Luke Wright - England Career

England Career

Wright represented England at Under-17 level. In 2003 he travelled to Australia with the Under-19 team and took a hat-trick against South Africa, finishing with match figures of 5/46. In February 2006 he toured the West Indies to bolster the England A team.

In July 2007, he was selected in the preliminary 30-man England Squad for the 2007 Twenty20 World Championship in September, having been the top domestic Twenty20 scorer with 346 runs that season, and on 6 August he was named in the final 15-man squad. On 3 September it was announced that he would also join the England ODI squad as a replacement for the injured Ravi Bopara and Andrew Flintoff for the final two matches against India.

On 5 September 2007 Wright made his One Day International debut against India at The Oval, London; hitting a half century in a 106 run 6th wicket stand with Middlesex batsmen Owais Shah. Wright was run out on 50, by a matter of inches after facing just 39 balls, and received a standing ovation. In his second match at Lords he was out for a second ball duck. He also took a good low catch to remove Gautam Gambhir.

Wright was selected for the 2007 Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, and played his first match on 13 September against Zimbabwe, where he was out caught behind on this first ball. He then suffered a number of ducks and single figure scores during the tournament, batting at both number 3 and down in the lower order.

Wright was selected for the 2008 Tour to New Zealand, and after impressing with both bat and ball in the two practice matches, he was selected to play in three of the five matches. In the ODI series, which England went on to lose, Wright hit 71 runs at 35.5 and sent down five overs at the cost of 28 runs. These overs included the final over of an tied-ODI, where New Zealand needed seven to win and only managed six from Wright's bowling.

After this, he continued to be a regular member of England's Twenty20 and ODI squads, playing in home series against New Zealand and South Africa in 2008, although he was never assured of a place in the starting XI and his place in the batting order was uncertain. In the autumn of 2009, he played against Australia, in a 6-1 loss, and in a surprisingly successful run at the ICC Champions Trophy, which was held in South Africa, where England beat the hosts and Sri Lanka before being thrashed by 9 wickets against Australia in the semi-finals (in which Wright scored 49, putting on a century partnership with Tim Bresnan). By this point, Wright had established himself in the lower order where his role was to hit quick runs late in the game.

Following the Champions Trophy, in October 2009 Wright was called up to England's Test squad for the first time for the winter tour of South Africa. His inclusion was to fill the all-rounder's spot vacated by Andrew Flintoff's retirement after the 2009 Ashes. Geoff Miller, England's chairman of selectors, said "The retirement of Andrew Flintoff has created a vacancy for an all-rounder in the squad and while we do not see Luke Wright as a like for like replacement for Andrew, we are excited by the way in which his all-round game continues to develop and believe he can make an impact at Test level". Wright was expected to play in the first Test, however England chose to go with 6 batsmen and chose Ian Bell in a match that ended as a draw.

Wright was very much a regular of the England one day side, however, and was a member of the England Twenty20 squads for both the 2009 and 2010 tournaments where he was a member of the winning England team.