Paul Robert Whitaker (born 28 June 1973) 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 England for

Hampshire County Cricket Club Hampshire 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 Hampshire. Hampshire teams formed by earlier organisations, principal ...

and briefly in New Zealand for

Central Districts The Central Stags, formerly known as Central Districts, are a first-class cricket team based in central New Zealand. They are the men's representative side of the Central Districts Cricket Association. They compete in the Plunket Shield firs ...

Cricket career

Whitaker was born in June 1973 at Keighley, Yorkshire. He was educated at Grange Middle School and

Whitcliffe Mount School Whitcliffe Mount School is a mixed secondary school located in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, England. History It was established as Cleckheaton Secondary School in 1908 in temporary premises on Brooke Street. The school moved to its current loc ...

. Whitaker played his early

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches are known to have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Since the late 19th century, there have been two county championship ...

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 ...

, but was unable to force his way into their starting eleven and was released at the end of the 1993 season. He subsequently wrote to

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

seeking to secure a new contract, which he was successful in doing. After scoring heavily in Second XI cricket, Whitaker made his debut in

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 officiall ...

for Hampshire against

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

in the 1994 County Championship. He had a successful debut, scoring 94 in Hampshire's first innings opening the batting alongside Paul Terry. His innings was described by

Derek Pringle Derek Raymond Pringle (born 18 September 1958) is an English former Test and One Day International cricketer for England, and is now a cricket journalist. Life and career Pringle was born in Nairobi, Kenya. His father Donald Pringle, who had ...

as "looking assured in defence" and that "he displayed a decent array of shots". Alongside a further appearance in the County Championship, Whitaker also made his debut in List A one-day cricket during the 1994 season, playing two matches in the

1994 Axa Equity & Law League The 1994 AXA Equity & Law League was the twenty-sixth competing of English cricket's Sunday League. The competition was won, as part of their historic treble of County Championship, Sunday League and Benson & Hedges Cup, by Warwickshire County ...

. He established himself in the Hampshire side during the 1995 season, making thirteen first-class and fourteen one-day appearances. Whitaker scored what would be his only first-class

century A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

during this season, with a score of 119 against

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 His ...

, which helped to enable a declaration after

Mark Nicholas Mark Charles Jefford Nicholas (born 29 September 1957) is an English cricket commentator and former cricketer and broadcaster. He played for Hampshire from 1978 to 1995, captaining them from 1985 to his retirement. Nicholas was born in Westmi ...

had also made 138

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

. During the winter which followed the 1995 season, Whitaker played cricket in New Zealand, where he made six one-day appearances for

in the 1995–96 Shell Cup. After a similar number of first-class appearances in the 1996 season, as well as twenty one-day appearances, Whitaker's appearances for Hampshire became less in their regularity. Having made infrequent appearances during the 1997 and 1998 season, he was released alongside Richard Dibden. In 37 first-class matches for Hampshire, he scored 1,734 runs at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

of 30.42, making eleven half centuries alongside his solitary century. With the ball, he took 13 wickets with best figures of 3 for 36. In one-day cricket, he made 54 appearances for Hampshire and scored 757 runs at an average of 17.60; he made three half centuries, with a highest score of 97. For Central Districts, he scored 109 runs and made one half century. With the ball, he took 18 wickets for Hampshire and 6 for Central Districts in one-day cricket. Following his retirement from cricket, Whitaker immigrated to New Zealand.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitaker, Paul 1973 births Living people Cricketers from Keighley People educated at Whitcliffe Mount School English cricketers Hampshire cricketers Central Districts cricketers English emigrants to New Zealand