Adrian Shankar
Encyclopedia
Adrian Anton Shankar is an English
cricket
er. Shankar is a right-handed batsman and occasional off-spin
bowler. He was born on Ascot
, Berkshire
and educated at Bedford School
during his childhood. Spending the majority of his career on the fringes of county cricket, Shankar became embroiled in controversy in 2011 when he was released by Worcestershire County Cricket Club
, having been discovered to have lied about his age and achievements in order to gain a professional contract.
, following his A Levels in 2000, Shankar proceeded to read law at Cambridge University. It was for the university cricket club
that he made his first-class
debut against Middlesex
in 2002. Shankar played first-class cricket for the university from 2002 to 2005, playing his final first-class match against Oxford University
, while on occasion he captained
the university. Shankar played 12 first-class matches for the University, scoring 384 runs at an average
of 27.42. His one innings of note came against Oxford University in 2002, when he scored 143 runs from 297 balls, before being dismissed by Stephen Hawinkels. This was Shankar's only first-class century
and was the only time he passed fifty. The bowling in the match was later described by Cambridge University coach, Chris Scott
, as "unbelievably bad".
Shankar made his debut for Bedfordshire
while still at Bedford School, making his debut against Norfolk
in the 2000 Minor Counties Championship. Between 2000 and 2006, Shankar played infrequently for Bedfordshire, making 21 Minor Counties Championship appearances and 2 MCCA Knockout Trophy
appearances, which came in 2006. It was for Bedfordshire that he made his List A debut for, against Sussex
in the 2005 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy
at Wardown Park. He was dismissed for 27 runs in this match by Jason Lewry
, which was the second highest score in Bedfordshires' innings. During this period, he played Second XI cricket for the Middlesex Second XI
, Worcestershire Second XI
and Sussex Second XI
, however his career was interrupted for 18 months when he suffered from glandular fever.
After representing the Lancashire Second XI
in 2008, Shankar was given a two-year contract with Lancashire. Lancashire cricket coach, Mike Watkinson
, stated "Adrian is a quality young batsman who fills a gap in our player development programme. He has attracted interest from a number of other counties which confirms his potential". While on the Lancashire staff, Shankar chose to study part-time for a two-year masters course in international relations, also at Cambridge. It fitted in with Shankar's ambition to play cricket for Lancashire as the course required that he only had to be in Cambridge for six weeks of the year. However, Shankar failed to impress and did not play for Lancashire's first team.
, and he signed a contract with the injury hit club in May 2011. Shankar was put straight into the Worcestershire first team, making his debut for the county in the Clydesdale Bank 40
against Middlesex, in what would be his only List A appearance for the team. In this match he opened the batting with Moeen Ali
, but was dismissed for a duck
by Tim Murtagh
. He made a single first-class appearance for the county, which came against Durham
. He scored 10 unbeaten
runs in Worcestershires' first-innings, before retiring hurt with a strained cruciate ligament which was set to rule him out for six weeks.
Two weeks after signing for his new county, his claims that he was three years younger than his actual age and that he had enjoyed a successful season playing high level cricket in Sri Lanka turned out to be false. Shankar was immediately released from his contract. The cricket he played in Sri Lanka was played at a minor level, with scorecards of the series not appearing on respected archiving websites such as CricketArchive
and Cricinfo
, a fact it appears Worcestershire failed to check. In light of this, the England and Wales Cricket Board
have asked Bedfordshire, for whom he is still registered to play Minor counties cricket, to remove him from their list of eligible players. Worcestershire have also passed his registration documents to West Mercia Police who are currently investigating Shankar.
