Profile:
Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, of English parents, Andy
Caddick was to become one of England's finest bowlers of the era.
He toured Australia with New Zealand's Young Cricketers to play in
the Youth World Cup (1987-88), and England (1988). It was after
this second trip that he decided to stay in England, somewhat
unimpressed with cricket in his former country. He played club
cricket in London, as well as representing Middlesex Second XI in
1989, before being lured to Taunton by Somerset. Taking 96 wickets
(at an average of 12), he was the Rapid Cricketline Second XI
Player of Year (1991), but his chances in the first team were
limited by the presence of Jimmy Cook, as Caddick served the
four-year period to qualify as an English player.
Caddick's first full season was
1992, and his impact at Taunton was dramatic: 71 wickets (at 27
apiece) earned him his county cap and a place on the A tour to
Australia. He was clearly the best bowler on the trip, and when
the new season began with 32 wickets in the first three
Championship games, (including an awesome, career best, 9-32
against Lancashire at Taunton) he was picked for both the one-day
and Test squads to play against Australia.
It was a difficult start. On flat
pitches and against a strong Australian batting line-up Caddick
could find little penetration, one incisive spell at Trent Bridge
apart. Dropped later that summer, he played a valuable role on
England's tour of the West Indies that followed, with 6-65 at
Port-of-Spain (as England's winning position was snatched away by
being bowled out for 46 in their second innings) and 5-63 at
Bridgetown (as England won) being the personal highlights. His
last wicket of the tour was BC Lara - caught Russell, bowled
Caddick 375. He missed much of 1994 and 1995 (though he did record
his highest first-class score to date, 92 against Worcestershire),
first with a shoulder injury, and then with serious shin problems
that threatened his career, before an operation and
specially-designed boots eventually cured the problem. He spent
the winter painting and repairing the boundary boards at Taunton,
putting his experience in the family business to good use.
Caddick won a Test recall in 1996
by taking a further 73 first-class wickets and a NatWest
hat-trick, but after six wickets at Leeds he was rather
surprisingly dropped. The opposition captain, Wasim Akram
commented that Pakistan were "relieved" not to be facing
"England's best bowler." Caddick had a reputation of
being somewhat withdrawn and severe, but it was with disbelief
that the Somerset faithful heard reports of his lack of
committment on English trips. He has become a legend at Taunton,
where along with Garner, Botham and Cartwright, he has every right
to think of himself as one of the finest seamers ever to play for
the club. Often carrying a heavy workload, his determination and
enthusiasm have been unquestionable. His desire was publicly
questioned by the England coach, David Lloyd, when he remained out
of the Test team in Zimbabwe, before playing a key part in
successive victories in New Zealand.
Caddick began the next summer
(1997) as part of the England team, and took 5-50 as Australia
were dismissed for 118 at Edgbaston, giving England a 1-0 series
lead. 4-71 followed at Lord's as England held on for a draw, but
just two games later he was out of the side once again, making way
for the left-arm swing of Mike Smith. This time Caddick missed
just one game, and showed his worth with eight wickets at The
Oval, including a second innings 5-42 as Australia were bowled out
for 104, chasing 124. He was also the Whyte and Mackay Bowler of
the Year.
Dogged by inconsistency on the
subsequent West Indies tour, Caddick was shown little pity by the
selectors. Dropped after taking 5-67 as England levelled the
series at Port-of-Spain, he was barely trusted subsequently, and
returned to England in the international wilderness. Working with
Pete Wishart back at Somerset, however, Caddick soon eradicated
any faults, and 105 first-class wickets during the 1998 season
underlined his stature as a giant at county level. But despite
abundant domestic success he endured a prolonged period on the
outside, being overlooked for the Ashes tour to Australia.
1999 finally saw Caddick accepted
as a Test cricketer, however, as a new regime of captain and coach
(Nasser Hussain and Duncan Fletcher respectively) offered the
chance of rehabilitation. Desperate to make up for lost time,
Caddick repaid their faith with bowling of quality and consistency
to be the almost unique success of the 1999 series against New
Zealand. He followed this by leading the England attack in South
Africa, where he produced Test-best figures of 7-46 on a flat
Durban pitch, although victory eluded his team. Several resolute
innings improved his worth immeasurably. His defiant efforts
against New Zealand and South Africa almost promoted him to the
ranks of all-rounder. The summer of 1999 also saw his emergence as
an international class one-day bowler. Caddick played a leading
role as Somerset reached the NatWest final, and it was no surprise
that he was named in the England one-day team, in which he
remained a fixture.
