Damien Wright
Encyclopedia
Damien Geoffrey Wright is an Australia
n cricket
er, who plays for the Victorian Bushrangers
and Worcestershire County Cricket Club
. Wright made his first-class
debut for Tasmania
in 1997. In 2002 he played in the Scottish cricket team
as their one permitted overseas player—he also had previous spells in county cricket
with Northamptonshire
, Glamorgan
and Somerset
. He is a right-handed batsman
and right-arm fast-medium
bowler. He has a side-on bowling action and an ability to bounce the ball sharply.
, New South Wales
, Wright moved to Tasmania
in 1997–98. He made his first-class
debut for Tasmania
on 15 October 1997 against South Australia
, claiming a wicket in each innings and scoring 19 runs in the first-innings. His one-day debut came four days later against the same opposition, and Wright took three wickets after opening the bowling. He made four further appearances during his debut season, and finished the summer with five first-class wickets at a bowling average
of 56.40, and five List A wickets at an average of 20.20. In 1998–99, playing for the Australian Cricket Academy against New Zealand Academy, Wright claimed five wickets in an innings as the Australian side won after having earlier being forced by their opponents to follow-on
. He only made two appearances for the Tasmanian first-team, both in the Pura Cup
during March, and took three wickets.
The 1999–2000 season saw a sharp increase in the amount of cricket Wright played; he appeared in all six of the state's Mercantile Mutual Cup matches, and seven of their ten Pura Cup matches. He began the season with an economical three wickets in the opening one-day match against South Australia, Wickets came steadily, but not prolifically through the rest of the season. He twice claimed three wickets in an innings, against Queensland
in November, and Victoria
in March. In total, he took 17 first-class wickets at 48.05, and ten one-day wickets at 20.50, both at least doubling his career totals. The following season saw Wright play slightly more one-day cricket, but slightly less first-class cricket. After playing in four of Tasmania's opening five Pura Cup matches, Wright did not appear in the competition again until the final two matches of Tasmania's campaign. Of his 22 first-class wickets in the season, 12 came in the last two matches, with Wright taking four wickets in an innings in both of the matches, against Western Australia and South Australia. His first-class wickets in the season came at an average of 26.95, significantly better than he had managed in previous seasons. In one-day competition, he returned nine wickets, including three wickets in a match Queensland.
He spent the Australian winter playing club cricket in Scotland
, where he helped Grange Cricket Club reach the final of the Scottish Cup. He also represented Scotland in two Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy matches. In the first-round match, he made his first half-century
in List A cricket, scoring 55 after opening the batting
. He made another half-century in the second-round match, and was named as man of the match as Scotland completed a ten-wicket win with Wright remaining 53 not out
.
in a high scoring draw. In his next match, Wright was named man of the match after taking two wickets and conceding only 22 runs in his ten overs, helping to restrict Western Australia to 195 to set up a five-wicket victory for his state. Wright finished with identical figures in his following one-day match against the same opponents, but Western Australia secured victory thanks to a century from Michael Hussey
.
He was selected to play for the Prime Minister's XI
against New Zealand in a 50-over contest, and claimed the solitary wicket of Mathew Sinclair
and conceded 51 runs in his nine overs. Later in the season, he helped his team to an innings victory over Western Australia in the Pura Cup thanks to a first-innings score of 63 with the bat, and two wickets in each of the following innings as Tasmania forced their opponents to follow-on. In Tasmania's final one-day match of the season, Wright was named man of the match—despite his side being defeated by 19 runs—for his return of four wickets while conceding 23 runs, and top-scoring for Tasmania with 40 runs off 36 balls. In the remaining three Pura Cup group matches that season, he claimed six wickets, and scored 48, 55 and 13 as Tasmania drew one match and won both the others to qualify for the final against Queensland. Prior to the final, Wright was suffering with a thigh strain, and was only passed fit to play on the morning before the match. Although cleared to play, he did not open the bowling for Tasmania, instead playing as second-change bowler, and finished with figures of 1/60 and 0/39 as Queensland clinched the title by 235 runs.
Wright toured South Africa
in September 2002 with the Australia A
side, playing three 50 over matches against South Africa A
. He only managed to take one wicket during the series, that of Loots Bosman
in his final match. He batted in all three matches, remaining not out on each occasion, with a 26-ball score of 24* in the first match being his highest score of the tour. The beginning of the 2002–03 season saw Wright fail to make significant impact with either bat or ball until the fifth match of the season, when he claimed three wickets in the second-innings against Queensland. He followed this up with another three wickets in the first-innings of the next match, against New South Wales, and achieved his maiden first-class five-wicket haul by taking six wickets in the second-innings of the same game. He was unable to replicate his wicket-taking form in the shorter form of the game, failing to take more than one wicket in a match until late January. Despite this, his bowling stifled the opponent batsmen; he was awarded man of the match for restricting New South Wales to just 17 runs off his ten overs in a tied match, and finished the season as the ING Cup
's second most economical bowler behind Glenn McGrath
, and the most economical of those who had bowled over 100 balls. In the Pura Cup, he was Tasmania's leading bowler with 31 wickets, ranking him as the seventh highest wicket-taker among all teams. At the close of the 2002–03 season, Wright was selected again to play for Australia A, as they hosted South Africa A. In three 50-over matches, he claimed three wickets, but was more impressive in the three-day match, in which he claimed seven wickets in a draw.
