Christopher David Whelan (born 8 May 1986) is an English

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. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium bowler, who has represented

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 ...

and

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

. He came through the ranks at Sefton Park CC, taking a 1st XI hat-trick at

Lytham Lytham St Annes () is a seaside town in the Borough of Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is on the The Fylde, Fylde coast, directly south of Blackpool on the Ribble Estuary. The population of the built-up area at the 2021 United Kingdom census, ...

aged 16, and scored a record 177

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

for his school, St Margaret's, in an under-15 final. Whelan played for Middlesex's second team in 2003, but made his

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, 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 competit ...

debut on 2 September 2004, when he appeared against

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, ...

in a

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 ...

game at

Hove Hove ( ) is a seaside resort in East Sussex, England. Alongside Brighton, it is one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove. Originally a fishing village surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th century in respon ...

. In a crushing 135-run defeat, Whelan's success was very limited: he returned an

analysis Analysis (: analyses) is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (38 ...

of 7–0–40–0 and scored 6 at the bottom of the order (by which time Middlesex's cause had long since been lost). Early in 2005, Whelan was named by the ''

Liverpool Echo The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St. Paul's Square, Liverpool, England. It is published Monday through Sunday, and is Liverpool's da ...

'' as Merseyside Young Sports Personality of the Year. He was quoted by the newspaper as saying that he had been encouraged by

John Emburey John Ernest Emburey (born 20 August 1952) is a former English first-class cricketer who played for Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Western Province, Berkshire and England. He was a part of the English squad which finished as runners-up at the 198 ...

. In early May, he made his first-class debut in a

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 ...

match 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, ...

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, and took three wickets. His first victim was

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

international

Sean Ervine Sean Michael Ervine (born 6 December 1982) is a Zimbabwean former cricketer. Ervine played as an all-rounder who batted left-handed and bowled right-arm medium pace. Ervine was born at Harare in Zimbabwe and played for his country in the 200 ...

, whose wicket he claimed in both innings. He also turned out against

Cambridge UCCE Cambridge University Cricket Club, established in 1820, is the representative cricket club for students of the University of Cambridge. The club was recognised as holding first-class status until 2020. The university played List A cricket in 1 ...

at the start of June, but made no other first-team appearances that season. In 2006 Whelan made a solitary List A appearance, this coming against

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

. The following summer he managed three List A games and one first-class outing against Oxford UCCE, though he never managed more than two wickets in an innings. After the 2007 season, he left Middlesex and moved to Worcestershire. He told the ''Liverpool Echo'' in 2008 that he had become "stale" at Middlesex, and that he had thought the county "a very political place with a lot of favourites around the dressing room." Whelan enjoyed an immediate run in the Worcestershire first team in first-class and

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 ...

. Although he again could not claim more than two wickets in any innings, on his return to the second team for the local derby with

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 ...

seconds, he produced an outstanding performance. Whelan took 6–79 in the first innings, then followed that up with 6–22 (for match figures of 12–101) to help dismiss Warwickshire for a mere 77 and set up a 53-run Worcestershire victory. Whelan then returned to first-team action, and in June returned his best List A figures of 4–78 against the

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 ...

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

Notes

External links

*
Christopher Whelan
from CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Whelan, Chris 1986 births Living people English cricketers Middlesex cricketers Worcestershire cricketers Cricketers from Liverpool Shropshire cricketers