in Suffolk. He coached the England Ladies cricket team in 2011. Paul now owns his own Boutique hotel and coffee shop in Wiltshire.

Domestic career

A skiddy right arm quick bowler, and tail end right-handed batsman, he made his

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 ...

debut at the age of 16 years and 75 days, the then youngest player to ever represent his county, and was tipped for Test stardom but he failed to establish himself as a permanent member of the England team. He played for Yorkshire from 1981 to 1993, winning his first team

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in 1986, after taking 11 for 92 against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

. He was the youngest player to take a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in the Sunday League in 1982 and in the

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 ...

in 1985, but as Yorkshire tired of his constant injury problems, he was released to play for

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

from 1994 to 1998. He had 51 victims in 1994 in his first season there, winning his second county cap, but was again plagued by injury thereafter. His experiences at

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

from 1999 to 2002 were similar, but he could still be a potent force in one day cricket on his day, as he proved by taking 5 for 55 in the 1999

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 ...

final against

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. He played for

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in New Zealand in the 1996/97 season, and spent several winters playing club cricket variously in Australia,

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 ...

and South Africa. In 215

first-class matches 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 officiall ...

he took 654 wickets, with a best of 7–55, at an average of 28.92, and scored 3,373 runs at 16.78, with a best score of 80 for Yorkshire against

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in 1992. He played in four youth Test matches for England in 1982 and 1983. His career was hampered by a succession of injuries to his slender 5' 10" frame, but his whippy athletic bowling won him 81 wickets in 1987, and his match winning 4 for 43 in the final of the

Benson and Hedges Cup The Benson & Hedges Cup was a one-day cricket competition for first-class counties in England and Wales that was held from 1972 to 2002, one of cricket's longest sponsorship deals. It was the third major one-day competition established in Englan ...

, helped win him selection on England's winter tour of Pakistan, New Zealand and Australia.

International career

His Test debut came in

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against

, but although he took six wickets in his first two matches on sluggish pitches, he was dropped for the final test. He returned against the strong

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 ...

team in the home series of 1988, recording his Test best figures with both ball and bat, with 4 for 107 and scoring 29 not out, at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

. A back injury forced him out of the series, and he was out of Test cricket for a year before returning against

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 ...

for two tests in the calamitous

1989 Ashes series The 1989 Ashes series was a series of Test cricket matches contested between England and Australia for the Ashes. It formed part of the 1989 Australian tour of England. The six-Test series began on 8 June 1989 at Headingley in Leeds and ended on ...

. After only one wicket (and that to a "drag on" (Geoff Marsh was the batsman)) at

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 an ...

, he was dropped once more and chose to go on the 1989/90

rebel tour The South African rebel tours were a series of seven cricket tours staged between 1982 and 1990. They were known as the rebel tours because the international cricketing bodies Sporting boycott of South Africa, banned South Africa from competitiv ...

of South Africa, which saw him banned for three years from the England Test team. When asked why he went on the tour, Jarvis replied, "to pay off my mortgage in one go". The rebel ban was lifted after South Africa's return to Test cricket, and Jarvis was chosen to tour India and Sri Lanka in 1992–93. He bowled with good pace, and took four wickets in two Tests in a losing cause, as well as securing the

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

award for taking 5 for 35 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 ...

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. He was dropped for the final Test against India but returned to take 3 for 76 against Sri Lanka in

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

, but never played Test cricket again. While Jarvis's decision to tour South Africa (announced on the final day of the Old Trafford test against Australia in 1989) was widely seen at the time as a disaster for English fast bowling strength, Jarvis's test career up to that point indicated that he was by no means certain of a place in the team – more through selectorial whim than his own performance. His fledgling Test Career had come up against some strong opposition (West Indies and Australia) and he did not have chance to "fill his boots" (as others did) against weaker opposition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jarvis, Paul 1965 births Living people Yorkshire cricketers England Test cricketers England One Day International cricketers English cricketers Somerset cricketers People from Redcar Sussex cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Sportspeople from Yorkshire Wellington cricketers