We are delighted to announce that John Emburey, Mike Gatting and Carol Bryant, have been named as Honorary Life Vice Presidents of Middlesex Cricket.
The news of the honours, awarded to two of Middlesex’s most successful cricketers, and one of the longest serving scorers in the women’s game, was announced at Middlesex’s recent Players’ Association Day at Lord’s by Club Chair, Richard Sykes.
Emburey played first-class cricket between 1973 and 1995 and played a part in Middlesex winning no fewer than seven County Championship titles. In 376 appearances he picked up 1,250 first-class wickets, making him the fifth highest wicket taker in the Club’s history.
In List-A cricket Emburey played 398 matches for the Club, and took 491 wickets, making him the Club’s highest wicket taker in the One-Day format of the game. He featured in a total of seven One-Day Cup winning sides in his time at the Club.
After retiring from playing the game, Emburey became Coach of Middlesex between the years of 2001 and 2006 and has served on many of the Club’s Committees.
For England, Emburey made 64 Test appearances between 1978 and 1995 and took 147 wickets, and in One-Day International cricket he made 61 appearances between 1979 and 1993 and picked up 76 wickets. In 1988 he Captained England’s Test side twice against the West Indies.
Gatting’s playing career spanned 1975 to 1998 and like Emburey, he played a leading role in Middlesex winning seven County Championship trophies. In 1983 he took over the Captaincy of the side from Mike Brearley and led the Club to three Championship titles. He amassed an incredible 28,411 first-class runs in 412 appearances for Middlesex, making him the Club’s second highest leading run scorer in red-ball cricket, with only the great Patsy Hendren ahead of him. Whilst primarily a batter, he was a canny right-arm medium paced bowler and picked up 129 first-class wickets in his Middlesex career.
In List-A cricket he leads the run-scoring charts for Middlesex, with 12,029 runs to his name from 443 white-ball appearances and played in seven trophy winning sides – five as captain.
After retiring from playing the game, Gatting coached Middlesex between the years of 1999 and 2000 and like Emburey, has served on many Middlesex Committees and on the Club’s Board.
For England he made 79 Test appearances between 1977 and 1993, scoring 4,409 runs, and had the honour of becoming England’s 65th Test Captain, leading the side between 1986 and 1988 and winning the Ashes down under in the 1986/87 series.
Bryant has been a stalwart of the cricket scoring world for the last four decades and is one of the most well-known figures in the world of Middlesex Women’s cricket.
She first scored for Middlesex at the Area Championships in Cambridge in 1986 and from 1987 began scoring regularly in the Women’s game.
To date she has scored over 1,100 matches, including 450 for Middlesex Women, and has scored at some of the most memorable fixtures in the Women’s game, not least of all at England Women’s World Cup Final win against India in 2017 at Lord’s.
She has scored at a number of first-class county and Test match grounds in her career, has scored for the vast majority of international women’s sides, and since 2012 has been the regular scorer for Twickenham Men’s First XI, who currently play in Division One of the Middlesex County Cricket League.
All at the Club would like to congratulate Mike, John and Carol on being named as Honorary Life Vice Presidents.
Pictured below are John Emburey and Mike Gatting at the recent Middlesex Players' Association Day at Lord's being congratulated by Club Chair on being named as Honorary Life Presidents. Unfortunately Carol Bryant was unable to attend the day.
