Chris Tavaré
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Christopher James Tavaré (; born 27 October 1954) is a retired English international
cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
er who played in 31
Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...
and 29
One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...
s between 1980 and 1989. His style of play was characterised by long periods at the crease and a relatively slow rate of
run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...
-scoring.


Life and career

Tavaré was born at
Orpington Orpington is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south east of Charing Cross. On the south-eastern edge of the Greater London Built-up Area, it is south of St Mary Cray, sou ...
in
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
and educated at
Sevenoaks School Sevenoaks School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school. It is co-educational, a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding school, boarding and day school, located in Sevenoaks, Kent, England. Established in 1432, it ...
and
St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its foun ...
, where he graduated with a degree in
zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...
. He played
cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
for
Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
,
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 Ken ...
and
Somerset County Cricket Club Somerset County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic counties of England, historic county of Somer ...
as an attacking right-handed batsman. He was part of the Kent sides which shared the 1977 County Championship with
Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...
, and won the
Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...
outright in 1978, as well as the
1978 Benson & Hedges Cup The 1978 Benson & Hedges Cup was the seventh edition of cricket's Benson & Hedges Cup. The competition was won by Kent County Cricket Club. Results Group stage Group A Group B Group C Group D Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final ...
. He impressed on his international debut in 1980, managing 82 not out in a
one-day international One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...
against a strong West Indies team, winning the
man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) 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 chose ...
award in a losing cause. However he adapted his natural game to meet the requirements of the
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) ...
side, becoming a notorious blocker. He was dropped after two undistinguished tests that summer, during which, in the words of ''
Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...
'': "Survival, regrettably, had been Tavaré's only aim". Recalled for the fifth test in 1981 against Australia at
Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...
he scored 69 and 78, but was at the crease for twelve hours. During his 7-hour 78 in the second innings, he was overtaken by
Ian Botham Ian Terence Botham, Baron Botham (born 24 November 1955) is an English cricket commentator, member of the House of Lords, a former cricketer who has been chairman of Durham County Cricket Club since 2017 and charity fundraiser. Hailed as one of ...
on his way to a century. Tavaré's runs however played an important role as England won the test and clinched the series and retained
the Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played biennially between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, ...
. This was the first of 26 consecutive tests for Tavaré, including tours of India, Sri Lanka and Australia, during which tests he made two test centuries and again achieved some notable feats of slow scoring. His 50 in five hours and fifty minutes, against
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
in 1982, was the second-slowest in the history of the English game. Among his slowest innings was a score of 35 runs in six-and-a-half hours at
Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...
in the 1981/82 season. In 2012, Alex Massie wrote that, for Tavaré, scoring runs seemed "a disagreeable, even vulgar, distraction from the pure task of surviving". At
Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
in 1982 he made "an eight-hour 89, 60 minutes of which were entirely scoreless", although he did also make a more important and relatively rapid 89 in the
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
test narrowly won by England, also parrying the victory clinching chance for
Geoff Miller Geoffrey Miller, (born 8 September 1952) is an English former cricketer, who played in 34 Test matches and 25 One Day Internationals for the England cricket team between 1976 and 1984. Nicknamed "Dusty", he played for Derbyshire from 1973 to ...
to catch. In many of these Test matches at this stage Tavaré was pressed to open the innings due to the suspension of
Graham Gooch Graham Alan Gooch, (born 23 July 1953) is a former English first-class cricketer who captained Essex and England. He was one of the most successful international batsmen of his generation, and through a career spanning 1973 until 1997, he was ...
,
Geoff Boycott Sir Geoffrey Boycott (born 21 October 1940) is a former Test cricketer, who played cricket for Yorkshire and England. In a prolific and sometimes controversial playing career from 1962 to 1986, Boycott established himself as one of England's m ...
and
Wayne Larkins Wayne Larkins (born 22 November 1953) is an English former cricketer, who represented Northamptonshire, Durham and Bedfordshire as an opening batsman throughout his career. He was selected to play for England as Graham Gooch's opening partner ...
from international cricket due to their participation in a rebel tour of South Africa, opening the batting rarely being Tavaré's position for Kent. Tavaré averaged over 40 in a 1983 Test series against
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, but was dropped after England's embarrassing defeat at
Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...
that winter in which he made 9 runs. He was recalled towards the end of the following summer, but the test selectors dropped Tavaré in 1984, following another time-consuming score of 14 against the
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
ns.
Jonathan Agnew Jonathan Philip Agnew, (born 4 April 1960) is an English cricket broadcaster and a former cricketer. He was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, and educated at Uppingham School. He is nicknamed "Aggers" and, less commonly, "Spiro" – the latter, ...
, a team-mate in this match, observed retrospectively that Tavaré "played a ghastly knock". Paul Downton also a team-mate, added: "Tavaré managed to bat himself out of the England side. It was his last Test for five years and he couldn't get it off the square". Within a week he then captained Kent to a narrow defeat in the 1984 NatWest Trophy final. To cap a difficult few months, in the words of Matthew Engel: "He was deposed as Kent captain, unpleasantly". Tavaré who had captained Kent for three years, was replaced by
Chris Cowdrey Christopher Stuart Cowdrey (born 20 October 1957) is a former English cricketer. Cowdrey played for Kent, Glamorgan and England as an all-rounder. He is the eldest son of the cricketer and life peer, Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge. H ...
, who took over at the start of the 1985 season. Tavaré moved to
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
as captain in 1989, following a successful benefit in 1988. Tavaré put himself back in the selectors' thoughts with an impressive televised unbeaten century, for which he was again made
man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) 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 chose ...
in a losing cause, in a
Benson & 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 Engla ...
semi-final against
Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
. Eventually he was recalled for one Test Match, the Third Test against Australia at
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
in the
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 ...
. At this time
Terry Alderman Terence Michael Alderman (born 12 June 1956) is a former Australian international cricketer who played primarily as a right-arm fast-medium bowler. He began his first-class cricket career during the 1974–75 season with Western Australia in t ...
was enjoying rampant success against English batsman. Tavaré was unable to repeat his earlier success at frustrating Australian bowlers and was dismissed for two in what proved to be his final test innings. Tavaré was a biology teacher at his alma mater, Sevenoaks School until his retirement in 2018. He is first cousin of comedian
Jim Tavaré Jim Tavaré (born 1963) is a British stand-up comedian, actor, and musician. He is best known for his work on ''The Sketch Show'' on ITV, which won a BAFTA award. He played the role of Tom (the owner of the Leaky Cauldron) in '' Harry Potter ...
.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tavare, Chris 1954 births Living people Alumni of St John's College, Oxford England One Day International cricketers England Test cricketers English cricketers of 1969 to 2000 20th-century English sportsmen English cricketers Schoolteachers from Kent English zoologists Kent cricket captains Kent cricketers People educated at Sevenoaks School Oxford University cricketers People from Orpington Cricketers from the London Borough of Bromley Somerset cricket captains Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Oxford and Cambridge Universities cricketers British Universities cricketers Somerset cricketers Young England cricketers