Dominic Cork - International Career

International Career

While playing for Staffordshire, Cork made his Youth ODI début for England Under-19's against New Zealand Under-19s in August 1989. Later in August he made his Youth Test début against the same opposition. He played six further Youth Tests to 1990 and five further Youth ODIs to 1990.

Following strong performances for Derbyshire in the 1991 season, he earned himself a call up to the England A team for their 1992 tour of the West Indies, where he played in two first-class matches against the Windward Islands and West Indies A. Later in the year, following further strong performances for Derbyshire, he made his full international début in a One Day International against Pakistan at Old Trafford. He took one wicket in the match, that of Inzamam-ul-Haq. Cork played infrequently for England over the coming seasons, playing just two ODIs each in 1993 and 1994, against Australia and South Africa respectively. However, in May 1995 he played in three ODIs against the West Indies, taking 6 wickets at a bowling average of 21.81, with best figures 3/27. Later in the season he made his Test debut against the same opposition. In his maiden Test match he scored 30 runs in England's first-innings before being dismissed Courtney Walsh and in their second he scored 23 runs before being dismissed by Ian Bishop. His first Test wicket came in the West Indies' first innings when he dismissed Ian Bishop. More was to come in their second innings when from 124/3, Cork unleashed a bowling spell in which he took 7/43 – the best figures by an Englishman on Test debut – to help dismiss them for 223. This performance highlighted that at the time, Cork was the best all-rounder in England and also got his name on the Lord's honours board. It also earned him the tag of "the new Botham" from the media. Two Tests later he became the 22nd man to take a Test cricket hat-trick, when he dismissed Richie Richardson, Junior Murray and Carl Hooper in successive balls in the West Indies second-innings; he was the first Englishman since Peter Loader in 1957 to achieve the feat. Cork finished the series with 26 wickets at an average of 25.42. He also struck his maiden Test half century, making an unbeaten 56 in the 4th Test.

Cork had a productive time in South Africa during their winter tour, playing five Tests and six ODIs during the tour. Cork was once more England's leading wicket-taker, with 19 Test wickets at an average of 25.52 and best innings figures of 5/84. He was similarly successful in the ODI series with the ball, England's second highest wicket-taker behind Derbyshire team-mate Phil DeFreitas, with 10 wickets at 26.40 a piece. Cork was selected at part of England's squad for the 1996 World Cup in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In a tournament in which none of the England bowlers shone, Cork was the leading English wicket-taker, with 8 at 27.00. Despite this, Cork and rest of the England team were heavily criticised in the media for what had been an unsuccessful tournament which saw them defeated by eventual winners Sri Lanka in the quarter-finals.

Later in 1996, Cork had a less successful period in Test cricket, taking 10 wickets during India's three match Test tour at an average of 36.90. Later followed a quiet Test series against Pakistan, in which he had 12 wickets at a little over 36 a piece. His form with the bat was little better in either series, with his all-round ability seemingly having deserted him. Despite this, he was made a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1996. Prior to the tour of New Zealand, Cork suffered personal issues off the pitch with the breakdown of his marriage to his first wife Jane. His personal issues impacted his performances on the field, this was illustrated by his bowling performances. At the end of the Test series he had taken just 7 wickets at an average of 42.85. His batting did fare better, scoring 59 in the first Test and he led England to a series winning victory in the 3rd Test, putting on 76 runs with John Crawley to remind people of the batting side of his game. He fared even worse in the ODI series though, taking just a single wicket throughout at the cost of 145 runs. He would not play another ODI until 2001. Cork described how he was not in the right frame of mind to play international cricket at the time and how his performances were effected by this, further commenting he had no idea when running in to bowl what delivery he would send down to the batsman. There was, however, a feeling in some quarters that Cork was "more style than substance", and during the tour he was the target of a comment from Geoffrey Boycott who alleged that Cork was a "show pony" with "an attitude problem". Cork was prevented from answering Boycott back when injury prevented him from playing during most of the 1997 English season.

Over a year after his previous Test appearance for England, he featured in the Test series during South Africa's 1998 tour of England. Cork's return was fairly successful; he took 18 wickets at an average of 31.83, with best innings figures of 6/119. His best figures came in the 2nd Test at Lord's, thus placing his name on the Lord's honour's board for a second time. He later played in England's only Test against Sri Lanka at The Oval where he claimed the wickets of Marvan Atapattu and Romesh Kaluwitharana in the Sri Lankan first-innings, in a match the tourists won by 10 wickets. Cork later went on that winter's Ashes tour. He played in the opening two Tests at The Gabba and The WACA, claiming only 4 wickets in all at an average of 41.25. This was to be the final time Cork would play a Test outside of England.

In 2000, Cork was recalled to the England Test squad for the West Indies tour of England, where he featured in four Test matches. Cork was in fantastic form with the ball during the series, having arguably his best returns in Test cricket. He took 20 wickets at an impressive average of 12.25, in partnership with Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick, against a West Indian team which was in decline, but that still had talented players like Brian Lara, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose and Shivnarine Chanderpaul. One of Cork's defining moments in Test cricket came during the series, when in the 2nd Test England were 149/7, needing to reach 188 to win, Cork entered the fray. Cork scampered singles and struck boundaries when needed, including a pulled six off the bowling of Franklyn Rose and in conjunction with Darren Gough, led England to a two wicket win in the dusk at Lord's shortly before 7pm. He was later ruled out of the winter tour of Pakistan due to a back injury.

Cork featured in the Pakistani tour of England in 2001 and after four years he was recalled to play in the ODI series involving Pakistan and Australia. Cork had limited success upon his recall, taking six wickets at an average of 35.83. He later played in the 2nd Test of the 2001 Ashes at Lord's, scoring 24 runs in England first-innings before being dismissed by Jason Gillespie. In England's second-innings he scored just 2 runs before being dismissed by Glenn McGrath. He was ineffective with the ball, taking just a single wicket in the match, that of Steve Waugh in the Australians first-innings. Cork later played a single Test against Sri Lanka in 2002 and played his final Tests in two matches against India. Cork's final ODI appearances for England came in the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy against India and Zimbabwe. He had little success and had seemed to lose his ability to outswing the ball, resorting to bowling the bouncer more often and increased sledging toward opponents.

With the end of his international career in following the tournament, Cork had played a total of 37 Test matches. In these he scored a total of 867 runs at an average of 18.00, with three half centuries and a high score of 59. In the field he took 18 catches. With the ball he took 131 wickets at an average of 29.81, with best figures of 7/43, claimed on debut. In ODIs he played 32 matches, scoring 180 runs at an average of 10.00, with a high score of 31*. With the ball he took 41 wickets at an average of 33.36, with best figures of 3/27. His benefit as an all-rounder was best observed in the Test format.