Phil Neale

Phillip Anthony Neale OBE (born 5 June 1954) is an English former first-class cricketer who played for Worcestershire County Cricket Club, captaining the team to success in the County Championship in 1988 and 1989. He also played association football for Lincoln City, Scunthorpe United, Worcester City and Gloucester City.[1][2] Since 2000 he has worked as Operations Manager for the England cricket team.[3]

Phil Neale
Personal information
Full namePhillip Anthony Neale
Born (1954-06-05) 5 June 1954
Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm medium
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1975–1992Worcestershire
Career statistics
Competition First-class List A
Matches 354 339
Runs scored 17,445 7,253
Batting average 36.49 30.22
100s/50s 28/89 2/32
Top score 167 128
Balls bowled 472 50
Wickets 2 2
Bowling average 184.50 25.00
5 wickets in innings 0 0
10 wickets in match 0 0
Best bowling 1/15 2/46
Catches/stumpings 134/– 92/–
Source: CricInfo, 11 May 2020

Neale was a right-handed middle order batsman who scored more than 900 runs in his first full season of first-class cricket for Worcestershire in 1976, and was then a fixture in the side for the next 15 seasons, scoring 1,000 runs in a season eight times and exceeding 900 in five others. His sole representative appearance was for England A against Pakistan when they toured England. But from 1982, he was county captain, and Worcestershire achieved considerable success under his leadership in the late 1980s. The county won the Sunday League in 1987 and 1988 and the County Championship in 1988 and 1989.

Neale's captaincy and contacts were a factor in attracting big name cricketers to Worcester. He played soccer professionally at Scunthorpe United with the England all-rounder Ian Botham, and when Botham fell out with Somerset, he joined Worcestershire. Botham was followed by a fellow England player, the fast bowler Graham Dilley, and Worcestershire also took on the Zimbabwean Graeme Hick, who later qualified for England. Neale's success in drawing team performances from a side not lacking in personalities won him nomination as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1989.

Following his retirement in 1992 he has been prominent as a coach and team manager at both County (Northamptonshire and Warwickshire) and national levels (England 1999-2020). In all matches, he scored more than 17,000 runs at an average of almost 36.50 runs per innings.[4]

He announced his retirement as the England Cricket operations manager after 21 years on 1st November 2020.

References

  1. Clark, Timothy R.D.; Kujawa, Rob (2009). The Complete Record of Gloucester City AFC 1883–2009. Gloucester: Tiger Timbo Publications. ISBN 978-0-9557425-1-4.
  2. "Phil Neale". Barry Hugman's Footballers.
  3. https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/phil-neale-england-s-loyal-mr-fix-it-has-seen-it-all-during-200-tests-as-operations-manager-a6716646.html
  4. http://www.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/17997.html
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Glenn Turner
Worcestershire County Cricket Captain
1982–1991
Succeeded by
Tim Curtis
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