Steve Barwick
Encyclopedia
Stephen Royston Barwick is a former Welsh
cricket
er born in Neath
, Glamorgan
. Barwick was a right-handed batsman who began his career a right-arm medium-fast
bowler, before adding variation in the form of changes of pace and off cutter
s, with his restyled bowling being termed by fellow professionals like Andrew Caddick
as the "slowest seam bowling around". Playing for Glamorgan for 18 seasons, he took 768 wickets in all formats of the game.
debut in 1981 against Oxford University
, a season in which he also made his List A debut against Essex
. Barwick played as a bowler
, at the beginning of his career he bowled as a fast-medium bowler. A mainstay of the Glamorgan side for the best part of 15 years, Barwick made over 200 first-class and 268 List A appearances for the county, establishing bowling partnerships with the likes of Rodney Ontong
, Steve Watkin
and Roland Lefebvre
. As his career developed, so too did his bowling, with Barwick sacrificing pace to introduce more off cutter
s into his bowling array in the early 1990s, much like Don Shepherd
. An effective bowler at first-class level, "Basil", as he was known, took 456 wickets in first-class cricket for Glamorgan, which came at a respectable average
of 35.49, in the process making 10 five wicket hauls and a single ten wicket haul in a match. He took his best innings bowling figures of 8/42 in the 1983 season
against Worcestershire
. His most successful season in first-class cricket came in 1989, when Barwick took 64 wickets at 30.43 a piece, it was only the second and final time in his career that he would pass 50 wickets in a season, having previously taken 50 exactly in 1954. Barwick batted as a tailender, but was nonetheless capable of blocking an end. He scored 873 runs at a batting average
of 6.76, with a high score of 30. His county cap came in 1987.
His bowling in List A cricket was more successful, which was aided by his change of bowling style. So rare in county cricket
was it, that opposition players out of respect for Barwick coined his deliveries "Basils". In 268 List A matches for Glamorgan, he took 312 wickets at an average of 26.68. He took a five wicket haul on 5 occasions, with his best figures of 6/28 coming against Derbyshire
in the 1993 AXA Equity & Law League
, with it being on the back of these performances that cricket writers began touting for his selection in the England team to play One Day Internationals. The 1993 season was also the same season in which he won his only silverware with Glamorgan, with the county being triumphant in the AXA Equity & Law League. As his career with Glamorgan entered its final years and he found his first-class opportunities limited as the county sought more wicket-taking bowlers in the County Championship
, Barwick was still an ever present member of the Glamorgan limited-overs squad. His subtle change of pace and the introduction of off cutters to his bowling greatly benefited his bowling in the early 1990s, with Barwick taking over 20 wickets a season for six consecutive seasons. His best was the 1993 season, in which he took 35 wickets at an average of 21.11. His 312 wickets for the county remain the 3rd most wickets for Glamorgan in List A cricket (behind Malcolm Nash
and Robert Croft
). It was in this format of the game that his highest score with the bat was to come, a score of 48 not out
against Worcestershire in the 1989 Refuge Assurance League
. Overall, he scored 349 runs at an average of 8.30. Awarded his benefit season in 1995, he was released by Glamorgan at the end of the 1996 season
.
in 1997, making his debut for the team against Devon
in the Minor Counties Championship. He played Minor counties cricket for the team from 1997 to 2001, making 21 Minor Counties Championship appearances and 7 MCCA Knockout Trophy
appearances. His first List A appearance for the team came in the 1998 NatWest Trophy
against Nottinghamshire
. Barwick played a further 7 List A appearances for the team, the last of which came against Leicestershire
in the 2001 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy
. In his 8 List A matches for Wales Minor Counties, he took 13 wickets at an average of 18.53, with best figures of 3/44.
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
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 born in Neath
Neath
Neath is a town and community situated in the principal area of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK with a population of approximately 45,898 in 2001...
, Glamorgan
Glamorgan
Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...
