Alan Mullally (born 12 July 1969) is an English former
first-class cricket
First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...
er, who played Tests and ODIs. Mullally grew up in Western Australia, and played for the
Australian
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal Aus ...
Under-19 side against their
West Indian
A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED''), the term ''West Indian'' in 1597 described the indigenous inhabitants of the West In ...
counterparts in 1987/88.
Domestic career
That same season he made his first-class debut for
Western Australia
Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
in their
Sheffield Shield
The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield, Lor ...
final victory over
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
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 ...
. He stayed with Western Australia for another couple of seasons, with variable success.
Meanwhile, he had made his
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, ...
debut, against
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 ...
in May 1988. He did not take a wicket in that match, and he spent the rest of the English summer in Hampshire's second team. A more productive time followed back in Australia in 1988/89 as he took 23 first-class wickets, including seven in an
innings victory in an
MG Kailis-Kemplast Trophy game against
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...
at Perth.
Mullally did not play in England in 1989, and the 1989/90 Australian season was something of a disappointment as he took just 11 first-class wickets, but in 1990 Mullally returned to
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 ...
with
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...
, doing reasonably well with the highlight a haul of 6–38 (which remains his best in
List A cricket
List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the num ...
) in a
one-day game against the touring
New Zealanders
New Zealanders are people associated with New Zealand, sharing a common History of New Zealand, history, Culture of New Zealand, culture, and language (New Zealand English). People of various ethnicities and national origins are citizens of Ne ...
in June. That winter he returned to Australia, playing just a single game for
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India
* Victoria (state), a state of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital
* Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
.
For several years Mullally performed steadily with Leicestershire,
capped
In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...
in 1993 and taking between 40 and 70 first-class wickets a season while playing in the great majority of the county's games. His most successful year during this period was 1996, when he claimed 70 first-class wickets and, perhaps more startling for a man renowned throughout his career for his incompetence with the bat, made his only two first-class fifties, both at number 11: he scored 68 against
Surrey
Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
in June, then followed it up in September with 75 against
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 ...
.
In 2000 he returned to Hampshire, where he had begun his career in England, and he and
Shane Warne
Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international cricketer whose career ran from 1992 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a lower-order right-handed batter for Victoria, Hampshire ...
carried the county's bowling attack almost by themselves in a difficult season for the club; that August he recorded his best bowling figures of 9–93 against
Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...
(following up with 5–95 in the second innings for match figures of 14–188), although the game was drawn.
Mullally continued to be a regular pick in the Hampshire side for the next few years,
averaging
In ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by how many nu ...
under 20 with the ball in both 2000 and 2001, and claiming five-wicket hauls on six occasions in the latter season, but from 2003 onwards his performances began to fall away, especially in first-class cricket in which he took only 35 wickets in 2003 and 2004 combined. His county persevered with him for some while, and in 2004 he took 22 List A wickets, but the award of a
benefit season
A benefit season is a method of financially rewarding professional cricketers that is used by English county cricket teams to compensate long serving players.
The system originated in the 19th century to help out professional cricketers who were ...
in 2005 could not disguise his decline and after a friendly against
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 three
totesport League
The NatWest Pro40 League was a one-day cricket league for first-class cricket counties in England and Wales. It was inaugurated in 1999, but was essentially the old Sunday League retitled to reflect large numbers of matches being played on day ...
matches in April and May, he dropped out of the first team entirely. At the end of the 2005 season he announced his retirement.
International career
In 1996 also, he was selected by
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 ...
for the first
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) ...
against
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
at
Edgbaston
Edgbaston () is a suburb of Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies immediately south-west of Birmingham city centre, and was historically in Warwickshire. The Ward (electoral subdivision), wards of Edgbaston and Nort ...
. He took five wickets in the match as England won by eight wickets, and played in all six Tests that summer against India and
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# ...
, as well as in three
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 against the latter opponents. It was to be in ODIs where Mullally was to make his mark as an England cricketer, not so much for his penetration as for his accuracy: his economy rate was so good that at one time he was listed as the second-best bowler in the world in that form of the game.
Mullally was in and out of the Test side from then on, his best period being 1998/99, when he took 12 Australian wickets in four
Ashes
Ashes may refer to:
* Ash, the solid remnants of fires.
Media and entertainment Art
* ''Ashes'' (Munch), an 1894 painting by Edvard Munch
Film
* ''The Ashes'' (film), a 1965 Polish film by director Andrzej Wajda
* ''Ashes'' (1922 film), ...
Tests
at 30.33, including his career-best 5–105 at
Brisbane Cricket Ground
The Brisbane Cricket Ground, commonly known as the Gabba, is a major sports stadium in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. The nickname Gabba derives from the suburb of Woolloongabba, in which it is located. Over the years, the Ga ...
, and the following home series against New Zealand, when he claimed 11 wickets at 27.27 from three games. In limited-overs cricket, however, he was still considered a central part of the team, and he took 10 wickets at just 17.60 in the
1999 World Cup, second in England's averages (just behind
Darren Gough
Darren Gough (born 18 September 1970) is a retired English cricketer and former captain of Yorkshire County Cricket Club. The spearhead of England's bowling attack through much of the 1990s, he is England's second highest wicket-taker in one-d ...
) and with the best economy rate of any English bowler in the competition.
In June 2001 he played his final ODI against Australia at
The Oval
The Oval, currently named for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club sinc ...
, and conceded 27 runs from his four overs as England were crushed by eight wickets, and also his last Test against the same opponents at
Headingley
Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...
when recalled for a single time in August, having played his previous Test match 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 ...
in January 2000.
Mullally was a poor batsman, and more often than not occupied the No. 11 position in the England batting line-up. However, he struck an aggressive 16 off 15 balls, including 3 cross-batted fours off
Glenn McGrath
Glenn Donald McGrath (; born 9 February 1970) is an Australian former international cricketer whose career spanned 14 years. He was a fast-medium pace bowler and is considered one of cricket's greatest bowlers and a leading contributor to Aus ...
, to help England to a 12-run win against Australia at Melbourne in 1998/99. His highest Test score of 24 against Pakistan featured several airborne boundaries off
Wasim Akram
Wasim Akram (Punjabi language, Punjabi, ; born 3 June 1966) is a Pakistani cricket commentator, Coach (sport), coach, and former cricketer and captain (cricket), captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. Akram is regarded as one of the ...
. Allegedly the then England coach
David Lloyd had offered Mullally 30 pints of Guinness to score 30 in that match.
The Jack of all rabbits
Cricinfo, Retrieved on 14 August 2020
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mullally, Alan
England One Day International cricketers
England Test cricketers
English cricketers
Hampshire cricketers
Leicestershire cricketers
Victoria cricketers
Western Australia cricketers
Cricketers at the 1999 Cricket World Cup
1969 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Southend-on-Sea
Test and County Cricket Board XI cricketers
Cricketers from Essex
20th-century English sportsmen