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| Full name | Dermot Alexander Reeve | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1963-04-02)2 April 1963 (age 61) Kowloon,Hong Kong | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm medium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | All-rounder | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1983–1987 | Sussex | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1988–1996 | Warwickshire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1998 | Somerset | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Source:ESPNcricinfo,23 March 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dermot Alexander ReeveOBE (born 2 April 1963)[1] is an English formercricketer, best known as an unorthodoxall-rounder andcaptain and, most recently,coach of theNew Zealand side,Central Districts. He was a part of the English squad which finished asrunners-up at the1992 Cricket World Cup.
Reeve played in threeTests and 29One Day Internationals (ODI) forEngland. He played Englishcounty cricket forSussex,Warwickshire andSomerset. He is a former Hong Kong sports personality of the year, gained for his cricketing efforts in that country.[1]
Reeve was born in Hong Kong in 1963 to parents who were working in the territory as teachers. His mother, Monica, later served as a scorer for a number of England Test matches. He also played for KJS football team alongside captain of the team Steven Markbreiter, who now coaches the Hong Kong based team Sai Kung Bulldogs.[2][3]
Reeve first played cricket in England as a member of theMarylebone Cricket Club Young Cricketers – an academy of up and coming young players between the ages of 18 and 20, who are based atLord's. He signed forSussex in June of the 1983 English season, and took 42 wickets in theCounty Championship at 29.35 apiece. He was given little opportunity with the bat, batting at number 10, but performed the duties of night watchman. This helped Reeve show his batting ability when, as night watchman, he made his maiden first class hundred against Surrey at Guildford. He remained with Sussex for six seasons, his most successful being 1987 when he managed abatting average of over 40, and took 42 wickets at an average of under 30 runs.
His lack of a high enough batting position at Sussex led to his move toWarwickshire in 1988,[1] and it was here that he gained his greatest successes. In the batsman-friendly summer of 1990 his average was 54 runs. He also made his highestfirst-class score of 202 not out (against an attack includingCurtly Ambrose),[4] and two other centuries on the way to a total of 1,412 runs. He averaged over 40 runs for Warwickshire during his time at the Midlands club proving the move a good decision and helping him gain international selection.
Reeve was made captain in 1993,[1] and in 1994 led the county to an unprecedented domestic treble; winning the County Championship, theAXA Equity and Law League, and theBenson & Hedges Cup - though they were defeated in the final of theNatWest Trophy. This achievement came alongside well-publicised differences of opinion with Warwickshire's star batsman,Brian Lara, vividly described a few years later by Reeve in his bookWinning Ways. He was known for his inventive cricket brain and once held the bat left handed and sweptRavi Shastri against Glamorgan - today known as the switch hit.
He experimented with many improvisations; a particular incident against left-arm spinner,Rajesh Maru, ofHampshire saw him drop his bat to avoid being caught out by the close fielders.[3]
Warwickshire retained their Championship and NatWest Trophy crowns the following season (1995). In this year Reeve completed an unusual hat-trick when he was namedman of the match in the final of theNatWest Trophy, the same award he had won in 1986 (when winning the final with Sussex) and in 1989 (with Warwickshire).
Reeve left Warwickshire halfway through the 1996 season. Reeve made over £400,000 tax free during hisbenefit year with Warwickshire.[5] Reeve was named as one of theWisden Cricketers of the Year in 1996, and received theOBE for services to cricket that same year. He moved on to become coach toSomerset (for whom he also played several games inone-day cricket in 1998), and also began to work as a cricket commentator forChannel 4 Television.
Reeve played forHong Kong at the1982 ICC Trophy, averaging 34.50 with the bat and 15.71 with the ball. He returned to international cricket in 1991, playing forEngland. Reeve played only threeTest matches for England, but his improvising style was better suited toOne Day Internationals and he made 29 appearances in this form of the game, appearing in both the1992 and1996 World Cups, playing (on the losing side) in the final in the former tournament. However, he never scored highly in ODIs, and his batting average would have been considerably lower, but for his high proportion of not-out innings. Perhaps his most important international innings was a rapid 25 not out at the end of the England innings in the 1992 World Cup semi-final againstSouth Africa, a match which England won narrowly.[6]
Reeve returned to Hong Kong in 1994 as part of the England squad which won theHong Kong Sixes tournament.[7]
Following his retirement from cricket, Reeve was involved with the Channel 4 broadcasting coverage of cricket from the start when the channel won the rights from theBBC to show England Tests in theUK. Duties included fronting the studio discussions with pundits, commentary, introducing and presenting awards after televised matches, and interviewing both present and past players. His broadcasting appearances featured a repertoire ofimpersonations of cricketing personalities, such asImran Khan andGeoff Boycott. In May 2005, Reeve admitted that he had an addiction tococaine, and had used the drug prior to commentating on the 2004 first Test between England andNew Zealand at Lord's. Reeve duly quit Channel Four after working for five years as part of their commentary team. He also admitted to usingmarijuana whilst he was an active player for Warwickshire but only out of season.[8]
In more recent years, Reeve has worked as a commentator on theBBC Radio showTest Match Special. He also commentated on the Indian Premier League (IPL) English-language television coverage.[9]
Following his cocaine revelations in 2005, Reeve's family built a new life in Australia and New Zealand. Their assets included a $3 million waterfront mansion at Clontarf.
Further scandal was to follow Reeve at the end of 2009, when he was exposed as a seller ofDonald Bradman "signatures" on plain card which were later confirmed by the Bradman Museum to be poor copies of the legendary player's signature.[10]
Reeve relocated with his family to New Zealand in 2006, and was named as coach of the Central Districts States Team in July 2008.[11] Despite leading the side to thePlunket Shield four-day final in 2008–09, before winning the 2009–10 Twenty20 competition, his tenure as coach was at times controversial - one particular incident seeing him fined and censured for accusing England internationalRavi Bopara ofball-tampering during a domestic one-day match.[12][13] On 7 April 2010, he ended his stint as coach of theStags[clarify] by mutual consent to spend time with his family, now living inSydney, Australia.[14]
He served as an assistant coach for thePune Warriors India in the2011 Indian Premier League.[15]
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