Full name Andrew Richard Caddick

Born November 21, 1968, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand

Current age 40 years 227 days

Major teams England, Somerset

Nickname Des, Shack

Batting style Right-hand bat

Bowling style Right-arm fast-medium

Height 6 ft 5 in

Education Papanui High School, Christchurch, New Zealand

Irresistible on his day, Caddick can also be frustratingly mediocre -especially for England. But for Somerset he is as consistently destructive as any overseas player, even on the belters at Taunton. His action is modelled on Richard Hadlee's, and Caddick sometimes bowls as well as him, finding bounce and movement from just short of a length. He's a sensitive man, though, and if a batsman gets after him his confidence can vanish. He has been called gauche, aloof, and - by his former England coach David Lloyd - nerdy. He retired from one-day cricket after the 2003 World Cup. Despite taking 105 wickets in 1998, he was not wanted for the Ashes tour. But under Nasser Hussain and Duncan Fletcher, Caddick flourished, and formed a strong partnership with Darren Gough that lasted 25 Tests, faltered only during the 2001 Ashes drubbing, and was finally broken when both men decided not to go to India in November 2001. Caddick left his decision until the last minute. Although in the international wilderness, he continued to plug away for Somerset with good results. There is no doubt that he is more of a team man than he used to be. Except when he's running between the wickets. Caddick finished the 2007 season as the leading English wicket-taker, but during an injury-plagued 2008 season, finally admitted that his England days were over.
Lawrence Booth June 2008

Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, of English parents, Andy Caddick was to become one of England's finest bowlers of the era. He toured Australia with New Zealand's Young Cricketers to play in the Youth World Cup (1987-88), and England (1988). It was after this second trip that he decided to stay in England, somewhat unimpressed with cricket in his former country. He played club cricket in London, as well as representing Middlesex Second XI in 1989, before being lured to Taunton by Somerset. Taking 96 wickets (at an average of 12), he was the Rapid Cricketline Second XI Player of Year (1991), but his chances in the first team were limited by the presence of Jimmy Cook, as Caddick served the four-year period to qualify as an English player.

A high action, following a relatively short run, beginning with a short skip, bears obvious comparison with Richard Hadlee. Tall, rangy, with long arms and legs, Caddick is built to bowl. He is capable of moving the ball both ways, at a sharp pace, though a natural away-swing accounts for many victims. He uses his height (6'5") to extract menacing bounce. Any batsman in county cricket asked to name the finest bowler on the circuit inevitably replies "Caddick". Critics point to his inconsistency, and it is true that his first innings performances are overshadowed by his second innings efforts (a wicket every 37.26 in the first innings compared to 19.07 in the second), but it is hard to draw any conclusions from even such a marked differential.

Caddick's first full season was 1992, and his impact at Taunton was dramatic: 71 wickets (at 27 apiece) earned him his county cap and a place on the A tour to Australia. He was clearly the best bowler on the trip, and when the new season began with 32 wickets in the first three Championship games, (including an awesome, career best, 9-32 against Lancashire at Taunton) he was picked for both the one-day and Test squads to play against Australia.

It was a difficult start. On flat pitches and against a strong Australian batting line-up Caddick could find little penetration, one incisive spell at Trent Bridge apart. Dropped later that summer, he played a valuable role on England's tour of the West Indies that followed, with 6-65 at Port-of-Spain (as England's winning position was snatched away by being bowled out for 46 in their second innings) and 5-63 at Bridgetown (as England won) being the personal highlights. His last wicket of the tour was BC Lara - caught Russell, bowled Caddick 375. He missed much of 1994 and 1995 (though he did record his highest first-class score to date, 92 against Worcestershire), first with a shoulder injury, and then with serious shin problems that threatened his career, before an operation and specially-designed boots eventually cured the problem. He spent the winter painting and repairing the boundary boards at Taunton, putting his experience in the family business to good use.

Caddick won a Test recall in 1996 by taking a further 73 first-class wickets and a NatWest hat-trick, but after six wickets at Leeds he was rather surprisingly dropped. The opposition captain, Wasim Akram commented that Pakistan were "relieved" not to be facing "England's best bowler." Caddick had a reputation of being somewhat withdrawn and severe, but it was with disbelief that the Somerset faithful heard reports of his lack of committment on English trips. He has become a legend at Taunton, where along with Garner, Botham and Cartwright, he has every right to think of himself as one of the finest seamers ever to play for the club. Often carrying a heavy workload, his determination and enthusiasm have been unquestionable. His desire was publicly questioned by the England coach, David Lloyd, when he remained out of the Test team in Zimbabwe, before playing a key part in successive victories in New Zealand.

Caddick began the next summer (1997) as part of the England team, and took 5-50 as Australia were dismissed for 118 at Edgbaston, giving England a 1-0 series lead. 4-71 followed at Lord's as England held on for a draw, but just two games later he was out of the side once again, making way for the left-arm swing of Mike Smith. This time Caddick missed just one game, and showed his worth with eight wickets at The Oval, including a second innings 5-42 as Australia were bowled out for 104, chasing 124. He was also the Whyte and Mackay Bowler of the Year.

