Timothy James Murtagh (born 2 August 1981) is an English-born Irish cricketer who is the current club captain of

Middlesex County Cricket Club Middlesex 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 Middlesex which has effectively been subsumed within the ceremonial ...

. He is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm fast-medium bowler who represented England in the 2000 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup. Murtagh played for the

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

county team from 2000 to 2006, then moved to

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

, where he has played since. He first played for Ireland in 2012. In May 2018, he was one of the eleven cricketers to play in Ireland's first Test match, 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 ...

. In November 2018, he was named the Men's International Player of the Year at the annual Cricket Ireland Awards. The following month, he was one of nineteen players to be awarded a central contract by

Cricket Ireland Cricket Ireland, officially the Irish Cricket Union, is the national governing body for cricket on the island of Ireland (both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), and oversees the national men's and women's cricket teams. It also org ...

for the 2019 season. In November 2019, Murtagh announced his retirement from international cricket, remaining with Middlesex CCC for two years instead.

Under-19s career

He was part of the

England Under-19 cricket team The England Under-19 cricket team have been playing official Under-19 Test matches since 1974. Prior to 1991/92 they were known as England Young Cricketers. Former captains include Mike Atherton, Michael Vaughan, Alastair Cook and Andrew Flint ...

side for 2000 Under-19 World Cup held in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. Murtagh took 16 wickets at an average of 16.31 with the best bowling of 4/29 in three Youth Tests and 12 wickets at an average of 19.33 with the best bowling of 4/26 in 7 List A Internationals for the England Under-19 XI.

Domestic career

He played for

as a backup bowler. After injuries to many of the Surrey bowlers in 2005, he has found himself having to lead the attack on several occasions. Murtagh took figures of 6/24 against

in the 2005

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 ...

which at the time that was his best bowling figures in the short form games. Murtagh played in just two of Surrey's

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 b ...

matches in the 2006 season and as a result, he searched for opportunities with other clubs. Across seven seasons at Surrey, Murtagh played 34 first-class matches scoring 874 runs at an average of 32.37 and taking 68 wickets at an average of 37.72. He also played 65 List-A matches in which he took 79 wickets at an average of 32.63. He signed a two-year contract with

in December 2006 and since moving to Middlesex, Murtagh's bowling average has significantly dropped. As of September 2020, he has taken 725 first-class wickets at an average of 23.74 in 186 games for Middlesex, almost 14 runs per wicket better than his figures at Surrey. Similarly his bowling average in List A matches for Middlesex is six runs less than it was for Surrey. Consistent in all forms of cricket and with a liking for the big occasion, he took 104 wickets in all three formats in 2008. Surprisingly, he was overlooked for the England development squad, but had his chance to shine in Middlesex's trip to Antigua for the

Stanford 20/20 The Stanford 20/20 was a short-lived cricket tournament in the Caribbean island of Antigua. It was held first in July and August 2006 in the West Indies at the Stanford Cricket Ground, St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda, and then again in the sam ...

for 20. Together with Steven Finn he led Middlesex's attack in 2011 helping them win promotion with 80 wickets at 20.98. In 2019, he stopped playing international cricket, when he was "forced to make a decision between turning out for Middlesex or Ireland, as Ireland cricketers were no longer allowed play in county cricket as non-overseas players due to their recently gained status as a Full Member of the ICC." When a grace-period for Irish players expired in 2019, he retired from international cricket to continue playing for Middlesex. In November 2019, he announced a two-year contract extension with Middlesex, signing on to play all formats for 2020. He was not playing on the county circuit in 2020, as cricket had been suspended due to COVID-19. In April 2022, in the opening round of matches in the

2022 County Championship The 2022 County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the 122nd cricket County Championship season in England and Wales. The season began on 7 April and ended on 29 September 2022. Warwic ...

, Murtagh took his 900th wicket in first-class cricket.

