Richard Ernst Levi (born 14 January 1988) is an English-South African

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

er. He played in the

2006 U-19 Cricket World Cup The 2006 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was played in Sri Lanka from 2 to 15 February 2006. The final was played between Pakistan and India in Colombo, which Pakistan won by 38 runs, enabling them to become the first back-to-back champions of th ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. He currently plays for Western Province,

Cape Cobras The Six Gun Grill Cape Cobras are a franchise cricket team representing the Western Province, Boland, and South Western Districts areas in South African domestic cricket. The team's home venues are Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town, Boland ...

and

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

. He attended Wynberg Boys' High school in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second larges ...

and received honours for cricket in 2005. Levi holds a British passport.

International career

During 2012, Levi played 13 international Twenty20 matches for South Africa. He had the highest score of 117*, in his second match, against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

at Seddon Park in Hamilton. He held the record for the most runs scored in a Twenty20 international innings tied with

Chris Gayle Christopher Henry Gayle, OD (born 21 September 1979) is a Jamaican cricketer who has been playing international cricket for the West Indies since 1999. A destructive batter, Gayle is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen to have play ...

. This was surpassed by

Brendon McCullum Brendon Barrie McCullum (born 27 September 1981) is a cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer representing New Zealand, who played all formats, including as captain. McCullum was renowned for his quick scoring, notably recording the f ...

on 21 September 2012 when he scored 123 against

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...

at Palakelle, Sri Lanka. He was also the only batsman to score a T20I century at

Seddon Park Seddon Park is a cricket ground in Hamilton, New Zealand. It is the fourth-largest cricket ground in the country, and is renowned for its "village green" setting, affording a picnic atmosphere for spectators. History Seddon Park was named aft ...

. Levi has since struggled in International cricket, partly due to being a predominantly leg-side batsman and weak against

spin bowling Spin bowling is a bowling technique in cricket, in which the ball is delivered slowly but with the potential to deviate sharply after bouncing. The bowler is referred to as a spinner. Purpose The main aim of spin bowling is to bowl the cricke ...

and dropped from the South Africa squad.

Overseas cricket

Also during 2012, he played for

Mumbai Indians Mumbai Indians are a franchise cricket team based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, that competes in the Indian Premier League and is the most successful team of the tournament with 5 titles. Founded in 2008, the team is owned by India's biggest cong ...

in the IPL. He was reportedly signed for $400,000. Later the same year, he played for Somerset, in the Friends Life Twenty20 competition, reaching the semifinal. For 2013, he signed for Northants for Twenty20 matches, and had great success. In 13 matches, he scored 360 runs, including a century and two fifties. Once again he reached the finals day, and scored 57 off just 35 balls in the semifinal victory over

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, and also played in the victory over Surrey in the final. The following season, he returned to Northants, with the intention of playing in both twenty and fifty over matches, but following a number of injuries to the Northants squad he also played four first-class matches. For 2015 and 2016, he played all forms of cricket for Northants. He returned to Twenty20 finals day in both of these seasons. In 2015 he scored 63 off 46 balls against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

in the semifinal, but finished on the losing side in the final. In 2016, he was once more on the winning team, beating

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

in the final.

References

External links

*
Richard Levi
s profile page on Wisden * {{DEFAULTSORT:Levi, Richard 1988 births Living people English cricketers South African cricketers South Africa Twenty20 International cricketers Western Province cricketers Cape Cobras cricketers Mumbai Indians cricketers Somerset cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers Alumni of Wynberg Boys' High School South African emigrants to the United Kingdom