English national cricket captains

This is a list of all English national cricket captains, comprising all of the men, boys and women who have captained an English national cricket team at official international level. England played in the first Test match in 1877 and have played more Test matches, and had more captains, than any other team. In the 19th century, the captains for overseas tours were chosen by the promoters, with James Lillywhite, Alfred Shaw and Arthur Shrewsbury being the main professional promoters. However, some amateur tours went abroad under Lord Harris and Lord Hawke. Home captains were selected by the home ground authority, who often went for their local favourites.

For around sixty years, from 1902/3, the Marylebone Cricket Club took over the organisation of all overseas tours, with the games played being technically by the "MCC" rather than "England". They brought with them the tradition of having amateur, rather than professional, captains, and after Shrewsbury there wasn't another professional captain until Len Hutton around sixty years later. The amateur/professional distinction was abolished in 1962, and a new breed of captain in Brian Close and then Ray Illingworth was born.

From the mid-1980s until the late 1990s, English cricket was in decline, with the England team suffering many heavy defeats. The desperation was most clear in the "summer of four captains" in 1988, during the West Indies tour of England, when the captaincy started with Mike Gatting, who was sacked after the first Test as a result of a dalliance with a barmaid. He was initially replaced by John Emburey, who was so poor as a captain that he was replaced after two Tests. Chris Cowdrey came into the team as captain for the fourth Test and was then injured. Finally, Graham Gooch became England's fourth captain of the summer. Unsurprisingly, England lost the five-Test series 4-0. From the late 1990s under Nasser Hussain's captaincy, England started to enjoy a revival, which continued under Michael Vaughan. England were the only team undefeated in 2004, and were, as at June 2005, ranked as the second-best Test nation in the world. Later that summer they regained The Ashes from Australia, having not held them since 1989.

Men's Test match captains

This is a list of cricketers who have captained the English cricket team for at least one Test match. It has been updated to the end of the test series against New Zealand in June 2008. Where a player has a dagger (†) next to a Test match series in which he captained at least one Test, that denotes that player deputised for the appointed captain or were appointed by the home authority for a minor proportion in a series. The dagger classification follows that adopted by "Wisden Cricketers' Almanack".

Other men's captains

England v Rest of the World, 1970

In 1970, the proposed South African tour of England was aborted. To replace the tour, a series of five games was played between a "Rest of the World" XI and the England Test team. At the time, these matches were thought of as Test matches. However, later they were stripped of Test status. England's captain in all five games was Ray Illingworth, who won one game, and lost the other four.

Rebel tours to South Africa

South Africa was banned from world cricket in the 1970s and 1980s because of the apartheid regime then operating in that country. In the 1980s, South Africa paid a number of leading cricketers to visit on private tours. [cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/cwc2003/hi/newsid_2710000/newsid_2719100/2719133.stm |title=Rebel hell for Gooch|publisher=BBC |accessdate=2008-03-21] The visitors were identified by country, and they played matches that were called "Test matches" in South Africa. These games, however, have no official status. [cite web |url=http://content-www.cricinfo.com/westindies/content/story/308994.html |title=Rebel tours to South Africa may get ICC recognition|publisher=Cricinfo |accessdate=2008-03-21]

Youth One-Day International captains

This is a list of cricketers who have captained the English Under-19 cricket team for at least one Under-19 One Day International. The table of results is complete to the end of the tri-series against India and Malaysia in 2006/7.

Women's Twenty20 International captains

This is a list of cricketers who have captained the English women's cricket team for at least one women's Twenty20 International. The table of results is complete as of March 2008.

References

pecific

General

*"Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2004)" ISBN 0-947766-83-9
* [http://www.cricinfo.com Cricinfo]
* [http://www.cricketarchive CricketArchive]