In 2003, Wright played a few games for Northamptonshire
, playing two County Championship
matches, and four one-day games, two of which came against the touring Pakistanis and South Africans. Returning to Australia for the following season, Wright enjoyed success in his early season first-class games, claiming match figures of 5/117, 7/136 and 7/63 as Tasmania won two and drew of their first three Pura Cup matches of the summer. In December of that season, he was selected to play for the Australia A side in a three-day match against India, and claimed a wicket in each innings of the drawn match. He performed well in the back-to-back matches against South Australia in January, taking 4/51 in the ING Cup defeat, and then claimed his second five-wicket haul in the Pura Cup match, taking 5/43 in the second-innings to help Tasmania win by 213 runs. He followed this up with three wickets in each innings against Queensland, In the final three matches of the season, Wright failed to continue his wicket-taking form, and claimed three wickets between them, to finish the season with 37 Pura Cup wickets, the second-most in the competition.
was playing in the IPL.
He played for the Wellington Firebirds
in their 20/20 HRV cup in New Zealand, (2010)
In 2011 he is performing for Worcestershire County Cricket Club for the first half of the season.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n 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, who plays for the Victorian Bushrangers
Victorian Bushrangers
The Victorian cricket team, nicknamed the Bushrangers, is an Australian cricket team based in Melbourne, that represents the state of Victoria. It is administered by Cricket Victoria and draws its players from Melbourne's Premier Cricket competition...
and 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...
. Wright 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 for Tasmania
Tasmanian Tigers
The Tasmanian cricket team, nicknamed the Tigers, represents the Australian state of Tasmania in cricket tournaments. They compete annually in the Australian domestic senior men's cricket season, which currently consists of the first-class Sheffield Shield, the limited overs Ford Ranger Cup, and...
in 1997. In 2002 he played in the Scottish cricket team
Scottish cricket team
The Scotland national cricket team represents Scotland in the game of cricket. They compete in the Clydesdale Bank 40 as the Scottish Saltires...
as their one permitted overseas player—he also had previous spells in county cricket
County cricket
County cricket is the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales. For the 2010 season, see 2010 English cricket season.-First-class counties:...
with Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club
Northamptonshire 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 Northamptonshire. Its limited overs team is called the Northants Steelbacks. The traditional club colour is Maroon. During the...
, Glamorgan
Glamorgan County Cricket Club
Glamorgan 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 Glamorgan aka Glamorganshire . Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. Glamorgan CCC have won the English County...
and Somerset
Somerset County Cricket Club
Somerset 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 Somerset...
. He is a right-handed batsman
Batting (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball with a cricket bat to score runs or prevent the loss of one's wicket. A player who is currently batting is denoted as a batsman, while the act of hitting the ball is called a shot or stroke...
and right-arm fast-medium
Fast bowling
Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling...
bowler. He has a side-on bowling action and an ability to bounce the ball sharply.
Early career
Born in CasinoCasino, New South Wales
Casino is a town in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales, Australia, with a population of 9,400 people . It lies on the banks of the Richmond River and is situated at the junction of the Bruxner Highway and the Summerland Way....
, New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Wright moved to Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
in 1997–98. 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 for Tasmania
Tasmanian Tigers
The Tasmanian cricket team, nicknamed the Tigers, represents the Australian state of Tasmania in cricket tournaments. They compete annually in the Australian domestic senior men's cricket season, which currently consists of the first-class Sheffield Shield, the limited overs Ford Ranger Cup, and...
on 15 October 1997 against South Australia
Southern Redbacks
The South Australia cricket team, nicknamed the Southern Redbacks and known as the West End Redbacks due to their sponsorship agreement with local brewers West End, are an Australian first class cricket team based in Adelaide, South Australia, and represent the state of South Australia...
, claiming a wicket in each innings and scoring 19 runs in the first-innings. His one-day debut came four days later against the same opposition, and Wright took three wickets after opening the bowling. He made four further appearances during his debut season, and finished the summer with five first-class wickets at a bowling average
Bowling average
Bowling average is a statistic measuring the performance of bowlers in the sport of cricket.A bowler's bowling average is defined as the total number of runs conceded by the bowlers divided by the number of wickets taken by the bowler, so the lower the average the better. It is similar to earned...
of 56.40, and five List A wickets at an average of 20.20. In 1998–99, playing for the Australian Cricket Academy against New Zealand Academy, Wright claimed five wickets in an innings as the Australian side won after having earlier being forced by their opponents to follow-on
Follow-on
Follow-on is a term used in the sport of cricket to describe a situation where the team that bats second is forced to take its second batting innings immediately after its first, because the team was not able to get close enough to the score achieved by the first team batting in the first innings...
