Phil Tufnell

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Phil Tufnell Biography

An eccentric maverick, Phil Tufnell had a career of extreme highs and inexplicable lows. His 121 wickets came at 38, but 54 of them came from 11 innings (the other 58 innings fetched him 67 wickets). His economy rate of 2.42 was the third-best in the 1990s with a 100-wicket cut-off, just after Curtly Ambrose and Shaun Pollock.

This included several outstanding spells: 7 for 66 and 4 for 27 to bowl England to a 19-run win over Australia in 1997, and 6 for 25 to rip the heart out of West Indies in 1991 — both at The Oval. There was also a match-winning 11-wicket haul at Christchurch.

At domestic level his 1,057 First-Class wickets came at 29, despite being underutilised by Middlesex: for a long time he was used as replacement for Phil Edmonds.

Bowling with a curious hop-skip-and-jump run-up, Tufnell was a champion of flight and control on his day, often beating batsmen in the air. But when he was bad he looked clueless, and did not look even a shadow of his usual self.

To make things worse, Tufnell played for a weak English side, where he was often asked to bowl over the wicket to right-handers to stem the flow of runs, especially in Australia and West Indies. Unlike Ashley Giles after him, Tufnell was never comfortable with defensive bowling, and lost his venom.

But then, there was more to Tufnell than that. For starters, he could not bat or field. In fact, he refused to bat in the nets on an Ashes tour (“it was difficult to see how a regular net would ever get me to a Test match hundred”) and promptly got fined. He averaged 5 in Test cricket, and often looked ridiculous while batting.

His fielding gaffes are still YouTube-worthy, and had once prompted Ian Chappell to comment “the other advantage England have got when Phil Tufnell is bowling is that he isn't fielding.”

But there was more. His nickname ‘Cat’ is due to his ability to fall asleep whenever he wants to. He got expelled from his school. In his teens he used to be a punk rock rebel. He got caught, first while consuming marijuana in a toilet, then for trashing a hotel room, then in bed with four strawberry blondes. He missed a match to shop for a refrigerator. On Test debut he had an argument with umpire Peter McConnell on how many balls he had left. He once slapped his wife and was hit back by his father-in-law, with a brick.

He retired out of nowhere in 2003 to participate in I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, a television reality show (that included consuming five live insects), and won it. He was a part of several other shows as well, including Would I Lie to You? (where he confessed of having recurrent dreams of being a potato chased by a pitchfork).

He later hosted The Phil Tufnell Show on BBC Radio 5, and is involved in several charities. He was also given an honorary Doctorate by Middlesex University.

Abhishek Mukherjee

Phil Tufnell Batting & Fielding Averages

Career

Avg

100s

50s

Test

ODIs

T20s

World Cup

Phil Tufnell Bowling Averages

Career	M	B	R	W	Avg	EC	SR	5WI	10WM	BBI	BBM
Test	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
ODIs	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
T20s	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
World Cup	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	2/36	--