19 facts about Graeme Swann: The jovial English off-spinner

Graeme Swann belonged to the classic mould of slow bowlers. Apart from being a jolly character who always knew the ways to have a smile on his face, Swann was known for his being an attacking spinner. He generally would deliver the ball with plenty of flight, above the eye line of the batsman, challenging and testing of the skills of the batsmen. His main weapon was the subtle changes of pace. A well-developed arm-ball and great control brought him a lot of success. During his prime, he was the leading slow bowler in the world. But, after enjoying his time at the top, injuries began to affect and eventually forced him to retire abruptly. In true sense, Swann can be termed as the perfect off-spinning role model for the modern day cricketers.

1.Born On:

Graeme Peter Swann was born on March 24, 1979, Northampton county of Northamptonshire.

2. Education:

Swann grew up in Northamptonshire and attended Sponne School in Towcester.

3. Early cricketing career:

Graeme Swann played cricket from a young age and later went on to be part of the U-19 World Cup winning England side in 1998. The tournament took place in South Africa and his teammates in the team included future England players Owais Shah and Robert Key.

4. International call-up:

In 1999, Swann was called into the England squad for the final Test against New Zealand. But, he did not  get play.

5. International Debut:

Swann made his international debut at the age of 20 against South Africa in 2000 during the , before losing his place in the squad. Seven years later he was chosen to accompany England on its tnd ODI of the Standard Bank Triangular Series.

6. Test Debut:

Swann made his Test debut almost close to 8 years after he played his first ODI. He made his debut against India in December 2008. He took 2/42 and 2/103 in the match.

7. Immediate impact:

His Test debut was very memorable one. In his first over as a Test player, He dismissed Gautam Gambhir with his third delivery and Rahul Dravid with his sixth, both lbw. This made him  only the second player in Test history after Richard Johnson (also for England) to take two wickets in his first Test over.

8. Enters into his prime:

The year 2009 was a Swann’s year. He became the first English spinner to take 50 wickets in a calendar year. The same year he clinched back-to-back ‘Man of the Match’ awards in the first two Tests of the tour of South Africa and then rose to third place in the Test rankings.

9. A unique record:

In March 2010, Swann became the first English off-spinner since Jim Laker who took 19 against Australia at Old Trafford in 1956 to take 10 wickets in a match. He achieved the feat in England’s victory over Bangladesh in the first Test of the away series at Chittagong.

10. Part of the 1st major ICC tournament victory:

Swann was part of the England team which won the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies. Swann finished the tournament with 10 wickets at an average of 14.40, with best figures of 3/24 against South Africa in the super eights.

11. ECB Cricketer of the year:

Swann was named ECB Cricketer of the Year in 2010. The ECB declared his international career to be a “remarkable 12 months in which his attacking off-spin and hard-hitting lower-order batting have proved instrumental in one of the most successful years that the England cricket team has ever known.”

13. Part of the No.1 ranked team:

In 2011, Swann was part of the England team that claimed the No. 1 ranking in Test cricket and between July and October that year was the No. 1 ranked bowler in ODIs.

14. Love for music:

Swann is a part-time musician with his band, Dr Comfort and the Lurid Revelations. He is the lead singer and plays cover songs in gigs around Nottinghamshire.

15. Retirement:

Following the 2013–14 Ashes series loss, he retired from international cricket on 21 December 2013 with immediate effect.

16. Oversleeping problems:

Graeme Swann is known for his bad sleeping bits. There have been many occasion when he has missed team busses due to oversleeping

17. The Flying Saucer ball:

An off-spinner needs lot of variations in order to stay in competition with the batsmen. Some have carom ball, some use Doosra but Swann possessed hi own kind of delivery. It was a flat spinner delivery that he has nicknamed his “flying saucer ball” which rotates around its horizontal axis of the seam and generally bounces straight on.

18. Personal Life:

Swann married his partner Sarah on 29 January 2010. Both live in Nottingham with their two children, Wilfred (born 17 February 2011) and Charlotte (born 18 October 2012). The couple also had two pet cats, Max and Freddy.

19. Hobbies:

Swann has an interest in football and show active involvement in that sport through Twitter where he is seen tweeting about the matches he watches. The former England off-spinner had revealed on the BBC’s Football Focus that he supports Newcastle United and Blyth Spartans.