Shankar's deception had begun at Lancashire, with Shankar claiming his was 23. Upon his signing with the county, Lancashire released a press statement which stated the Cambridge University coach referring to him as one of the finest young players the university side had seen since John Crawley
. Chris Scott contacted Lancashire to deny having made such a claim, saying "I phoned Lancashire and made it clear that I'd never said anything of the sort", before going on to say "He was a poor player and there's no way I would have recommended him." In response to the situation, Bedfordshire president Mike Green had to say "Frankly we [Bedfordshire] were amazed when we found out he was signing for Worcestershire because he would have struggled to get into our side. He hadn’t been good enough to get into our first XI for a good six or seven years." Former Lancashire player Luke Sutton
, writing in his blog
for the Daily Mail
remembered Shankar's spell at Lancashire and recounted his and his fellow Lancashire teammates doubts about Shankar's claims. Sutton recalled the first doubt being that Shankar looked out of his depth. His other stories also didn't appear to add up, with Shankar claiming he had been part of the Arsenal Academy
, but according to Sutton when they played football in warm ups he wasn't particularly good. Another claim that seeded further doubts was that Shankar had claimed to have played tennis
at a national level, but when he played against teammates he was distinctly average. Doubts about his age also circulated at Lancashire, with rumours saying his was 3 years older than he claimed he was. Sutton confronted Shankar on these rumours, and when asked why the rumours existed, Shankar claimed he was on a life support machine
for the first three years of his life, saying this made his body physically three years younger than it was. When Sutton questioned the fact he would still continue to grow under these circumstances, he replied "no I didn't" and proceeded to walk off.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er. Shankar is a right-handed batsman and occasional off-spin
Off break
Off break is a type of delivery in the sport of cricket. It is the attacking delivery of an off spin bowler. Off breaks are known as off spinners....
bowler. He was born on Ascot
Ascot, Berkshire
Ascot is a village within the civil parish of Sunninghill and Ascot, in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. It is most notable as the location of Ascot Racecourse, home of the prestigious Royal Ascot meeting...
, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
and educated at Bedford School
Bedford School
Bedford School is not to be confused with Bedford Modern School or Bedford High School or Old Bedford School in Bedford, TexasBedford School is an HMC independent school for boys located in the town of Bedford, England, United Kingdom...
during his childhood. Spending the majority of his career on the fringes of county cricket, Shankar became embroiled in controversy in 2011 when he was released by Worcestershire County Cricket Club
Worcestershire County Cricket Club
Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire...
, having been discovered to have lied about his age and achievements in order to gain a professional contract.
Early career
After leaving Bedford School, where he had played cricket for the school alongside Alastair CookAlastair Cook
Alastair Nathan Cook, MBE is an English international cricket player. He is a left-handed opening batsman who plays county cricket for Essex and International cricket for England, where he is their ODI captain. Cook played for Essex's Academy and made his debut for the first XI in 2003...
, following his A Levels in 2000, Shankar proceeded to read law at Cambridge University. It was for the university cricket club
Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
that he made his first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
debut against Middlesex
Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...
in 2002. Shankar played first-class cricket for the university from 2002 to 2005, playing his final first-class match against Oxford University
Oxford University Cricket Club
Oxford University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team, representing the University of Oxford. It plays its home games at the University Parks in Oxford, England...
, while on occasion he captained
Captain (cricket)
The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player...
the university. Shankar played 12 first-class matches for the University, scoring 384 runs at an average
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
of 27.42. His one innings of note came against Oxford University in 2002, when he scored 143 runs from 297 balls, before being dismissed by Stephen Hawinkels. This was Shankar's only first-class century
Century (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a batsman reaches his century when he scores 100 or more runs in a single innings. The term is also included in "century partnership" which occurs when two batsmen add 100 runs to the team total when they are batting together. A century is regarded as a landmark score for...
and was the only time he passed fifty. The bowling in the match was later described by Cambridge University coach, Chris Scott
Chris Scott (cricketer)
Chris Scott is a first class cricketer who played for 129 first class matches for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club and Durham County Cricket Club between 1981 and 1996...
, as "unbelievably bad".
