Michael Lumb (cricketer)

English cricketer

Michael John Lumb (born 12 February 1980) is a former South African born English cricketer, who played for Yorkshire, Hampshire, and Nottinghamshire at county level and England in Twenty20 International cricket and One Day International cricket. Born and raised in South Africa, Lumb is a left handed opening batsman and a right arm medium pace bowler. He became only the second cricketer after Dennis Amiss to score a century on ODI debut for England and ninth player overall to do so. Lumb was a member of the England team that won the 2010 ICC World Twenty20.

The son of prolific Yorkshire opener Richard Lumb, Lumb was born in South Africa and was educated at Montrose Primary, then St Stithians College in Johannesburg. He was in the South Africa national under 19 cricket team squad for the 1998 Under 19 Cricket World Cup. Lumb made his way through the junior teams in Transvaal before returning to his roots to play for Yorkshire. A hard hitting batsman, Lumb made his county debut in 2000, scoring 66 not out against the touring Zimbabweans. A knee injury in 2001 meant that Lumb played only a small part in Yorkshire's success in winning the County Championship that year, although he did record a maiden first class hundred against Leicestershire. In doing so, Lumb became part of only the fourth father and son pair to score centuries for Yorkshire. Lumb made progress in 2002 by becoming a regular member of both the championship and limited overs sides and, in 2003, scored close to a thousand first class runs at an average of over 40, including two centuries and six fifties. He was selected for the ECB National Academy squad the following winter, but failed to kick on as people expected and was dropped by Yorkshire during the 2005 season. He averaged in the middle thirties for the 2005 and 2006 seasons, with a top score of 144 in 2006 but, at the end of the season, decided against renewing his contract and moved to Hampshire for the 2007 County Championship. For the season of IPL 2011, Lumb was picked up by Deccan Chargers. On 10 November 2010, Lumb agreed to terms with the Queensland Bulls to play in the 2010/11 KFC Big Bash season. On 22 July 2011, Lumb signed with the Sydney Sixers for Australia's Big Bash League as one of their two allowed overseas players He was part of the Sixers' squad that won the 2012 Champions League Twenty20. Lumb scored an unbeaten 82 in the final and was named man of the match. It was announced on 10 August 2011, that Lumb would join Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club from the 2012 season, on a 3 year deal.

In July 2017, Lumb was forced to retire from cricket due to an ankle injury.

Lumb was selected in England's fifteen man squad for the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 held in the West Indies. He made his Twenty20 International debut against the West Indies, where opening the innings, he hit a quickfire 28 before being bowled by Chris Gayle. Lumb played in all of England's seven matches in the tournament, where he helped to form a fast paced opening partnership with Craig Kieswetter. Lumb scored 137 runs in the tournament at a batting average of 19.57 and a high score of 33. Lumb ended on a high note by collecting a winners medal, as England defeated Australia by seven wickets to win the tournament. During the match, he ran out David Warner and scored two runs with the bat off four deliveries. He scored a match winning 50 against India on the second of two games and proved that he deserved a place in the England team. Lumb made his ODI debut against the West Indies on 28 February 2014, where he scored a century. During the course of his ODI century on debut, he become the oldest player to score a hundred on debut in international ODI cricket. In the same tour, he scored his highest T20 score and a few months later, was part of England's 2014 ICC Twenty World Cup squad in Bangladesh, playing in all of England's matches.