Graeme Swann
Graeme Peter Swann is an English former cricketer who played all three formats of the game. Born in Northampton, he attended Sponne School in Towcester, Northamptonshire. He was primarily a right-arm off-spinner, and also a capable late-order batsman with four first-class centuries, and often fielded at second slip. Swann could score quickly; his test strike rate is the third highest of any English batsman to have scored at least 1000 runs after Harry Brook and Ben Duckett. Swann was a member of the England team that won the 2010 ICC World Twenty20.
After initially playing for his home county Northamptonshire, for whom he made his debut in 1997, he moved to Nottinghamshire in 2005.
Swann played a very poor single One Day International against South Africa in 2000, before losing his place in the squad. Seven years later he was chosen to accompany England on its tour of Sri Lanka as the team's second spin bowler, alongside Monty Panesar, and subsequently cemented a regular place in England's Test team, playing throughout England's 2–1 victory in the 2009 Ashes. In December 2009, he became the first English spinner to take 50 wickets in a calendar year, culminating in back-to-back man of the match awards in the first two Tests of the tour of South Africa and rising to third place in the world rankings for bowlers.
In March 2010, Swann became the first English off-spinner since Jim Laker to take 10 wickets in a match when he achieved the feat in England's victory in the first Test in Bangladesh. In May, he was named ECB Cricketer of the Year. In 2011 Swann was part of the England team that claimed the No. 1 ranking in Test cricket and between July and October that year was the No. 1 ranked bowler in ODIs.
During the 2013–14 Ashes series loss, he retired from international cricket on 21 December 2013 with immediate effect. After retirement, Swann took part in the BBC television show Strictly Come Dancing.
Career
Early years (1998–2007)
Swann began his domestic career for Northamptonshire. As a teenager, he was part of the U-19 World Cup winning side in 1998, a tournament that took part in South Africa.Against Leicestershire in 1998 he scored 92 and 111, his maiden first-class half-century and century. Touring South Africa and Zimbabwe with the England A-team that winter, Swann took 21 wickets at 25.61 and averaged 22 with the bat. Wisden commented,
In 1999, Swann was brought into the England squad for the final Test against New Zealand. He did not play, but featured in an ODI against South Africa following an injury to Ashley Giles. This tour also saw him miss the team bus once due to oversleeping.
In domestic cricket, Swann scored his highest first-class score of 183 in 2002, sharing a partnership of 318 with Northants captain Mike Hussey.
He moved to Nottinghamshire in 2005, and finished the season of 2007 with 516 runs and 45 wickets, leading to his recall to the England side against Sri Lanka. While England fell heavily in defeat during the first match, Swann hit 34 to help seal victory in the second, and took four for 34 and hit 25 in the third as England took a two-one lead in the series.
An unsuccessful tour of New Zealand followed, and Swann was unable consistently to occupy a place in the England ODI side. He remained in the squad but faced tough competition from Samit Patel, who had already taken his first ODI five-wicket haul, against South Africa in his third match.
Test breakthrough (2008–2009)
Following a loss of form by Monty Panesar, alongside whom Swann had played for Northamptonshire, Swann made his Test debut against India in December 2008, and made an immediate impact, dismissing Gautam Gambhir with his third delivery and Rahul Dravid with his sixth, both lbw, thus becoming only the second player in Test history after Richard Johnson to take two wickets in his first Test over.In the Third Test in the West Indies in February 2009, he was brought back into the Test fold following the poor form of Panesar, and in this match collected his first five-wicket haul in a Test, 5 for 57 in the West Indies' first innings, including two wickets in two balls. This was the second-best performance ever by any spinner in Antigua. Swann also collected five wickets in the first of the West Indian innings in the Fourth Test.
In addition to a score of 63 not out batting at 9, he took six more wickets in the first home Test of 2009, again against the West Indies, at Lord's. This included three for sixteen in five overs in the first innings, removing Devon Smith, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Brendan Nash.
At the end of the one-day series against the same opposition, the England players were permitted to rejoin their counties in the build-up to the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 tournament. Swann gave a good account of himself in the World Twenty20, bowling tidily for his five wickets "while showing the passion for playing for his country that," according to journalist Nick Hoult, "endears him to England supporters."
