Stephen Peter James is a former English

English cricket team

The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...

 cricketer

Cricketer

A cricketer is a person who plays the sport of cricket. Official and long-established cricket publications prefer the traditional word "cricketer" over the rarely used term "cricket player"....

 who played two Tests

Test cricket

Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

 for England in 1998, making 71 runs in four innings. He was captain

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...

 of 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...

 for three seasons before retiring in 2003 after 17 seasons with the club, aged 35. He played a total of 245 first class matches, making 15,890 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 :...

 just above 40, with a total of 47 centuries

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 a highest score of 309 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 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 2000 - which is the Glamorgan record highest score. He scored more than 1,000 runs in a season nine times, with his two most prolific seasons following each other - 1,766 runs in 1996 was followed up with 1,775 runs in 1997, which led to his selection for the England A team

England A cricket team

The England Lions cricket team is a cricket team representing England and Wales. It is the "second-tier" of international English cricket below the full England cricket team, and is largely intended as a way for promising young cricketers to gain experience of playing international cricket...

 before graduating to Test level the following season. James also played two seasons of domestic cricket in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean cricket team

The Zimbabwean cricket team is a national cricket team representing Zimbabwe. It is administrated by Zimbabwe Cricket...

 for Mashonaland

Mashonaland cricket team

The Mashonaland cricket team was a first-class cricket team representing the Mashonaland province in Zimbabwe. They competed in the Logan Cup from 1994 until the format was revamped in 2007. James Kirtley played for Mashonaland during the 1996/1997 season...

.

Since retirement, he has made a career as a journalist, covering predominantly cricket and rugby for the Sunday Telegraph. He also occasionally writes for the Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...

 

Rugby career

James was also a successful rugby player with Lydney R.F.C.

Lydney R.F.C.

Lydney Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in Lydney, Gloucestershire, England. The club is currently in National Division Two South.-History:...

 mainly at the full back position. In a career spanning the 1985/86 to 1995/96 seasons he scored 140 points, including 31 tries, in 81 games.

External links

• Profile at the Daily Telegraph
  The Daily Telegraph
  The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...