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Andrew Joseph Murtagh (born 6 May 1949) is an Irish-born former English first-class cricketer. He is now a cricket biographer.

Andy Murtagh

Personal information
Full name	Andrew Joseph Murtagh
Born	(1949-05-06) 6 May 1949 (age 73) Dublin, Ireland
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm medium
Relations	Tim Murtagh (nephew) Chris Murtagh (nephew)
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1973–1977	Hampshire
1973/74	Eastern Province
Career statistics
Competition First-class List A Matches 27 48 Runs scored 640 481 Batting average 15.23 16.58 100s/50s 0/1 0/1 Top score 65 65* Balls bowled 714 570 Wickets 6 23 Bowling average 81.50 19.73 5 wickets in innings 0 1 10 wickets in match 0 0 Best bowling 2/46 5/33 Catches/stumpings 9/– 17/–
Source: Cricinfo, 23 December 2009

Cricket career

Andy Murtagh was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium pace. While reading English at Southampton University, he was spotted by Hampshire, making his first-class debut for the county against Gloucestershire in 1973. That same season he made his one-day debut against local rivals Sussex. After the end of the 1973 County Championship Murtagh played for Eastern Province in South Africa, representing them in a single first-class match against Natal.

Murtagh represented Hampshire until 1977, his final first-class match against Gloucestershire and his final one-day match against the same opposition at the United Services Recreation Ground in Portsmouth. He was more at home in the one-day form of the game. In his 48 one-day matches for Hampshire he took 23 wickets at an average of 19.73 with best figures of 5 for 33 against Yorkshire in 1977.[1] He batted mostly in the lower-middle order, with one first-class fifty and one one-day fifty to his name: both scores of 65, which helped Hampshire to victories.[2][3]

Later career

After he retired from professional cricket, Murtagh became an English teacher and cricket master at Malvern College. He stayed there for 30 years.[4]

Since his retirement from teaching, writing as Andrew Murtagh, he has written several biographies of cricketers:

• A Remarkable Man: The Story of George Chesterton (2012)
• Touched by Greatness: The Story of Tom Graveney, England's Much Loved Cricketer (2014)
• Sundial in the Shade: The Story of Barry Richards, the Genius Lost to Test Cricket (2015)
• Test of Character: The Story of John Holder, Fast Bowler and Test Match Umpire (2016)
• Gentleman and Player: The Story of Colin Cowdrey, Cricket's Most Elegant and Charming Batsman (2017)
• If Not Me, Who? The Story of Tony Greig, the Reluctant Rebel (2020)

Family

His nephews, Tim and Chris Murtagh, have played first-class and List-A cricket – Tim for Surrey, Middlesex and Ireland, Chris for Surrey.

References

External links

• Andy Murtagh at ESPNcricinfo

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