Alexander James Blake (born 25 January 1989) is an English professional cricketer who plays for Kent County Cricket Club. He is a left-handed batsman who bowls occasionally.[1] Blake was born in Farnborough in Bromley and attended Hayes School before studying at Leeds Metropolitan University.[1] Blake is known as a "brutal limited-overs batsman" and an "athletic" fielder.[1]

Alex Blake

Blake playing for Kent at Beckenham in 2016
Personal information
Full name	Alexander James Blake
Born	(1989-01-25) 25 January 1989 (age 33) Farnborough, London
Batting	Left-handed
Bowling	Right-arm medium-fast Right-arm off-spin
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2007–	Kent (squad no. 10)
FC debut	28 April 2008 Kent v New Zealanders
LA debut	4 September 2007 Kent v Surrey
Career statistics
Competition FC LA T20 Matches 46 116 152 Runs scored 1,511 2,447 2,150 Batting average 22.89 30.97 20.87 100s/50s 1/6 1/15 0/9 Top score 105* 116 71* Balls bowled 210 264 78 Wickets 3 5 1 Bowling average 46.00 55.40 96.00 5 wickets in innings 0 0 0 10 wickets in match 0 0 0 Best bowling 2/9 2/13 1/17 Catches/stumpings 25/– 61/– 85/–
Source: Cricinfo, 17 September 2022

Cricket career

Blake was a member of the Kent Cricket Academy and played for the county at age group level before making his debut for the Kent Second XI in 2005.[2][3][4] He was part of the England under-19 team which played in an invitational tri-series in January and February 2007 in Kuala Lumpur. Blake made four under-19 One Day International appearances during the tournament against Malaysia under-19s and Sri Lanka under-19s.[5]

Blake made his List A cricket debut for Kent in the 2007 NatWest Pro40 against Surrey in September 2007,[6] before going on to make his first-class cricket debut for Kent against the touring New Zealanders in April 2008.[1][7] He broke into the County Championship side in 2010 and scored his maiden County Championship century against Yorkshire in the final Championship match of the season.[1][8][9]

In 2015 he scored three half-centuries in Twenty 20 matches,[10] including his best score of 71 not out, scored in 30 balls against Hampshire.[1] Blake scored another two half-centuries in the 2015 Royal London One-Day Cup and recorded a batting average of 62 in the competition.[10] After attracting attention from Sussex,[11] he was awarded a new contract at the end of the 2015 season[1][2][10] and won Kent's One-Day Player of the Year award at the end of the season.[12][13]

After only making one first-class appearance during 2015, Blake returned to the Kent County Championship side during the 2016 season, making eight appearances.[14] He hit three sixes from the only balls he faced to complete a Championship win against Derbyshire in May and hit 66 not out against Surrey in the One-Day Cup, scoring a six from the penultimate ball of the match to secure the win for Kent.[15][16]

In January 2020, Blake signed a new white-ball contract with Kent, becoming the first homegrown player to sign such a deal with county.[17]

References

External links

• Alex Blake at ESPNcricinfo