Dermot Alexander Reeve

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(born 2 April 1963) is an English former

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, best known as an unorthodox

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...

and

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

and, most recently, coach of the

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 ...

side,

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 ...

. He was a part of the English squad which finished as runners-up at the

1992 Cricket World Cup The 1992 Cricket World Cup (known as the Benson & Hedges World Cup 1992 for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth Cricket World Cup, the premier One Day International cricket tournament for men's national teams, organised by the International Cric ...

. Reeve played in three

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 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 (ODI) for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He played English

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Two county championship competitions have existed since the late 19th century at ...

for

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

and

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 ...

. He is a former Hong Kong sports personality of the year, gained for his cricketing efforts in that country.

Early life

Reeve was born in Hong Kong in 1963 to parents who were working in the territory as teachers. His mother, Monica, later served as a scorer for a number of England Test matches. He also played for KJS football team alongside captain of the team Steven Markbreiter, who now coaches the Hong Kong based team Sai Kung Bulldogs.

Domestic career

Reeve first played cricket in England as a member of the

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

Young Cricketers – an academy of up and coming young players between the ages of 18 and 20, who are based at

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

. He signed for

in June of the 1983 English season, and took 42 wickets in the

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

at 29.35 apiece. He was given little opportunity with the bat, batting at number 10, but performed the duties of night watchman. This helped Reeve show his batting ability when, as night watchman, he made his maiden first class hundred against Surrey at Guildford. He remained with Sussex for six seasons, his most successful being 1987 when he managed a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of over 40, and took 42 wickets at an average of under 30 runs. His lack of a high enough batting position at Sussex led to his move to

in 1988, and it was here that he gained his greatest successes. In the batsman-friendly summer of 1990 his average was 54 runs. He also made his highest first-class score of 202 not out (against an attack including

Curtly Ambrose Sir Curtly Elconn Lynwall Ambrose KCN (born 21 September 1963) is an Antiguan former cricketer who played 98 Test matches for the West Indies. Widely acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, he took 405 Test wickets at ...

), and two other centuries on the way to a total of 1,412 runs. He averaged over 40 runs for Warwickshire during his time at the Midlands club proving the move a good decision and helping him gain international selection. Reeve was made captain in 1993, and in 1994 led the county to an unprecedented domestic treble; winning the County Championship, the AXA Equity and Law League, and the

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 ...

- though they were defeated in the final of 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. Lan ...

. This achievement came alongside well-publicised differences of opinion with Warwickshire's star batsman,

Brian Lara Brian Charles Lara, (born 2 May 1969) is a Trinidadian former international cricketer, widely renowned as one of the greatest Batting (cricket), batsmen of all time. He holds several cricketing records, including the record for the highest in ...

, vividly described a few years later by Reeve in his book ''Winning Ways''. He was known for his inventive cricket brain and once held the bat left handed and swept Ravi Shastri against Glamorgan - today known as the switch hit. He experimented with many improvisations; a particular incident against left-arm spinner, Rajesh Maru, of

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

saw him drop his bat to avoid being caught out by the close fielders. Warwickshire retained their Championship and NatWest Trophy crowns the following season (1995). In this year Reeve completed an unusual hat-trick when he was named

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 the final of the

, the same award he had won in 1986 (when winning the final with Sussex) and in 1989 (with Warwickshire). Reeve left Warwickshire halfway through the 1996 season. Reeve made over £400,000 tax free during his benefit year with Warwickshire. Reeve was named as 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 for their influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

in 1996, and received the

for services to cricket that same year. He moved on to become coach to

(for whom he also played several games in

one-day cricket Limited overs cricket, also known as white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed within one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty20 cricket (3-h ...

in 1998), and also began to work as a cricket commentator for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

Television.

International cricket

Reeve played for

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

at the 1982 ICC Trophy, averaging 34.50 with the bat and 15.71 with the ball. He returned to international cricket in 1991, playing for

. Reeve played only three Test matches for England, but his improvising style was better suited to

s and he made 29 appearances in this form of the game, appearing in both the

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

and 1996 World Cups, playing (on the losing side) in the final in the former tournament. However, he never scored highly in ODIs, and his batting average would have been considerably lower, but for his high proportion of not-out innings. Perhaps his most important international innings was a rapid 25 not out at the end of the England innings in the 1992 World Cup semi-final against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, a match which England won narrowly. Reeve returned to Hong Kong in 1994 as part of the England squad which won the Hong Kong Sixes tournament.

