Ronnie Irani

Ronald Charles "Ronnie" Irani (born 26 October 1971 in Leigh, Lancashire<!---in 1971 Leigh was then still part of Lancashire--->), is a former England cricketer who spent most of his career at Essex County Cricket Club, latterly as captain. He is of Irani descent, the Iranis being a community of Persian Zoroastrians who immigrated to India during the British Raj. He played only three Tests for England, with decidedly mixed success, but found a niche in One Day Internationals. Irani was once a genuine all-rounder, and had a first-class batting average above 38 and a bowling average nine points lower, but a knee injury in 2003 forced him to stop bowling and play as a specialist batsman. Although initially seen as a major blow, Irani has since said that his inability to bowl has enhanced his batting game as a result of being able to focus more on this side of his game. The recurring nature of this knee injury led to Irani being forced to retire prematurely from first-class cricket in June 2007.

Family

Irani's father Jimmy Irani arrived in Bolton from Bombay in 1961 to play a summer's club cricket. During that summer he met 16-year-old Lancastrian Anne Main. The two married and had a son, Ronnie. Jimmy Irani was an enthusiastic and successful club cricketer who often put up overseas players - as such Farokh Engineer and Javed Miandad among others stayed with the Iranis during Ronnie's childhood.

Career

Originally playing for Lancashire, Irani moved to......
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