. He only made two appearances for the Tasmanian first-team, both in the Pura Cup
Pura Cup
The Sheffield Shield is the domestic cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams from the six states of Australia. Prior to the Shield being established, a number of intercolonial matches were played. The Shield, donated by Lord Sheffield, was first contested during...
during March, and took three wickets.
The 1999–2000 season saw a sharp increase in the amount of cricket Wright played; he appeared in all six of the state's Mercantile Mutual Cup matches, and seven of their ten Pura Cup matches. He began the season with an economical three wickets in the opening one-day match against South Australia, Wickets came steadily, but not prolifically through the rest of the season. He twice claimed three wickets in an innings, against Queensland
Queensland Bulls
The Queensland cricket team, nicknamed the Bulls, are the Brisbane-based Queensland representative cricket team in Australia's domestic cricket tournaments:*Sheffield Shield, 4-day matches with first-class status, since the 1926/27 season...
in November, and Victoria
Victorian Bushrangers
The Victorian cricket team, nicknamed the Bushrangers, is an Australian cricket team based in Melbourne, that represents the state of Victoria. It is administered by Cricket Victoria and draws its players from Melbourne's Premier Cricket competition...
in March. In total, he took 17 first-class wickets at 48.05, and ten one-day wickets at 20.50, both at least doubling his career totals. The following season saw Wright play slightly more one-day cricket, but slightly less first-class cricket. After playing in four of Tasmania's opening five Pura Cup matches, Wright did not appear in the competition again until the final two matches of Tasmania's campaign. Of his 22 first-class wickets in the season, 12 came in the last two matches, with Wright taking four wickets in an innings in both of the matches, against Western Australia and South Australia. His first-class wickets in the season came at an average of 26.95, significantly better than he had managed in previous seasons. In one-day competition, he returned nine wickets, including three wickets in a match Queensland.
He spent the Australian winter playing club cricket in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, where he helped Grange Cricket Club reach the final of the Scottish Cup. He also represented Scotland in two Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy matches. In the first-round match, he made his first half-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...
in List A cricket, scoring 55 after opening the batting
Batting order (cricket)
In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time...
. He made another half-century in the second-round match, and was named as man of the match as Scotland completed a ten-wicket win with Wright remaining 53 not out
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...
.
First-team regular
The 2001–02 season saw Wright become a regular member of both Tasmania's first-class and one-day sides, playing all of their matches in both formats of the game. Wright continued to show an improvement with the bat, averaging 34.08 in the Pura Cup, making four half-centuries. The first of these—his maiden first-class half-century—came in Tasmania's opening Pura Cup match of the season, when he scored 50 exactly before being trapped leg before wicketLeg before wicket
In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
in a high scoring draw. In his next match, Wright was named man of the match after taking two wickets and conceding only 22 runs in his ten overs, helping to restrict Western Australia to 195 to set up a five-wicket victory for his state. Wright finished with identical figures in his following one-day match against the same opponents, but Western Australia secured victory thanks to a century from Michael Hussey
Michael Hussey
Michael Edward Killeen Hussey is an Australian cricketer, a left-handed specialist batsman. Hussey is also widely known by his nickname Mr Cricket. Hussey was a relative latecomer to both the one-day international and Test Australian teams, debuting at 28 and 30 years of age in the respective...
.
He was selected to play for the Prime Minister's XI
Prime Minister's XI
Prime Minister's XI or PM's XI is the name of an annual cricket match held at the Manuka Oval in Canberra, with the Australian team picked by the Prime Minister of Australia playing against an overseas team...
against New Zealand in a 50-over contest, and claimed the solitary wicket of Mathew Sinclair
Mathew Sinclair
Mathew Stuart Sinclair is an Australian-born New Zealand cricketer. He is a right-handed middle order batsman who has also opened the innings...
and conceded 51 runs in his nine overs. Later in the season, he helped his team to an innings victory over Western Australia in the Pura Cup thanks to a first-innings score of 63 with the bat, and two wickets in each of the following innings as Tasmania forced their opponents to follow-on. In Tasmania's final one-day match of the season, Wright was named man of the match—despite his side being defeated by 19 runs—for his return of four wickets while conceding 23 runs, and top-scoring for Tasmania with 40 runs off 36 balls. In the remaining three Pura Cup group matches that season, he claimed six wickets, and scored 48, 55 and 13 as Tasmania drew one match and won both the others to qualify for the final against Queensland. Prior to the final, Wright was suffering with a thigh strain, and was only passed fit to play on the morning before the match. Although cleared to play, he did not open the bowling for Tasmania, instead playing as second-change bowler, and finished with figures of 1/60 and 0/39 as Queensland clinched the title by 235 runs.
