A lively right-arm seam bowler, who doubled up as a capable batsman, Ronnie Irani served Essex with distinction for over a decade. He initially plied his trade for Lancashire but the move to shift to Essex in 1994 proved to be the turning point of his career. After a series of impressive performances for Esssex, Irani was handed his ODI debut against the visiting Indians at Brimingham in 1996. He played a useful hand in the Lord's Test with a gritty 41 lower down the order, helping England salvage a draw when a defeat loomed large. In a cruel quirk of fate, Irani was dropped from the set-up soon after that match. He next Test appearance came only in 1999, where he failed to deliver. Sadly, that turned out to be his last Test appearance.

He eked out a spot in the England squad for the 2003 World Cup but figured in just two games with only modest success to show for. This meant that Irani was relegated to the sidelines again, this time for good. The advent of injuries did not help his cause either. In 2003 he was forced to give up bowling and focussed only on batting and captaincy in the domestic circuit. Irani scored over 13000 first-class runs to go with 339 first-class wickets. He quit all forms of competitive cricket in 2007.

By Cricbuzz Staff