1. Derek William Randall was born on 24 February 1951 and is an English former cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Nottinghamshire, and Tests and ODIs for England in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
24 Facts About Derek Randall
1. 2.
Derek Randall was a part of the English squad that finished as runners-up at the 1979 Cricket World Cup.
3.
Derek Randall played 47 Tests and 49 One Day International matches for England as a right-handed batsman before retiring to become a coach and cricket writer.
4.
Derek Randall first came to note as a cover fielder, as one-day cricket forced fielding standards to improve.
5.
Derek Randall's run out of Gordon Greenidge in the 1979 Cricket World Cup final highlighted this, and his partnership with David Gower was a feature of the successful England team of the immediate era after Kerry Packer had announced the onset of World Series Cricket.
6.
Derek Randall won plaudits for his talent in the covers, won his Nottinghamshire cap in 1973 and went on to score 28,456 runs in all first-class cricket.
7.
Derek Randall batted for the successful Nottinghamshire team of the 1980s, twice winning the County Championship in 1981 and 1987.
8.
Derek Randall did finish on the winning side in the final of the same tournament two years later, and in the final of the Benson and Hedges Cup in 1989.
9.
Derek Randall compiled fifty-two hundreds in all, and made 209 and 146 in the same game against Middlesex in 1979, a feat unequalled at Trent Bridge.
10.
Derek Randall scored 1,000 runs in a season eight times, took 361 catches and 13 wickets at 31.00.
11.
Derek Randall was popular with the crowds, who found his enthusiastic fielding and comic antics entertaining.
12.
Derek Randall was famous for running, rather than walking, towards the batsman in the covers as the bowler delivered the ball and was responsible for many run-outs.
13.
Derek Randall retired from first-class cricket in 1993, appearing that year in a testimonial match for an England XI against an Australian XI at Nottingham, a match featuring many players whom he played with and against in Ashes cricket.
14.
Derek Randall made his one-day international debut against West Indies in 1976, and his Test debut in India a few months later.
15.
Derek Randall made his first Test century during the Centenary Test, his fifth test at Melbourne.
16.
Derek Randall here scored his highest test score, 174, against an Australian attack led by Dennis Lillee.
17.
Fortunately England still won the match, and in the next Test at Headingley, Derek Randall was involved in run-out action for the right reason.
18.
Derek Randall missed the following summer series in England - against New Zealand and Pakistan - but was recalled for the next winter's tour.
19.
Derek Randall scored centuries against New Zealand and India, and one from the position of opener against Pakistan, but he struggled against the West Indian attack of 1984, when he was asked to bat at number three in the first Test match of the summer, and was never to return to the Test team.
20.
Derek Randall played the last of his 49 one-day internationals in March 1985.
21.
Derek Randall was often the selectors' scapegoat for England's failings, and his Test batting positions ranged from number one to seven.
22.
Bateman commented about Derek Randall, "he was always available, always loyal, and his Test average in no way flattered him".
23.
Derek Randall played in more Tests than other Nottinghamshire alumni such as Reg Simpson, Harold Larwood, Bill Voce, Joe Hardstaff senior, Joe Hardstaff junior and Arthur Shrewsbury.
24.
Derek Randall's books include The Young Player's Guide to Cricket and his autobiography, The Sun Has Got Derek Randall's Hat On.