The Ashes (2009)
Swann had done enough in the year preceding the 2009 Ashes to be considered England's premier spinner, overtaking Panesar. The pertinent question was not whether Swann would play, but which of Panesar and Adil Rashid, the other two spinners in the England squad, would play with him. He went on to play in all five matches of the series. Panesar was selected for the first Test, but his bowling did not impress and he was dropped for the remainder of the series, leaving Swann as England's only slow bowler.In the first Test at Sophia Gardens, Swann hit a first-innings 47 not out from 40 balls. His bowling was anodyne, failing to pick up a wicket in 38 overs in Australia's only innings, in which they amassed 674 for 6 declared with four centurions, but his second-innings 31 helped England salvage a draw, as Australia were unable to take the final English wicket with Panesar and James Anderson at the crease.
At Lord's, Swann was part of England's first-innings slide from 302 for 3 to 425 all out, and was only required to bowl one over in Australia's first innings, as England's seamers combined to bowl Australia out for 215. However, in Australia's second innings, after Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin had briefly made a mammoth 522-run target seem attainable, Swann combined with Andrew Flintoff to bowl Australia out, taking the key wicket of Michael Clarke bowled for 136. Swann took the final wicket of Mitchell Johnson, bowled for 63, to finish with second-innings figures of 4 for 87 and complete England's first victory against Australia at Lord's since 1934.
At Edgbaston, Swann was only required to bowl two first-innings overs, but nonetheless made England's first breakthrough, trapping Simon Katich lbw to end an 85-run opening partnership. With the bat he contributed 24 from 20 balls as England's lower-middle order powered the side to a 113-run first-innings lead, and with England pursuing victory he clean bowled Ricky Ponting with a sharply turning offbreak, but on the final day his bowling was anodyne, failing to take another wicket as Australia drew the match with ease, losing only three wickets on the final day.
At Headingley Swann made a duck in England's first-innings collapse to 102 all out, and failed to take a wicket in Australia's total of 445. In the second innings he hit a defiant 62 but could not stave off an innings defeat.
England therefore progressed to the Oval with the series level at 1–1 and with a victory required to regain the Ashes. Swann took 4 for 38, combining with Stuart Broad to bowl Australia out for 160. He hit a 55-ball 63 in England's second innings, sharing a 13-over partnership of 90 with debutant Jonathan Trott.
On the final day of the series Swann made England's first breakthrough in the fourth over of the day, trapping Simon Katich lbw. He claimed figures of 4 for 120, taking his tally of wickets to eight in the match, including the final wicket, Mike Hussey caught at short leg by Alastair Cook for 121, to clinch the Ashes series. He finished the series with an aggregate of 249 runs at an average of 35.57, and 14 wickets.
Following the Ashes, the two sides faced each other in a seven-match ODI series. After losing the first six, England managed a win in the final fixture; Swann took 5/28 in the match, his first five-wicket haul in ODIs.
South Africa and Bangladesh (2009–2010)
, England toured South Africa for a four-Test series. Expected to be a close contest, the series was tied 1–1. Swann contributed 21 wickets, and was the leading wicket-taker on either side in country not historically suited to spin bowlers. Ashwell Prince suffered in particular against Swann's bowling, and was dismissed three times from five deliveries by Swann. His lower-order batting also proved useful, helping save one match, and his Test-best knock of 85 in the first fixture was the highest score of the England innings. His performance in the second Test meant that Swann finished his first full year of Test cricket ranked third in the world bowling rankings, behind Dale Steyn and Mitchell Johnson. As well as Man of the Match awards in the first and second Tests, Swann received a tied man of the series award along with Mark Boucher.England's next assignment was a tour of Bangladesh in March 2010. The ODI series was a 3–0 whitewash for England, with Swann taking seven wickets, behind just seamer Tim Bresnan with eight. Even with a weakened side, taking the opportunity to blood new players, England were expected to easily win the two-match Test series. In the first match Swann took his maiden ten-wicket haul in Tests; it was the first time an off-spinner had taken ten wickets in a match for England since Jim Laker took 19 against Australia at Old Trafford in 1956. The pitch at Chittagong offered little for fast bowlers, leaving Swann with the bulk of the work. The performance, claiming 10/217 from 78.3 overs, earned him the Man of the Match award and raised him to second place in the ICC's Test bowling rankings. Claiming six wickets in the second Test to guide England to a 2–0 whitewash, Swann was named Man of the Series.