James Douglas Sheahan Neesham (born 17 September 1990), better known as Jimmy Neesham, is a New Zealand international

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 plays for the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

. He also plays in various T20 leagues around the globe as an

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...

. He was a member of the New Zealand squads that finished as runners-up at the

2019 Cricket World Cup The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament was hosted bet ...

and the

2021 T20 World Cup The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh edition of the Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20, a Twenty20 cricket tournament that took place from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The tournament was hosted by Unite ...

Domestic and T20 franchise career

Neesham began his first-class career with

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, but a move to

Otago Otago (, ; ) is a regions of New Zealand, region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local go ...

ahead of the 2011–12 season worked well for him, as he made some important contributions in the 50-over format, making three 40-plus scores in seven innings, all of them coming at more than a run a ball, in his first season playing for the province. He was among the wickets too, taking a career-best 5 for 44 against Wellington and 4 for 23 against Canterbury. The rewards came soon, as he was included in the limited-overs squads for the tour to South Africa. Neesham played in the

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Founded in 2007, it features ten city-based Professional sports league organization, fr ...

in 2014 for

Delhi Daredevils The Delhi Capitals, formerly the Delhi Daredevils, also known as DC, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Delhi that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is owned by GMR Group and JSW Sports. Its home groun ...

and for

Guyana Amazon Warriors The Guyana Amazon Warriors is a cricket team of the Caribbean Premier League based in Providence, Georgetown, Guyana. It represents Guyana in the league and was established in 2013 for the inaugural season. The team plays home games at Provi ...

in the 2014

Caribbean Premier League The Caribbean Premier League (abbreviated to CPL or CPLT20) is an annual Twenty20 cricket tournament held in the Caribbean. It was founded by Cricket West Indies in 2013 to replace the Caribbean Twenty20 as the premier Twenty20 competition in ...

. He played 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 county championship competitions have existed since the late 19th century at ...

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 2016, and in June 2017 he signed to play for

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ken ...

in the

2017 NatWest t20 Blast The 2017 NatWest T20 Blast was the fifteenth edition of the T20 Blast, a professional domestic T20 competition league in England and Wales run by the ECB. The league consisted of the 18 first-class county teams divided into two divisions of nine ...

, making his debut in Kent's opening match of the tournament in July.Jimmy Neesham: New Zealand all-rounder joins Kent for T20 Blast

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

, 26 June 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2017.Panting M (2017
Jimmy Neesham shows what he can do with three wickets on Kent Spitfires debut
''

Kent Online KM Media Group is a multimedia company in the county of Kent, England which originated as the publisher of the Kent Messenger. The Group now produces local newspapers, radio stations, TV and websites throughout the county. Yattendon Group#Iliff ...

'', 10 July 2017. Retrieved 10 July 2017. In June 2018, Neesham was awarded a contract with Wellington for the 2018–19 season. In June 2019, he was selected to play for the Edmonton Royals franchise team in the

2019 Global T20 Canada The 2019 Global T20 Canada was the second edition of the Global T20 Canada, a professional Twenty20 cricket tournament that was played at the CAA Centre, Brampton in Ontario, Canada. It started on 25 July 2019, and concluded with the final on ...

tournament. In the 2020 IPL auction, he was bought by the

Kings XI Punjab The Punjab Kings, also known as PBKS, formerly known as Kings XI Punjab, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in New Chandigarh, Punjab, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is jointly owned by Mohit Burm ...

and in 2021 was bought by

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 ...

. In February 2022, he was bought by the

Rajasthan Royals The Rajasthan Royals, also known as RR, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Jaipur, Rajasthan, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Founded in 2008 as one of the initial eight franchises, the team is owned by Manoj ...

in the

auction An auction is usually a process of Trade, buying and selling Good (economics), goods or Service (economics), services by offering them up for Bidding, bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from th ...

for the

2022 Indian Premier League The 2022 Indian Premier League (also known as IPL 15 or for sponsorship reasons, TATA IPL 2022) was the fifteenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cricket ...

tournament. In 2024, He was signed by Janakpur Bolts for 2024 Nepal Premier League. He played for

Fortune Barishal Fortune Barishal () is a franchise cricket team that plays in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), representing the country's Barishal Division. The team was originally established in 2012 for the inaugural BPL season as the Barisal Burners ...

in the 11th season of BPL in 2025. His team won the title in that season.

International career

Neesham made his Test debut 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 ...

, scoring an unbeaten 137, the highest score on debut by a Test number 8 batsman. In June 2014, he made a century in his second test against the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

, becoming the first New Zealander to score centuries in his first two matches. Neesham was named in New Zealand's 15 man squad for the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy. On 3 January 2019, in the first ODI against Sri Lanka, Neesham scored 34 runs in one over, including five sixes. This was the most runs scored in one over by a New Zealand batsman in an ODI match. In April 2019, he was named in New Zealand's squad for the

. On 1 June 2019, in New Zealand's first match of the World Cup, Neesham played in his 50th ODI. In New Zealand's match against

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, Neesham took his first

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. Takin ...

and his 50th wicket in ODIs. In the

semi-final, Neesham took a catch to dismiss

Dinesh Karthik Krishnakumar Dinesh Karthik (born 1 June 1985) is a former Indian professional cricketer, coach, and Sports commentator, commentator. Karthik played for the India national cricket team and also captained Tamil Nadu cricket team, Tamil Nadu in ...

off Matt Henry's bowling, the final wicket of the match. Before the World Cup Neesham revealed that he had considered retiring from international cricket 18 months prior due to poor form and injury problems but Heath Mills, the then CEO of the New Zealand Players Association, advised him to take a break from cricket for 3–4 weeks and to not retire. In August 2021, Neesham was named in New Zealand's squad for the

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh edition of the Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20, a Twenty20 cricket tournament that took place from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The tournament was hosted by Unit ...

. In May 2024, he was named in New Zealand’s squad for the

2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the ninth edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, co-hosted by Cricket West Indies and USA Cricket from 1 to 29 June 2024. It was the first major ICC tournament to include matches played in the United ...

tournament.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Neesham, Jimmy 1990 births Auckland cricketers Cricketers at the 2019 Cricket World Cup Cricketers who made a century on Test debut Delhi Capitals cricketers Derbyshire cricketers Durham cricketers Essex cricketers Guyana Amazon Warriors cricketers Kent cricketers Leicestershire cricketers Living people Mumbai Indians cricketers New Zealand Test cricketers New Zealand One Day International cricketers New Zealand Twenty20 International cricketers North Island cricketers Otago cricketers Pretoria Capitals cricketers Expatriate cricketers in South Africa Punjab Kings cricketers Rajasthan Royals cricketers New Zealand expatriate cricketers in India Trinbago Knight Riders cricketers Wellington cricketers Welsh Fire cricketers New Zealand expatriate cricketers in England Oval Invincibles cricketers