By the summer of 2000, at last
accepted as a top international player and benefiting from
increased periods of rest due to the birth of central contracts
(he was awarded a Band A contract), Caddick and Gough combined
with awesome effectiveness against Zimbabwe and the West Indies.
Caddick took 22 wickets against the West Indies (at 19.18) as
England took the series (for the first time at home for 31 years).
At Lord's, as the tourists seemed to be heading for a comfortable
victory, he produced a vicious spell of 5-16 as the West Indies
were brushed aside for 54. More fireworks followed when he took
5-14 at Leeds, including four wickets (three bowled) in an over,
and five wickets in 15 balls.
A high action, following a
relatively short run, beginning with a short skip, bears obvious
comparison with Richard Hadlee. Tall, rangy, with long arms and
legs, Caddick is built to bowl. He is capable of moving the ball
both ways, at a sharp pace, though a natural away-swing accounts
for many victims. He uses his height (6'5") to extract
menacing bounce. Any batsman in county cricket asked to name the
finest bowler on the circuit inevitably replies "Caddick".
Critics point to his inconsistency, and it is true that his first
innings performances are overshadowed by his second innings
efforts (a wicket every 37.26 in the first innings compared to
19.07 in the second), but it is hard to draw any conclusions from
even such a marked differential.
A disappointing tour of Pakistan
followed, but he bounced back with nine wickets on the unforgiving
tracks of Sri Lanka to help England clinch the series. Caddick's
new ball partnership with Gough was now established as England's
finest for at least a decade and he was rewarded with another
central contract for the 2001 season. He was also made one of
Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year for 2000.
The summer of 2001 started well
for the Caddick/Gough partnership. In the two Tests against
Pakistan each took 14 wickets cheaply. In fact it was Caddick and
Gough v Pakistan, for they took 28 of the 39 wickets that fell to
bowlers. The percentage was almost maintained in the five Ashes
Tests, with Caddick taking 15 of the 49 wickets going to bowlers,
and Gough getting 17. Both, however, fell some way below their
usual economy rate.
When Gough made himself
unavailable for the winter tours that followed, what had become
one of English cricket's more formidable opening bowling
partnerships was broken. Although Caddick was picked in the
original squad to tour India and New Zealand, the terrorist
attacks on America of September 11th and subsequent military
action in Afghanistan prompted security concerns amongst several
of the players. After the ECB left it to individual players to
make up their minds whether to tour India, Caddick decided not to
do so.
He returned for the one-day
international leg of the tour after Christmas, but could not force
his way into the team until the fifth match of the series as
younger men had staked their claim to the new ball in his absence.
Within three overs of his return he took the prized wicket of
Sachin Tendulkar and retained his place for the last match of the
series where he helped England to square the series. His form
during the early stages of the subsequent visit to New Zealand
gave serious concern to the England camp. Savaged in the first
one-day international in his home town of Christchurch, he was
dropped and did not reappear until the first-class cricket began.
Quickly into wicket-taking stride
on responsive surfaces, Caddick did suffer - like all the other
England bowlers - when Nathan Astle launched his astonishing
assault in Christchurch, but he had six wickets in the second
innings by then. He had another six-wicket return in Wellington
and four of the first five wickets to fall in Auckland. It remains
one of the game's great mysteries why he did not take another
wicket on what should have been a perfect pitch for his style of
bowling, but he had achieved a personal milestone of some
significance by becoming the ninth English bowler to take 200 Test
wickets.
Caddick suffered a somewhat
disappointing 2002 season in England. Without his injured partner
Darren Gough, he bowled well against Sri Lanka at Edgbaston after
an ordinary performance at Lord's in the first Test. During the
third Test at Old Trafford he suffered a side strain that kept him
out of international cricket until the third Test against India at
Headingley in late August. He did not impress in that match but
was getting back to something like form in the final Test at the
Oval. He went to Sri Lanka for the ICC Champions Trophy tournament
but failed to take a wicket and the selectors must have hoped that
he would be right back to his best for the Ashes tour.
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