Shankar made his debut for Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire County Cricket Club
Bedfordshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Bedfordshire and competing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy. The Minor Counties play three-day...
while still at Bedford School, making his debut against Norfolk
Norfolk County Cricket Club
Norfolk County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Norfolk and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy...
in the 2000 Minor Counties Championship. Between 2000 and 2006, Shankar played infrequently for Bedfordshire, making 21 Minor Counties Championship appearances and 2 MCCA Knockout Trophy
MCCA Knockout Trophy
The Minor Counties Cricket Association Knockout Cup was started in 1983 as a knockout one-day competition for the Minor Counties in English cricket...
appearances, which came in 2006. It was for Bedfordshire that he made his List A debut for, against Sussex
Sussex County Cricket Club
Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. The club was founded as a successor to Brighton Cricket Club which was a representative of the county of Sussex as a...
in the 2005 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy
2005 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy
The 2005 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy was the 4th Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy, an English county cricket tournament, held between 3 May and 3 September 2005. The competition was contested by all 18 first-class counties, as well as 10 minor counties and the national teams of Scotland, Ireland,...
at Wardown Park. He was dismissed for 27 runs in this match by Jason Lewry
Jason Lewry
Jason Lewry is a former English cricketer. He was a left-handed batsman and a left-arm medium-fast bowler.Born in Worthing, he played for Sussex from the beginning of his career in 1993 until his retirement in 2009. He has played Twenty20 cricket since 2003...
, which was the second highest score in Bedfordshires' innings. During this period, he played Second XI cricket for the Middlesex Second XI
Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...
, Worcestershire Second XI
Worcestershire County Cricket Club
Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire...
and Sussex Second XI
Sussex County Cricket Club
Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. The club was founded as a successor to Brighton Cricket Club which was a representative of the county of Sussex as a...
, however his career was interrupted for 18 months when he suffered from glandular fever.
After representing the Lancashire Second XI
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...
in 2008, Shankar was given a two-year contract with Lancashire. Lancashire cricket coach, Mike Watkinson
Mike Watkinson
Mike Watkinson is a former English cricketer who played four Test matches and one One Day International in the mid-1990s...
, stated "Adrian is a quality young batsman who fills a gap in our player development programme. He has attracted interest from a number of other counties which confirms his potential". While on the Lancashire staff, Shankar chose to study part-time for a two-year masters course in international relations, also at Cambridge. It fitted in with Shankar's ambition to play cricket for Lancashire as the course required that he only had to be in Cambridge for six weeks of the year. However, Shankar failed to impress and did not play for Lancashire's first team.
Worcestershire
While playing cricket in Sri Lanka in the Sri Lankan Mercantile League he came to the attention of WorcestershireWorcestershire County Cricket Club
Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire...
, and he signed a contract with the injury hit club in May 2011. Shankar was put straight into the Worcestershire first team, making his debut for the county in the Clydesdale Bank 40
2011 Clydesdale Bank 40
The 2011 Clydesdale Bank 40 tournament is the second season of the Clydesdale Bank 40 limited overs cricket competition for the England and Wales first-class counties...
against Middlesex, in what would be his only List A appearance for the team. In this match he opened the batting with Moeen Ali
Moeen Ali
Moeen Munir Ali is an English cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and off-spin bowler who played county cricket for Warwickshire before moving to Worcestershire after the 2006 season...
, but was dismissed for a duck
Duck (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a duck refers to a batsman's dismissal for a score of zero.-Origin of the term:The term is a shortening of the term "duck's egg", the latter being used long before Test cricket began...
by Tim Murtagh
Tim Murtagh
Tim Murtagh is an English professional cricketer.Murtagh is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm fast-medium bowler. He first shone in the 2000 Under-19s World Cup. Though he is first and foremost a seam bowler, Murtagh has progressed with his batting, and has stepped in on many occasions to...
. He made a single first-class appearance for the county, which came against Durham
Durham County Cricket Club
Durham County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Durham. Its limited overs team is called the Durham Dynamos. Their kit colours are blue with yellow trim and the shirt sponsor was...
