Malachy Bernard Loye (born 27 September 1972), is an English former

cricketer 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 ...

who played

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

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, and England A. Loye is a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

, particularly well known for his slog sweep shot against fast bowlers. Deep into a long career, he also finally made his One Day International debut against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

on 19 January 2007 aged 34 years 113 days.

Early life

Loye was educated at Moulton Comprehensive School and

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 ...

, where he played for the university side. He was part of the Durham University team that won the 1993 Universities Athletic Union final against

Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

Career

Northamptonshire

After making his debut in 1991, Loye received the Northamptonshire

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

in 1994, and passed 1,000 runs in a season for the first time in 1996. In 1998 he made almost 1,200 first-class runs including the county's individual scoring record of 322

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 ...

against Glamorgan. In the same game he shared a stand of 401 with David Ripley which beat the record of the highest fifth-wicket stand in England, a record which in turn lasted until a stand by Colin Ackermann and Wiaan Mulder in July 2022. Loye ended up with four hundreds in 1998, a new season best, and was named PCA Player of the Year to follow on from his 1993 award of PCA Young Player of the Year. After a couple of lean years where he made less than 600 runs, Loye has averaged above 48 in every season save 2002, and scored more than 900 runs a season. Now he has over 10,000 first-class runs to his name and has represented both England U19 and England 'A', first touring South Africa with England 'A' in 1993-4, and returning in 1998-9.

Lancashire

Loye transferred to Lancashire in 2003. He was an ever-present during Lancashire's march to the County Championship Division Two title in 2005 and was the county's leading run-scorer with 1,198, including a knock of 200 against Durham. He almost became the first Lancashire batsman ever to score consecutive double centuries but was dismissed for 194 in the next match against Essex. Loye also made a century 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 ...

for the first time when he hammered exactly 100 against Durham, including five sixes and 10 fours. Loye became a mainstay in the Lancashire top-order from there on and his good form provided him with a call-up to England's

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

30-man preliminary squad for the ICC Champions Trophy in India. He was awarded with a benefit season for 2008.

Return to Northamptonshire

After 7 years away from

, Loye returned to Wantage Road, signing a 2-year contract on 29 September 2009. He was released by the county following the 2011 season. Following his release he joined

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

for the 2012 season, making his debut for the county in the MCCA Knockout Trophy against

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

International career

On 4 October 2006 he was called up to the

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

squad for the Hong Kong Sixes event in November. Loye acted as a wicket keeper for the England team led by Dominic Cork during the tournament. In January 2007 Loye was playing for

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 ...

, when he was called up to the England squad as cover for the injured

Michael Vaughan Michael Paul Vaughan (born 29 October 1974) is an English cricket commentator and former cricketer who played all forms of the game. He served as England cricket captain, England captain for the England test team, test team from 2003 to 2008 ...

, and made his One Day International debut on 19 January 2007 when he was England's top scorer with 36 runs off 36 balls. Cricket commentator Simon Mann remarked after the game that ''"Loye's front foot sweep for six off

Brett Lee Brett Lee (born 8 November 1976) is an Australian former international cricketer, who played all three formats of the game. During his international career, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in the world. With his time representin ...

was the stroke of the series so far"''. Loye was left out of England's squad for the

2007 Cricket World Cup The 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup was the ninth Cricket World Cup, a One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that took place in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007. There were a total of 51 matches played, three fewer than at the 2 ...

in favour of Ravi Bopara. Chairman of selectors David Graveney said that Loye could be considered unlucky and had not done anything wrong, but that his inclusion would have made the squad "top-heavy". He was also left out of England's Twenty20 squad for a tournament in South Africa, despite having had healthy stats and success in the domestic form of the game over the previous few seasons and having averaged 57 in the 2007 tournament.

Post-retirement

After retiring from professional cricket, Loye continued to work within the sport. He coached cricket at a number of private schools in England, and also coached at Derbyshire County Cricket Club. Loye also coached cricket in Natal, South Africa, and worked as an ODI coach for the Bangladesh cricket team between 2015 and 2016, quitting due to terrorism fears. https://www.skysports.com/amp/cricket/news/12123/10555709/mal-loye-reveals-concern-over-terrorism-led-to-him-quitting-bangladesh-role

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Loye, Mal 1972 births Living people Cricketers from Northampton English cricketers England One Day International cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers Lancashire cricketers Auckland cricketers Buckinghamshire cricketers English cricket coaches Alumni of Durham University