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Full name John Ernest Emburey
Born August 20, 1952, Peckham, London
Current age 55 years 339 days
Major teams England,Berkshire,Middlesex,Northamptonshire,Western Province
Nickname Embers, Ernie, Knuckle
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm offbreak
Other Coach, Commentator
Height
6 ft 2 in
Education Peckham Manor Secondary School
Batting and fielding averages
Mat
Inns
NO
Runs
HS
Ave
BF
SR
100
50
4s
6s
Ct
St
Tests
64
96
20
1713
75
22.53
4811
35.60
0
10
195
6
34
0
ODIs
61
45
10
501
34
14.31
664
75.45
0
0
32
6
19
0
First-class
513
644
130
12021
133
23.38
7
55
459
0
List A
536
355
110
3865
50
15.77
0
2
181
0
Bowling averages
Mat
Inns
Balls
Runs
Wkts
BBI
BBM
Ave
Econ
SR
4w
5w
10
Tests
64
103
15391
5646
147
7/78
7/105
38.40
2.20
104.7
5
6
0
ODIs
61
61
3425
2346
76
4/37
4/37
30.86
4.10
45.0
2
0
0
First-class
513
112862
41958
1608
8/40
26.09
2.23
70.1
72
12
List A
536
26399
16811
647
5/23
5/23
25.98
3.82
40.8
23
3
0
Career statistics
Test debut
England v New Zealand at Lord's, Aug 24-28, 1978 scorecard
Last Test
England v West Indies at Manchester, Jul 27-30, 1995 scorecard
Test statistics
ODI debut
Australia v England at Sydney, Jan 14, 1980 scorecard
Last ODI
Sri Lanka v England at Moratuwa, Mar 20, 1993 scorecard
ODI statistics
First-class span
1973 - 1997
List A span
1975 - 2000
Profile
In the era before Shane Warne when spin bowling was on its uppers, John Emburey was perhaps the best offspinner in the world, which did not say much. He was tall with a classically looping action, and capable of getting huge amounts of bounce and away-drift. But his qualities were submerged amid the grim battles slow bowlers faced in the 1980s: uncongenial pitches and one-day cricket, which forced him to become primarily negative and defensive. He improvised more in his batting, in which he managed to score runs while infuriating bowlers by ignoring both footwork and backlift. Always a willing talker and theorist, he was an excellent senior pro and a promising coach (though he was fired by Northamptonshire before returning home to Middlesex). Over-promoted to England captain for two Tests amid general chaos in 1988, he was fired as capriciously as he was appointed. Emburey was the only cricketer to go on both (1981-82 and 1989-90) England rebel tours to South Africa, and was instantly forgiven both times, which says much about attitudes at Lord's but something about the general esteem for his qualities.
At the end of his playing career he left Middlesex and was player-coach and then coach at Northants from 1996 to 1998 before being sacked with a year of his contract to run. In 2001 he signed to coach Berkshire with the intention of emigrating to Australia at the end of the summer, but on the eve of the season he was appointed as Middlesex's third coach in as many seasons, taking over from old team-mate Mike Gatting. In six years he struggled to motivate a side in transition, bringing in some distinctly average players as well, and at the end of 2006 the county were relegated from the top flight in both the Championship and National League. In 2007 Middlesex brought in Richard Pybus to coach with Emburey moving to the more hands-off role as director of cricket, but when Pybus unexpectedly quit five months into his contract, Emburey returned. In between he had briefly - and remarkably - been shortlisted for the India coaching vacancy alongwith the South African Graham Ford. Shortly after Ford turned down the offer, Emburey followed suit. He parted company with Middlesex the following year, and was appointed as coach of the Ahmedabad Rockets, one of the two new teams in the unofficial Indian Cricket League.
Cricinfo staff March 2008
