PCA honours 2021 retirees

The PCA would like to say thank you and good luck to the 18 members who announced their retirement from all forms of professional cricket during the last 12 months.

The end of the 2021 season has seen the best performers in the game recognised at the cinch PCA Awards, but the Association also pays tribute to those who have given so much to the game throughout their careers and have now moved onto pastures new.

To mark their achievements, we’ve compiled a list of the 2021 retirees and their individual career highlights.

A career lasting 24 years saw Batty enjoy spells with Yorkshire, Worcestershire and most notably Surrey, making 746 appearances in total. The off-spinner first appeared on the radar in 1996 as part of an England U19 team containing the likes of Andrew Flintoff, Matthew Hoggard and Owais Shah, and he has since gone on to achieve milestone after milestone during his marathon career. The headline stats include: 1,092 wickets and 10,043 runs in all formats, career best figures of 8-64 (vs Warwickshire, 2019) and 20 caps for his country, including nine Tests. The 44-year-old is set to continue his current spell at Surrey – he has already taken on a role as full-time Assistant Coach with the Kia Oval club.

A graduate of the Essex Academy, Chopra broke into his home county’s first team in 2006, scoring a century on his County Championship debut against Gloucestershire. A move to Warwickshire followed in 2010, and the opening batter enjoyed a successful period with the Bears as he lifted the Division One trophy in 2012, before skippering the Edgbaston side to their maiden T20 Blast title two years later. More trophies followed after returning to Chelmsford in 2016, Chopra picking up two Championship titles, a Bob Willis Trophy and a Vitality Blast winner’s medal in the space of five seasons. The 35-year-old finishes his professional career with an impressive 17,995 runs in 425 professional appearances.

A giant of the county game, Clarke was among the top tier of English domestic cricketers for almost two decades. Spells with Warwickshire, Derbyshire, Surrey and England saw him return 17,944 runs, 805 wickets and 591 catches across all formats, demonstrating his outstanding ability in every discipline of the game. A trophy-laden career saw Clarke win three County Championships, two T20 Blasts, a One-Day Cup and the Pro40 league, the all-rounder contributing to his side’s success in every format. With 22 international appearances to his name, the 40-year-old is now looking to the future with his new Head of Cricket role at a prestigious secondary school, whilst also developing the eponymous Rikki Clarke Cricket Academy.

After making his professional debut with Yorkshire in 2005, seam bowler Claydon has gone on to make 375 appearances across all competitions, finishing with 614 wickets in total. His longest spell at one club came between 2007-13 with Durham, and it was a successful one as Claydon picked up three County Championship titles and one Friends Provident Trophy. The 38-year-old has also enjoyed spells with Kent, where he won promotion from Division Two twice, Sussex and overseas with Canterbury and Central Districts.

A professional career spanning three decades saw Groenewald enjoy spells with Warwickshire, Derbyshire, Somerset and Kent. The right-arm seamer took 625 wickets, including 16 five-wicket hauls across all formats, and was a hard-hitting lower order batter who contributed over 3,500 runs during his career. Groenewald took 42 wickets as Derbyshire won promotion from Division Two in 2012, and led the attack in Division One claiming 45 scalps the next season. After making his final professional appearance for Kent in October 2020, the 37-year-old remained at the Spitfire Ground throughout 2021 in a coaching capacity.

Known for his armoury of variations in the T20 format, Gurney finishes his 14-year professional career with an excellent bowling record across all formats. The left-arm seamer took 614 wickets in first-class, List A and 20-over cricket, winning two One-Day Cups and a T20 Blast with Nottinghamshire, the club where he spent the majority of his playing career. The 34-year-old has also played franchise cricket around the world, appearing for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League, and winning both the Big Bash League with Melbourne Renegades and the Caribbean Premier League with Barbados Tridents in 2019. He won 12 caps for his country, taking 14 wickets and returning best ODI figures of 4-55 against Sri Lanka in May 2014. Having hung up his spikes, he is now looking forward to building his pub company, The Cat and Wickets alongside former teammate and friend Stuart Broad.

With 39 professional appearances to his name over a five-season spell with Durham, Harte has stepped away from the game to pursue business opportunities in South Africa, the country of his birth. The 28-year-old scored a century during his second first-class outing for Durham against Kent, the first of his three tons in the format. The medium pacer also chipped in with 20 wickets across all formats during his time at Emirates Riverside.

Hemphrey, 32, broke into the professional game with Queensland during a spell living in Brisbane, making both his first-class and List A debuts for the state in 2015. He became the first English-born player to score a Sheffield Shield century since 1978, before signing a county contract with Glamorgan for the 2019 season. The right-handed batter, who has had spells both as an opener and in the middle-order, finishes with 3,005 runs to his name from 73 professional appearances.

