Graham Napier

Graham Napier

Personal information
Full name	Graham Richard Napier
Born	(1980-01-06) 6 January 1980 Colchester, Essex, England
Nickname	Napes, George
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Batting style	Right handed
Bowling style	Right arm Fast
Role	All-rounder
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1997–present	Essex (squad no. 17)
2007/08-2013/14	Wellington
2009/10	Central District Stags (squad no. 8)
2004	MCC
2009–2011	Mumbai Indians (squad no. 17)
First-class debut	7 May 1997 Essex v Cambridge University
Last First-class	23 April 2014 Essex v Surrey
List A debut	10 August 1997 Essex v Kent
Last List A	26 August 2013 Essex v Lancashire
Career statistics
Competition FC List A T20 U19 T Matches 142 229 102 4 Runs scored 4,914 2,861 1041 138 Batting average 31.90 18.82 16.01 23.00 100s/50s 6/28 0/14 1/0 0/0 Top score 196 79 152* 40 Balls bowled 19,536 7,895 2,143 192 Wickets 350 269 123 2 Bowling average 33.12 25.75 21.82 69.50 5 wickets in innings 11 3 0 0 10 wickets in match 0 n/a n/a 0 Best bowling 7/21 7/32 4/10 1/10 Catches/stumpings 52/– 54/– 29/– 1/–
Source: cricinfo, 26 April 2014

Graham Richard Napier (born 6 January 1980) is an English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast bowler, and is capable of bowling 90+mph.^[1] Napier has played first-class cricket for his home county of Essex since the outset of his senior career in 1997. Between 1997 and 1999 Napier played in four Youth Test matches in England against Zimbabwe, South Africa (twice) and Australia's respective under-19 teams. He was also a member of the 1998 U-19 Cricket World Cup-winning squad. Napier was on the books of Ipswich Town as a goalkeeper and played for a season on loan at Felixstowe Town.

Playing style

Born in Colchester, Essex, Napier is a fast-medium bowler, whose stock delivery reaches between 85 mph-90 mph. Napier has displayed a slower ball in Twenty20 games which has proved hard to spot. As a batsman, Napier can be among the most deadly not only in domestic cricket but in world cricket also. He has twice hit 16 sixes in an innings, once in a Twenty20 match, and once in a County Championship match. His fielding has been known to be slightly below par, but it can be put down to the fact that Napier is very injury prone and he cannot afford to throw himself around.

Twenty20 and 40 over

Napier participated in the 2003, 2004 and 2006 Twenty20 Cups, in which he aided his Essex team to the 2004 quarter-finals.

In a Twenty20 cup match against Sussex 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).^[2] 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, during a County Championship game in 1995.

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".^[3] 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.

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.^[4]

First class

On 19 May 2011, Napier equalled the record for most sixes scored in a first-class innings.^[5] 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

• Graham Napier at Cricket Archive
• Player profile: Graham Napier from ESPNcricinfo
• Graham Napier's Official Website

England squad – 2009 ICC World Twenty20 3 Shah 5 Collingwood 8 Broad 9 Anderson 15 Foster 24 Pietersen 32 Mascarenhas 35 Key 39 Morgan 42 Bopara 45 Wright 48 Napier 66 Swann 78 Sidebottom 95 Rashid Coach: Flower