International career

A conversation with

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 Englis ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

batsman Ed Joyce in 2011 led Murtagh to seriously consider qualifying for Ireland as his grandfather was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. He applied for

Irish citizenship Irish nationality law details the conditions by which a person is a national of the Republic of Ireland. The primary law governing these regulations is the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, which came into force on 17 July 1956. Re ...

in October that year, which was granted in January 2012. Ireland's first engagement after Murtagh qualified was the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier held in the UAE in March. Murtagh was named as a reserve in case any of the 14 players in the squad were injured. He made his debut against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

in an abandoned

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 ...

(ODI) match at

Civil Service Cricket Club Civil Service Cricket Club (CSCC) is one of Ireland's oldest cricket clubs. Formed in 1863 in Dublin's Phoenix Park, the club currently has over 40 members and competes in league and cup competitions arranged by the Leinster Cricket Union. Th ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

, in June 2012. He was also part of the Irish squad to play against

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

where he played his second ODI in Dublin in July 2012. He made his

t20I 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 ...

debut against

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

. He scored 3 runs but did not pick up a wicket in three overs. Murtagh was selected in the

squad for the

2015 Cricket World Cup The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 11th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was jointly hosted by A ...

but broke a foot on 7 January, and had to withdraw on medical advice. He was replaced in the squad by

Max Sorensen Max Christian Sorensen (born 18 November 1985) is an Irish former international cricketer of South African origin, who played for the Irish national team. Born in Johannesburg, Sorensen is a right-handed batsman who bowls right-arm fast-medium ...

. In May 2015, Tim Murtagh and fellow cricketer

Ed Joyce Edmund "Ed" Christopher Joyce (born 22 September 1978) is a former Irish cricketer who played for both the Ireland and England national cricket teams. After beginning his career with Middlesex, he moved to Sussex in 2009, before returning to Ir ...

announced their retirement from T20 cricket. In July 2019, in the second ODI against Zimbabwe, Murtagh took his first

five-wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batsman. Takin ...

in ODIs.

Test cricket

He was named in a fourteen-man squad for Ireland's first ever Test match, which was played against Pakistan in May 2018, with Murtagh going on to make his Test debut in the match. Ireland won the toss and elected to field, with Murtagh bowling the first delivery for Ireland in Test cricket. In January 2019, he was named in Ireland's squad for their one-off Test against Afghanistan in India. During the match, he became the first number 11 batsman to record scores of more than 25 in each innings of a Test match, with scores of 54

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 ...

and 27. Murtagh played in Ireland's one-off Test match against England 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 ...

in July 2019. On the opening morning of the match, he took his first

in Test cricket, the first such haul by a bowler for Ireland. About leaving international cricket, he said, he still hoped to "help out and be involved in some capacity in the future" with the Irish team.

Personal life

Murtagh attended the

John Fisher School The John Fisher School is a Roman Catholic voluntary-aided boys' faith school based at Peaks Hill, Purley, Croydon, Surrey, England. The school is located in and funded by the London Borough of Sutton. It occupies the former site of the 19th-ce ...

Purley, London Purley is an area of the London Borough of Croydon in London, England, south of Charing Cross, with a history going back at least 800 years. It was originally granted as an estate from holdings at Sanderstead and until as a district of Surrey a ...

. His uncle

Andy Andy may refer to: People *Andy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Horace Andy (born 1951), Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer born Horace Hinds * Katja Andy (1907–2013), German-American pianist and pia ...

and younger brother

Chris Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name *Chris Abani (born 1966), Nige ...

also played first-class cricket representing

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

and

respectively. He applied for Irish citizenship in October 2011, which was granted in January 2012.

Awards

* NBC Denis Compton Award 2001

References

External links

*
ECB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murtagh, Tim 1981 births Living people English people of Irish descent British Universities cricketers Irish cricketers Ireland Test cricketers Ireland One Day International cricketers Ireland Twenty20 International cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Middlesex cricket captains Middlesex cricketers Surrey cricketers Surrey Cricket Board cricketers