. Barwick was a right-handed batsman who began his career a right-arm medium-fast
Seam bowling
Seam bowling is a phrase used for a bowling technique in cricket whereby the ball is deliberately bowled on to its seam, to cause a random deviation. Practitioners are known as seam bowlers or seamers....
bowler, before adding variation in the form of changes of pace and off cutter
Off cutter
An off cutter is a type of delivery in the game of cricket. It is bowled by fast bowlers.A bowler releases a normal fast delivery with the wrist locked in position and the first two fingers positioned on top of the cricket ball, giving it spin about a horizontal axis perpendicular to the length of...
s, with his restyled bowling being termed by fellow professionals like Andrew Caddick
Andrew Caddick
Andrew Richard Caddick is a retired cricketer who played for England as a fast-medium bowler. At 6 ft 5in, Caddick was a successful bowler for England for a decade, taking 13 five-wicket hauls in Test matches...
as the "slowest seam bowling around". Playing for Glamorgan for 18 seasons, he took 768 wickets in all formats of the game.
Glamorgan
Barwick made his first-classFirst-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 in 1981 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...
, a season in which he also made his List A debut against Essex
Essex County Cricket Club
Essex 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 Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...
. Barwick played as a bowler
Bowling (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, bowling is the action of propelling the ball toward the wicket defended by a batsman. A player skilled at bowling is called a bowler; a bowler who is also a competent batsman is known as an all-rounder...
, at the beginning of his career he bowled as a fast-medium bowler. A mainstay of the Glamorgan side for the best part of 15 years, Barwick made over 200 first-class and 268 List A appearances for the county, establishing bowling partnerships with the likes of Rodney Ontong
Rodney Ontong
Rodney Craig Ontong is a former first-class cricketer who played for Glamorgan County Cricket Club in England and various South African teams....
, Steve Watkin
Steve Watkin
Steve Watkin is a former Welsh cricketer, with Glamorgan County Cricket Club and England. A reliable seamer who never suffered serious injury despite several lesser niggles, he played three Test matches in 1991 and 1993, and four One Day Internationals in 1993 and 1994...
and Roland Lefebvre
Roland Lefebvre
Roland Philippe Lefebvre is the most successful cricketer that the Netherlands has produced, and one of the very few players from outside the Test-playing nations to achieve a significant career in the professional game....
. As his career developed, so too did his bowling, with Barwick sacrificing pace to introduce more off cutter
Off cutter
An off cutter is a type of delivery in the game of cricket. It is bowled by fast bowlers.A bowler releases a normal fast delivery with the wrist locked in position and the first two fingers positioned on top of the cricket ball, giving it spin about a horizontal axis perpendicular to the length of...
s into his bowling array in the early 1990s, much like Don Shepherd
Don Shepherd
Don Shepherd was a Welsh cricketer, who played for Glamorgan. One of the great county bowlers, he took more first-class wickets, 2,218 at 21.32 each, than any other player who never played Test cricket.Shepherd began his county career in 1950 as a fast-medium bowler, and was a regular in the...
. An effective bowler at first-class level, "Basil", as he was known, took 456 wickets in first-class cricket for Glamorgan, which came at a respectable 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 35.49, in the process making 10 five wicket hauls and a single ten wicket haul in a match. He took his best innings bowling figures of 8/42 in the 1983 season
1983 English cricket season
The 1983 English cricket season was the scene for the third Cricket World Cup which was deservedly won by India.In Minor Counties cricket, the MCCA Knockout Trophy was inaugurated.-Honours:*County Championship - Essex*NatWest Trophy - Somerset...
against Worcestershire
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...
. His most successful season in first-class cricket came in 1989, when Barwick took 64 wickets at 30.43 a piece, it was only the second and final time in his career that he would pass 50 wickets in a season, having previously taken 50 exactly in 1954. Barwick batted as a tailender, but was nonetheless capable of blocking an end. He scored 873 runs at a batting 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 6.76, with a high score of 30. His county cap came in 1987.