Derbyshire-born Hosein progressed through the Academy pathway at his home county, making his senior debut in 2014. The promising wicketkeeper-batter went on to make 83 appearances for the club, scoring 2,768 runs and claiming 156 dismissals before turning 25. His time in professional cricket was cruelly cut short following struggles with concussion, but the Futures Award winner has put the building blocks in place to pursue a successful second career in finance.

Fiery fast bowler Meaker finishes his playing career with 396 wickets in 203 professional appearances across all formats. He was at his best between 2011-12, when he took 98 first-class wickets over two summers including impressive career best figures of 8-52 against Somerset. Meaker made two ODI and two IT20 appearances for his country, appearing an additional 18 times for the England Lions between 2011-16. The 32-year-old is set to take some time out from the game, and has aspirations to renovate his white Sprinter van and use it to travel across the world.

An example to his peers both on and off the pitch, Worcestershire legend Mitchell leaves the game after 19 years of service at New Road. The opening batter scored 19,696 runs at the top of the order for the Pears across all formats, including 43 centuries. Mitchell was also a very useful medium pace bowler in white-ball cricket, surpassing 100 wickets in T20s during his final Vitality Blast campaign. The 37-year-old spent four years as the elected Chair of the PCA, and remains with the Association as Director of Cricket Operations.

Leg-spinner Poysden had an unusual path into the professional game, playing both club and university cricket before being picked up by Warwickshire and later Yorkshire. Across the 79 appearances that he made for the two counties, Poysden took 89 wickets, making a name for himself by bowling with excellent control and economy in white-ball cricket in particular. Poysden has his own cricket podcast, Spin Badger, which has featured guest appearances from the likes of Matt Parkinson, Jeetan Patel and Stuart MacGill.

Left-arm spinner Qayyum spent eight seasons with Kent, carving out a reputation as a white-ball specialist during his time at the Spitfire Ground. The 28-year-old excelled in T20s in particular, taking 45 wickets in that format in the same number of appearances. He averaged an impressive 25.7, producing his career best figures of 5-21 against Somerset in 2019 at a sold out Spitfire Ground.

Seam bowler Stevenson was picked up by Hampshire in 2015 after playing Minor Counties cricket for Devon. The tall bowler played three County Championship games at the back end of his first season, helping the Ageas Bowl side to avoid relegation from Division One. In 2019, he enjoyed an extended run in Hampshire’s T20 side, and also made his first and only first-class half-century batting at number nine against Surrey. Alongside cricket, the 29-year-old has previously spoken to the PCA about his passion for helping out on the family farm.

Hampshire-born Taylor burst onto the scene in 2013, when he became the youngest player to appear for his county in 135 years at the age of just 16. He claimed a wicket with just his third ball, becoming the youngest wicket-taker in Hampshire’s history. Taylor’s impressive start to life in professional cricket continued when he went on to captain England U19 during their winter tour of Sri Lanka in 2015-16. The 24-year-old retires from the game having claimed 32 professional wickets in the same number of appearances.

One of the finest cricketers ever to be produced by an Associate nation, Essex and the Netherlands’ ten Doeschate retires with a list of achievements to match any in the domestic game this century. After signing at Chelmsford in 2003, the all-rounder went on to make 554 appearances for the club, scoring 17,046 runs and taking 348 wickets in 19 seasons. An inspiring leader, he was made Club Captain in 2016, overseeing Essex’s return to Division One before they defied the odds to win the County Championship unbeaten the very next season. He added further silverware to his trophy cabinet by lifting another Championship in 2019 and the Bob Willis Trophy in 2020. The 41-year-old holds the distinction of being the first Dutch player to win the Indian Premier League, with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2012, before repeating the feat once more two years later.

Another giant of the domestic game, Trego retires 22 seasons on from making his debut following a professional career that spanned four decades. The all-rounder spent the majority of those years in his native Somerset, and in total accumulated 18,828 runs, 646 wickets and 206 catches in professional cricket. Trego finished his career with Nottinghamshire, where he won the 2020 Vitality Blast, and also enjoyed spells with Kent and Middlesex, as well as with overseas teams in Bangladesh, New Zealand and Zimbabwe. An excellent all-round sportsman, Trego has also played in goal for his hometown of Weston-super-Mare, and he is now committed to pursuing a career in professional golf in retirement from cricket.

A product of the Northamptonshire Academy, Wakely went on to appear for his first and only team on 371 occasions, scoring over 12,000 runs in all formats. A natural leader, he captained England at the 2008 U19 World Cup, before being made Northants’ limited-overs skipper at the age of just 24, and Club Captain two years later. The 32-year-old skippered Northants on 198 occasions in total, and is one of the club’s most successful captains having lifted the T20 Blast title in both 2013 and 2016.