Phil Tufnell
About
Charismatic, edgy and likable, self-confessed ‘sporting wild man’ with a deadly left-arm spin bowl.
Career with Middlesex and England
Phil Tufnell was one of the most talented English spinners of his generation. He made his debut for Middlesex in 1986.
Tufnell played 42 Tests and 20 One Day Internationals for England, and 316 first-class matches, mainly for Middlesex.
With 121 Test wickets, Tuffers is in the list of most wickets by an English bowler, and his average of 37.68 is considered high.
Tufnell also received an honorary doctorate from Middlesex University on 20 July 2011 in recognition of his achievements in sport and the media.
Personality/Celebrity
He retired from professional cricket in 2003 in order to participate in the reality television show I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! from which he emerged as King of the Jungle. He was a also a team captain on the sports quiz show They Think It’s All Over.
Tufnell continued to build on his popularity with several television appearances, most notably on A Question of Sport (replacing Ally McCoist as a permanent team captain) and Strictly Come Dancing.
Phil also appears as a summariser on BBC Radio’s Test Match Special, first appearing in 2008, and hosted the Phil Tufnell Cricket show on BBC radio 5 during the 2010 season.
Punditry
Phil has also tried his hand at punditry, working at Sky Sports and Channel 4, and has made appearances on current affairs programmes, chat shows and quiz shows. He has co-authored a humorous book called Phil Tufnell’s A To Z of Cricket and wrote his autobiography, What Now?.
Charity
Phil Tufnell is the president of a cricket charity– Cricket for Change. He is also a Vice-President of UK children’s charity the Children’s Trust, Tadworth.