Wright toured South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
in September 2002 with the Australia A
Australia A cricket team
The Australia A cricket team is a cricket team representing Australia and is the second team of the Australian cricket team. They have also played far more one-day than first-class matches; indeed they have played only three first-class games against equivalent A sides, against South Africa A in...
side, playing three 50 over matches against South Africa A
South Africa A cricket team
The South Africa A cricket team is a national cricket team representing South Africa. It is the 'second-tier' of international South African cricket, below the full South Africa national cricket team. Matches played by South Africa A are not considered to be Test matches or One Day...
. He only managed to take one wicket during the series, that of Loots Bosman
Loots Bosman
Lungile Edgar Bosman is a South African international cricketer. He is a top order right-handed batsman and occasional right-arm medium pace bowler. He plays domestic cricket for Dolphins, and has appeared for South Africa in both One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals...
in his final match. He batted in all three matches, remaining not out on each occasion, with a 26-ball score of 24* in the first match being his highest score of the tour. The beginning of the 2002–03 season saw Wright fail to make significant impact with either bat or ball until the fifth match of the season, when he claimed three wickets in the second-innings against Queensland. He followed this up with another three wickets in the first-innings of the next match, against New South Wales, and achieved his maiden first-class five-wicket haul by taking six wickets in the second-innings of the same game. He was unable to replicate his wicket-taking form in the shorter form of the game, failing to take more than one wicket in a match until late January. Despite this, his bowling stifled the opponent batsmen; he was awarded man of the match for restricting New South Wales to just 17 runs off his ten overs in a tied match, and finished the season as the ING Cup
ING Cup
The Australian domestic one-day cricket tournament, currently known as the Ryobi One Day Cup is the premier domestic limited overs cricket competition in Australia. The competition includes the six first-class cricket teams in Australia, as well as formerly including the Canberra Comets and the...
's second most economical bowler behind Glenn McGrath
Glenn McGrath
Glenn Donald McGrath AM , nicknamed "Pigeon", is a former Australian cricket player. He is one of the most highly regarded fast-medium pace bowlers in cricketing history, and a leading contributor to Australia's domination of world cricket from the mid-1990s to the early 21st century...
, and the most economical of those who had bowled over 100 balls. In the Pura Cup, he was Tasmania's leading bowler with 31 wickets, ranking him as the seventh highest wicket-taker among all teams. At the close of the 2002–03 season, Wright was selected again to play for Australia A, as they hosted South Africa A. In three 50-over matches, he claimed three wickets, but was more impressive in the three-day match, in which he claimed seven wickets in a draw.
In 2003, Wright played a few games for Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club
Northamptonshire 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 Northamptonshire. Its limited overs team is called the Northants Steelbacks. The traditional club colour is Maroon. During the...
, playing two County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
matches, and four one-day games, two of which came against the touring Pakistanis and South Africans. Returning to Australia for the following season, Wright enjoyed success in his early season first-class games, claiming match figures of 5/117, 7/136 and 7/63 as Tasmania won two and drew of their first three Pura Cup matches of the summer. In December of that season, he was selected to play for the Australia A side in a three-day match against India, and claimed a wicket in each innings of the drawn match. He performed well in the back-to-back matches against South Australia in January, taking 4/51 in the ING Cup defeat, and then claimed his second five-wicket haul in the Pura Cup match, taking 5/43 in the second-innings to help Tasmania win by 213 runs. He followed this up with three wickets in each innings against Queensland, In the final three matches of the season, Wright failed to continue his wicket-taking form, and claimed three wickets between them, to finish the season with 37 Pura Cup wickets, the second-most in the competition.
Later career
His prolific season in 2004–05 drew the attention of English county sides and he moved to Northamptonshire for the following English summer, however a stress fracture to his back cut his overseas experience short, and has limited his availability for Tasmania as well. He signed with Somerset for the first four weeks of the 2010 season, while their main overseas player, Murali KartikMurali Kartik
Murali Kartik is an Indian cricketer who sporadically represented the India national cricket team since 2000...
was playing in the IPL.
He played for the Wellington Firebirds
Wellington Firebirds
The Wellington Firebirds are one of six New Zealand first-class cricket teams that make up New Zealand Cricket.It is based in Wellington. It competes in the State Championship first class competition, the State Shield domestic one day competition and the State Twenty20 Cricket Tournament.The...
in their 20/20 HRV cup in New Zealand, (2010)
In 2011 he is performing for Worcestershire County Cricket Club for the first half of the season.