. He scored 10 unbeaten
Not out
In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress...
runs in Worcestershires' first-innings, before retiring hurt with a strained cruciate ligament which was set to rule him out for six weeks.
Two weeks after signing for his new county, his claims that he was three years younger than his actual age and that he had enjoyed a successful season playing high level cricket in Sri Lanka turned out to be false. Shankar was immediately released from his contract. The cricket he played in Sri Lanka was played at a minor level, with scorecards of the series not appearing on respected archiving websites such as CricketArchive
CricketArchive
CricketArchive is a website that aims to provide a comprehensive archive of records relating to the sport of cricket. It claims to be the most comprehensive cricket database on the internet, including scorecards for all matches of first-class cricket , List A cricket , Women's Test cricket and...
and Cricinfo
Cricinfo
ESPNcricinfo is believed to be the largest cricket-related website on the World Wide Web. Content includes news,articles, live scorecards,live text commentary and a comprehensive and searchable database called 'StatsGuru', of historical matches and players from the 18th century to the present...
, a fact it appears Worcestershire failed to check. In light of this, the England and Wales Cricket Board
England and Wales Cricket Board
The England and Wales Cricket Board is the governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was created on 1 January 1997 combining the roles of the Test and County Cricket Board, the National Cricket Association and the Cricket Council...
have asked Bedfordshire, for whom he is still registered to play Minor counties cricket, to remove him from their list of eligible players. Worcestershire have also passed his registration documents to West Mercia Police who are currently investigating Shankar.
Shankar's deception had begun at Lancashire, with Shankar claiming his was 23. Upon his signing with the county, Lancashire released a press statement which stated the Cambridge University coach referring to him as one of the finest young players the university side had seen since John Crawley
John Crawley
John Paul Crawley is a retired English professional cricketer, who represented England in 37 Test matches. He is regarded alongside his near contemporaries Graeme Hick and Mark Ramprakash as a hugely talented player who failed to realise his full potential at international level.Crawley is a...
. Chris Scott contacted Lancashire to deny having made such a claim, saying "I phoned Lancashire and made it clear that I'd never said anything of the sort", before going on to say "He was a poor player and there's no way I would have recommended him." In response to the situation, Bedfordshire president Mike Green had to say "Frankly we [Bedfordshire] were amazed when we found out he was signing for Worcestershire because he would have struggled to get into our side. He hadn’t been good enough to get into our first XI for a good six or seven years." Former Lancashire player Luke Sutton
Luke Sutton
Luke David Sutton is an English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and wicketkeeper. He won the NBC Denis Compton Award in 2000, 2001 and 2002 and has also played List A and Twenty20 cricket....
, writing in his blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
for the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
remembered Shankar's spell at Lancashire and recounted his and his fellow Lancashire teammates doubts about Shankar's claims. Sutton recalled the first doubt being that Shankar looked out of his depth. His other stories also didn't appear to add up, with Shankar claiming he had been part of the Arsenal Academy
Arsenal F.C. Academy
Arsenal Football Club Academy are the youth team of Arsenal Football Club. They currently play in the FA Premier Academy League, the highest level of youth football in England...
, but according to Sutton when they played football in warm ups he wasn't particularly good. Another claim that seeded further doubts was that Shankar had claimed to have played tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
at a national level, but when he played against teammates he was distinctly average. Doubts about his age also circulated at Lancashire, with rumours saying his was 3 years older than he claimed he was. Sutton confronted Shankar on these rumours, and when asked why the rumours existed, Shankar claimed he was on a life support machine
Life support
Life support, in medicine is a broad term that applies to any therapy used to sustain a patient's life while they are critically ill or injured. There are many therapies and techniques that may be used by clinicians to achieve the goal of sustaining life...
for the first three years of his life, saying this made his body physically three years younger than it was. When Sutton questioned the fact he would still continue to grow under these circumstances, he replied "no I didn't" and proceeded to walk off.