Graham Richard Napier (born 6 January 1980) is an English former

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. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium pace bowler. Napier played first-class cricket for his home county of

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

since the outset of his senior career in 1997. Between 1997 and 1999 Napier played in four Youth Test matches in England against

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(twice) and

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's respective under-19 teams. He was also a member of the

1998 Under-19 Cricket World Cup The 1998 MTN ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was an international limited-overs cricket tournament played in South Africa from 11 January to 1 February 1998. Sponsored by the MTN Group, it was the second edition of the Under-19 Cricket World Cu ...

winning squad. Napier was on the books of Ipswich Town as a goalkeeper and played for a season on loan at Felixstowe Town. He retired at the end of the 2016 season.

Playing style

Born in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

, Napier was a medium pace bowler, who was capable of reaching speeds between 85 mph-90 mph. Napier has displayed a slower ball in Twenty20 games which proved hard to spot. As a batsman, Napier twice hit 16 sixes in an innings, once in a Twenty20 match, and once in a County Championship match.

Twenty20 and 40 over

In a Twenty20 cup match 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, ...

on 24 June 2008, Napier scored 152 not out from 58 balls. The innings set a number of records, notably the highest individual score in a T20 innings in England, and in the domestic Twenty20 competition; the highest number of sixes in an individual Twenty20 innings (16); the most runs scored in boundaries in an individual Twenty20 innings (136 runs, scored as 10 fours, and 16 sixes). It also broke the record for most sixes in a domestic one-day innings, and tied the record for most sixes in any domestic innings, tying the record set by

Andrew Symonds Andrew Symonds (9 June 1975 – 14 May 2022) was an Australian international cricketer, who played all three formats as a batting all-rounder. Commonly nicknamed "Roy", he was a key member of two Cricket World Cup, World Cup–winning squads. ...

, during 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 ...

game in 1995. Graham Napier has the record for the highest ever T20 score when batting at number 3 position.(152*). Also he's in second in the list for scoring the most number of boundaries in a T20 innings.(26 boundaries-10 fours and 16 sixes) and also second in the list for hitting the most number of sixes in a T20 innings. He was signed by the Mumbai Indians for the 2009 IPL Season for an undisclosed amount. In March 2009, Napier was called up to the England Lions squad for the first time since 2004. Geoff Miller, one of the selectors, said "the selectors felt this was a good opportunity for us to have a closer look at him within the England set-up". On 1 May 2009, Napier was confirmed as a member of the 15-man England squad for the 2009 Twenty20 World Cup on the same day as he made his first appearance for the

Mumbai Indians The Mumbai Indians are a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket team based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Indians were founded in 2008 and are owned by India's largest Conglomerate (company), co ...

. On 3 June 2013, Napier finished a YB40 match with figures of 7 wickets for 32 runs, including 3 maidens, taking 4 wickets in 4 balls as Essex beat Surrey by 178 runs.

First-class

On 19 May 2011, Napier equalled the record for most sixes scored in a first-class innings. He hit 16 sixes as part of a 130-ball 196 for Essex. It was his first first-class innings for 11 months, after being sidelined with a back injury. He hit 103 runs from the last 29 balls of his innings. After his innings, Napier told BBC Essex that he considers himself as mainly a bowler. On 22 June 2013, Napier took career best bowling figures of 7 wickets for 90 runs against Leicestershire.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Napier, Graham 1980 births English cricketers Living people Essex cricketers Wellington cricketers Central Districts cricketers Essex Cricket Board cricketers Mumbai Indians cricketers English expatriate cricketers in India Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Cricketers from Colchester