Andrew Watts (born 4 October 1960) is a former English

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 first-class cricket for

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 ...

in 1982 and 1983 and for Boland in South Africa from 1985 to 1987. Watts was born at Chapeltown,

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

and grew up in

Penistone Penistone ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, which had a population of 13,270 at the 2021 census. Historic counties of England, Historically in ...

and started playing for Derbyshire in the second XI and for the under 25s in 1980. He made his first team debut in the 1982 season against

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, ...

. He played two first team games in the 1983 season, the remainder being in the second XI. After playing one game for the second eleven in 1984, Watts went to

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 ...

where he played for Boland in first-class matches and in the one-day game. Watts was a left-hand batsman and played 16 innings in 12 first-class matches with an average of 27.36 and a top score of 57. He also played four one day matches at an average of 10.75. He was a right-arm medium pace bowler and took 19 first-class wickets at an average of 30.57 and a best performance of 4-54. He took two wickets in the one day game. Today, he makes whisky for the Distell Group and was appointed head of whisky at the company in 2016, after 25 years as Master Distiller at their James Sedgwick distillery in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

in South Africa. Watts is only the 6th Master Distiller since the distillery was established in 1886. Under Watts, the distillery produces the

Three Ships Three Ships is a brand of whisky distilled at the James Sedgwick distillery in Wellington, Western Cape (Drakenstein Local Municipality), South Africa. The distillery produces both malt and grain whiskies on the same site, which is unusual for wh ...

line of whiskies, including blended and single malt whiskies, and

Bain's Cape Mountain Whisky Bain's Cape Mountain is a South African brand of whisky distilled at the James Sedgwick distillery in Wellington, Western Cape (Drakenstein Local Municipality). Launched in 2009, Bain's is South Africa's first whisky produced from a single grain, ...

, South Africa's only single grain whisky.

Recognition

In 2012, the World Whiskies Awards selected Three Ships 5 Year Old Premium Select as World's Best Blended Whisky. In 2014 Watts was named "Wellingtoner of the Year" and "Wellington Businessman of the Year". Awards for services to the town and its community and the only time to date that both awards were given to the same person in the same year! Bain's was named the World's Best

Grain Whisky Grain whisky normally refers to any whisky made, at least in part, from grains other than malted barley. Frequently used grains include maize, wheat, and rye. Grain whiskies usually contain some malted barley to provide enzymes needed for mashin ...

at the annual ''Whisky Magazine’s'' World Whisky Awards (WWA) held in London in 2013 and 2018. At the World Whisky Awards (WWA) in 2018 he was named the Global Icon Master Distiller/ Master Blender of the Year and at the same WWA awards in 2020 he was named the Global Icon World Whisky Ambassador of the Year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watts, Andrew 1960 births English cricketers Living people Derbyshire cricketers Boland cricketers Cricketers from Yorkshire 20th-century English sportsmen Sportspeople from Penistone