TV commentator and controversy

Following his retirement from cricket, Reeve was involved with the Channel 4 broadcasting coverage of cricket from the start when the channel won the rights from the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

to show England Tests in the UK. Duties included fronting the studio discussions with pundits, commentary, introducing and presenting awards after televised matches, and interviewing both present and past players. His broadcasting appearances featured a repertoire of

impersonation An impersonator is someone who imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another. There are many reasons for impersonating someone: *Living history: After close study of some historical figure, a performer may dress and speak "as" that ...

s of cricketing personalities, such as

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi (born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician, philanthropist, and former cricketer who served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He was the founder of the political party Pak ...

and Geoff Boycott. In May 2005, Reeve admitted that he had an addiction to

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

, and had used the drug prior to commentating on the 2004 first Test between England and

at Lord's. Reeve duly quit Channel Four after working for five years as part of their commentary team. He also admitted to using

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

whilst he was an active player for Warwickshire but only out of season. In more recent years, Reeve has worked as a commentator on the

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

show ''

Test Match Special ''Test Match Special'' (also known as ''TMS'') is a British sports radio programme, originally, as its name implies, dealing exclusively with Test cricket matches, but currently covering any professional cricket. The programme is available on BB ...

''. He also commentated on the Indian Premier League (IPL) English-language television coverage. Following his cocaine revelations in 2005, Reeve's family built a new life in Australia and New Zealand. Their assets included a $3 million waterfront mansion at Clontarf. Further scandal was to follow Reeve at the end of 2009, when he was exposed as a seller of

Donald Bradman Sir Donald George Bradman (27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001), nicknamed "The Don", was an Australian international cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. His cricketing successes have been claimed by Shane ...

"signatures" on plain card which were later confirmed by the Bradman Museum to be poor copies of the legendary player's signature. In a 2025 interview with

TalkSport Talksport (styled as talkSPORT) is a sports radio station in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned by News Broadcasting. Its content includes live coverage of sporting events, interviews with the leading names in sport and entertai ...

Reeve revealed that due to his addictions to

and

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

, he was living on

housing benefit Housing Benefit is a means-tested social security benefit in the United Kingdom that is intended to help meet housing costs for rented accommodation. It is the second biggest item in the Department for Work and Pensions' budget after the state ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

and surviving on £6 a day.

New Zealand

Reeve relocated with his family to New Zealand in 2006, and was named as coach of the Central Districts States Team in July 2008. Despite leading the side to the

Plunket Shield New Zealand has had a domestic first-class cricket championship since the 1906–07 season. Since the 2009–10 season it has been known by its original name of the Plunket Shield. History The Plunket Shield competition was instigated in Octo ...

four-day final in 2008–09, before winning the 2009–10 Twenty20 competition, his tenure as coach was at times controversial - one particular incident seeing him fined and censured for accusing England international

Ravi Bopara Ravinder Singh Bopara (born 4 May 1985) is an English cricketer who plays for Northamptonshire and has represented the England national team. Originally a top-order batsman, his developing medium pace bowling has made him a batting all rou ...

of ball-tampering during a domestic one-day match. On 7 April 2010, he ended his stint as coach of the by mutual consent to spend time with his family, now living in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia.

Indian Premier League

He served as an assistant coach for the Pune Warriors India in the

2011 Indian Premier League The 2011 Indian Premier League season, abbreviated as IPL 4 or the IPL 2011, was the fourth season of the Indian Premier League, the top Twenty20 cricket league in India. The tournament was hosted in India and the opening and closing ceremonies ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reeve, Dermot 1963 births Living people English cricket coaches English cricket commentators Cricketers at the 1992 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1996 Cricket World Cup England One Day International cricketers England Test cricketers People from Kowloon Hong Kong cricketers Somerset cricketers Sussex cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Warwickshire cricket captains Wisden Cricketers of the Year Officers of the Order of the British Empire Doping cases in cricket Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers English cricketers Hong Kong cricket coaches Coaches of the Hong Kong national cricket team 20th-century English sportsmen