His bowling in List A cricket was more successful, which was aided by his change of bowling style. So rare 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:...
was it, that opposition players out of respect for Barwick coined his deliveries "Basils". In 268 List A matches for Glamorgan, he took 312 wickets at an average of 26.68. He took a five wicket haul on 5 occasions, with his best figures of 6/28 coming against Derbyshire
Derbyshire County Cricket Club
Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire...
in the 1993 AXA Equity & Law League
1993 AXA Equity & Law League
The 1993 AXA Equity & Law League was the twenty-fifth competing of English cricket’s Sunday League. The competition was won for the first time by Glamorgan County Cricket Club....
, with it being on the back of these performances that cricket writers began touting for his selection in the England team to play One Day Internationals. The 1993 season was also the same season in which he won his only silverware with Glamorgan, with the county being triumphant in the AXA Equity & Law League. As his career with Glamorgan entered its final years and he found his first-class opportunities limited as the county sought more wicket-taking bowlers in the County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
, Barwick was still an ever present member of the Glamorgan limited-overs squad. His subtle change of pace and the introduction of off cutters to his bowling greatly benefited his bowling in the early 1990s, with Barwick taking over 20 wickets a season for six consecutive seasons. His best was the 1993 season, in which he took 35 wickets at an average of 21.11. His 312 wickets for the county remain the 3rd most wickets for Glamorgan in List A cricket (behind Malcolm Nash
Malcolm Nash
Malcolm Nash, is a Welsh cricket coach and former first-class cricketer.- Glamorgan Cricketer :Born in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Nash was a left arm medium pace bowler who played largely for Glamorgan....
and Robert Croft
Robert Croft
Robert Damien Bale Croft is a Welsh cricketer who has played international cricket for both England and Wales. He is an off-spin bowler who plays for Glamorgan and captained the county from 2003 to 2006...
). It was in this format of the game that his highest score with the bat was to come, a score of 48 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...
against Worcestershire in the 1989 Refuge Assurance League
1989 Refuge Assurance League
The 1989 Refuge Assurance League was the twenty-first competing of what was generally known as the Sunday League. The competition was won for the third time by Lancashire County Cricket Club.-Standings:-Refuge Assurance Cup:...
. Overall, he scored 349 runs at an average of 8.30. Awarded his benefit season in 1995, he was released by Glamorgan at the end of the 1996 season
1996 English cricket season
The 1996 English cricket season saw England host tours by India and Pakistan, who each played three Tests and three ODIs. Against India, England were unbeaten, winning the Test series 1-0 and the ODI series 2-0...
.
Wales Minor Counties
He joined Wales Minor CountiesWales Minor Counties Cricket Club
Wales Minor Counties Cricket Club, representing the historic counties of Wales except Glamorgan is currently the only non-English member of the Minor Counties Championship in the England and Wales domestic cricket structure....
in 1997, making his debut for the team against Devon
Devon County Cricket Club
Devon 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 Devon and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy....
in the Minor Counties Championship. He played Minor counties cricket for the team from 1997 to 2001, making 21 Minor Counties Championship appearances and 7 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. His first List A appearance for the team came in the 1998 NatWest Trophy
1998 NatWest Trophy
The 1998 NatWest Trophy was the 18th NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 24 June and 5 September 1998. The tournament was won by Lancashire County Cricket Club who defeated Derbyshire County Cricket Club by 9 wickets in the final at...
against Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club
Nottinghamshire 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 Nottinghamshire, and the current county champions. Its limited overs team is called the Nottinghamshire Outlaws...
. Barwick played a further 7 List A appearances for the team, the last of which came against Leicestershire
Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire 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 Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....
in the 2001 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy
2001 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy
The 2001 Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy was the 1st Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy following its change of name from the NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 1 May and 1 September 2001...
. In his 8 List A matches for Wales Minor Counties, he took 13 wickets at an average of 18.53, with best figures of 3/44.
External links
- Steve Barwick at ESPNcricinfo
- Steve Barwick at CricketArchiveCricketArchiveCricketArchive 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...