James Thomas Anthony Bruce (born 17 December 1979) 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 who played for

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, ...

Cricket career

Bruce was born at

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

in December 1979. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

, before matriculating to

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

. While studying at Durham, Bruce made his debut in

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 ...

for Durham UCCE against

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

in 2001. He played first-class cricket for Durham UCCE until 2002, making six appearances. Bruce was signed by Hampshire ahead of the 2003 season, making his debut for the county in a first-class match against

Oxford UCCE Oxford University Cricket Club (OUCC), which represents the University of Oxford, had held first-class cricket, first-class status since 1827 when it made its debut in the inaugural The University Match (cricket), University Match between OUCC a ...

. He went onto make seven appearances in the 2003 County Championship, alongside three List A one-day appearances in the

2003 ECB National League The 2003 ECB National League season was a 45 over English 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 ...

. In his first season of

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 ...

, he took 19 first-class wickets at an

average In colloquial, 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 ...

of 43.63. In 2004 and 2005, played four first-class matches in each season, and did not feature in one-day cricket in 2004; he did, however, make his debut in

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

cricket in the

2004 Twenty20 Cup The 2004 Twenty20 Cup was the second edition of what would later become the T20 Blast competition, England's premier domestic Twenty20 competition.. The finals day took place on 7 August at Edgbaston, Birmingham, and was won by the Leicestershi ...

, in which he featured in six matches during the tournament. The following season he featured in seven matches in the

Twenty20 Cup The T20 Blast, officially known as the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in England and Wales. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003. T20 Blast is ...

, alongside four one-day appearances in the

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 ...

. Bruce was entrusted with the

new ball A cricket ball is a hard, solid ball used to play cricket. A cricket ball consists of a cork core wound with string then a leather cover stitched on, and manufacture is regulated by cricket law at first-class level. The trajectory of a cricket ...

in the

2006 County Championship The 2006 County Championship season, known as the Liverpool Victoria County Championship for sponsorship reasons, was contested through two divisions: Division One and Division Two. Each team plays all the others in their division both home and a ...

, beginning the season by finding good form. In June, he claimed his maiden

five wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batter. Taking ...

with 5 for 43 to guide Hampshire to a 299 runs victory 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 ...

. His good form also carried over into one-day cricket, with Bruce taking 4 for 18 in Hampshire's 62 runs victory over

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

in the

Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scotland and Ireland. Lan ...

. During the 2006 season, Bruce took 38 wickets from thirteen matches at an average of 29.18, whilst in one-day cricket he took 21 wickets at an average of 14.95. In the

2007 County Championship The 2007 County Championship season, known as the LV County Championship for sponsorship reasons, was contested through two divisions: Division One and Division Two. Each team plays all the others in their division both home and away. The top tw ...

, he made fourteen appearances, taking 39 wickets at an average of 30.74, claiming two five wicket hauls. He also made ten one-day and seven Twenty20 matches that season. Bruce announced his retirement in February 2008, in order to pursue a job in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

, having spent the previous three winters gaining work experience there. Commenting after his retirement, then Hampshire team manager Paul Terry noted that "in the right conditions, he has become one of the better English-born bowlers." In 43 first-class matches for Hampshire, he took 119 wickets at an average of 32.23, while in one-day cricket he took 44 wickets at an average of 22.18 from thirty matches. In Twenty20 cricket, he took 15 wickets from twenty matches at an average of 26.06, with best figures of 3 for 20.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruce, James 1979 births Living people People from Hammersmith Cricketers from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham People educated at Eton College Alumni of the College of St Hild and St Bede, Durham English cricketers Durham MCCU cricketers Hampshire cricketers English bankers