Ronnie Irani

Ronnie Irani
Personal information
Full name
Ronald Charles Irani
Born (1971-10-26) 26 October 1971
Leigh, Lancashire, England
NicknameReggie
Height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight arm medium
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 577)6 June 1996 v India
Last Test22 August 1999 v New Zealand
ODI debut (cap 137)23 May 1996 v India
Last ODI26 February 2003 v India
ODI shirt no.15
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1990–1993Lancashire
1994–2007Essex
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 3 31 232 315
Runs scored 86 360 13,472 7,733
Batting average 17.20 14.40 41.58 30.93
100s/50s 0/0 0/1 28/72 7/46
Top score 41 53 218 158*
Balls bowled 192 1,283 20,389 10,453
Wickets 3 24 339 309
Bowling average 37.33 41.20 29.51 25.22
5 wickets in innings 0 1 9 4
10 wickets in match 0 0 0 0
Best bowling 1/22 5/26 6/71 5/26
Catches/stumpings 2/– 6/– 79/– 83/–
Source: Cricinfo, 19 April 2017

Ronald Charles Irani (born 26 October 1971) is an English former cricketer. He played three Tests for England in 1996 and 1999, but found a niche in One Day Internationals, where he gained much praise for his performances.

He spent most of his career at Essex County Cricket Club, latterly as captain, after starting at Lancashire. He is of Irani descent, the Iranis being a community of Persian Zoroastrians who immigrated to India during the British Raj.

Irani was a genuine all-rounder until a knee injury in 2003 forced him to stop bowling and play as a specialist batsman. The injury led to Irani being forced to retire from first-class cricket in June 2007. At Essex, Irani helped bring through promising players such as Alastair Cook and Ravinder Bopara, as well as winning two major One-Day Titles. Professionally he scored over 20,000 runs and took more than 650 wickets during his career.