Dogged by inconsistency on the subsequent West Indies tour, Caddick was shown little pity by the selectors. Dropped after taking 5-67 as England levelled the series at Port-of-Spain, he was barely trusted subsequently, and returned to England in the international wilderness. Working with Pete Wishart back at Somerset, however, Caddick soon eradicated any faults, and 105 first-class wickets during the 1998 season underlined his stature as a giant at county level. But despite abundant domestic success he endured a prolonged period on the outside, being overlooked for the Ashes tour to Australia.

1999 finally saw Caddick accepted as a Test cricketer, however, as a new regime of captain and coach (Nasser Hussain and Duncan Fletcher respectively) offered the chance of rehabilitation. Desperate to make up for lost time, Caddick repaid their faith with bowling of quality and consistency to be the almost unique success of the 1999 series against New Zealand. He followed this by leading the England attack in South Africa, where he produced Test-best figures of 7-46 on a flat Durban pitch, although victory eluded his team. Several resolute innings improved his worth immeasurably. His defiant efforts against New Zealand and South Africa almost promoted him to the ranks of all-rounder. The summer of 1999 also saw his emergence as an international class one-day bowler. Caddick played a leading role as Somerset reached the NatWest final, and it was no surprise that he was named in the England one-day team, in which he remained a fixture.

By the summer of 2000, at last accepted as a top international player and benefiting from increased periods of rest due to the birth of central contracts (he was awarded a Band A contract), Caddick and Gough combined with awesome effectiveness against Zimbabwe and the West Indies. Caddick took 22 wickets against the West Indies (at 19.18) as England took the series (for the first time at home for 31 years). At Lord's, as the tourists seemed to be heading for a comfortable victory, he produced a vicious spell of 5-16 as the West Indies were brushed aside for 54. More fireworks followed when he took 5-14 at Leeds, including four wickets (three bowled) in an over, and five wickets in 15 balls.

A disappointing tour of Pakistan followed, but he bounced back with nine wickets on the unforgiving tracks of Sri Lanka to help England clinch the series. Caddick's new ball partnership with Gough was now established as England's finest for at least a decade and he was rewarded with another central contract for the 2001 season. He was also made one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year for 2000.

The summer of 2001 started well for the Caddick/Gough partnership. In the two Tests against Pakistan each took 14 wickets cheaply. In fact it was Caddick and Gough v Pakistan, for they took 28 of the 39 wickets that fell to bowlers. The percentage was almost maintained in the five Ashes Tests, with Caddick taking 15 of the 49 wickets going to bowlers, and Gough getting 17. Both, however, fell some way below their usual economy rate.

When Gough made himself unavailable for the winter tours that followed, what had become one of English cricket's more formidable opening bowling partnerships was broken. Although Caddick was picked in the original squad to tour India and New Zealand, the terrorist attacks on America of September 11th and subsequent military action in Afghanistan prompted security concerns amongst several of the players. After the ECB left it to individual players to make up their minds whether to tour India, Caddick decided not to do so.

He returned for the one-day international leg of the tour after Christmas, but could not force his way into the team until the fifth match of the series as younger men had staked their claim to the new ball in his absence. Within three overs of his return he took the prized wicket of Sachin Tendulkar and retained his place for the last match of the series where he helped England to square the series. His form during the early stages of the subsequent visit to New Zealand gave serious concern to the England camp. Savaged in the first one-day international in his home town of Christchurch, he was dropped and did not reappear until the first-class cricket began.

Quickly into wicket-taking stride on responsive surfaces, Caddick did suffer - like all the other England bowlers - when Nathan Astle launched his astonishing assault in Christchurch, but he had six wickets in the second innings by then. He had another six-wicket return in Wellington and four of the first five wickets to fall in Auckland. It remains one of the game's great mysteries why he did not take another wicket on what should have been a perfect pitch for his style of bowling, but he had achieved a personal milestone of some significance by becoming the ninth English bowler to take 200 Test wickets.

Caddick suffered a somewhat disappointing 2002 season in England. Without his injured partner Darren Gough, he bowled well against Sri Lanka at Edgbaston after an ordinary performance at Lord's in the first Test. During the third Test at Old Trafford he suffered a side strain that kept him out of international cricket until the third Test against India at Headingley in late August. He did not impress in that match but was getting back to something like form in the final Test at the Oval. He went to Sri Lanka for the ICC Champions Trophy tournament but failed to take a wicket and the selectors must have hoped that he would be right back to his best for the Ashes tour.

It is fair to say that he was not at his best at the outset of the tour. Without Gough, and with niggling injuries of his own, it appeared that he might be over the international hill and he looked a mere shadow of the bowler he had once been. However, by the end of the Australian tour he was back to something near his best, taking seven for 94 in Australia's second innings and ten wickets in the match - for the first time in 62 Tests - as England won the fifth Test. In the VB Series, he had a return of four for 35 against Sri Lanka and a superb two for 23 in ten overs against Australia in the second final.

He led England's attack in the World Cup, and although he finished with just eight wickets in the tournament, half of those came in the game against Australia, in which England came closer than anyone else to beating the eventual champions. He was to play no more one-day international cricket, announcing after the tournament that he was to concentrate on his remaining Test career. Unfortunately, that had to be put on hold when he suffered an injury to his right foot at the start of the summer.

Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2001

Mar 30, 2009

Andy Caddick enjoys a joke during Somerset's pre-season photocall

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Sep 25, 2008

Andrew Caddick appeals as Somerset chip away at Lancashire

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Jun 29, 2008

Andy Caddick bowls against the South Africans

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