Cricket is a numbers game every bit as much as Harry Gurney is a numbers man.
As the recently retired Nottinghamshire seamer focusses on new challenges – and indeed fresh numbers – in the world of business, we look back on those he put on the board during his career in the game.
614 wickets; 469 of them for Notts
119 T20, 114 List A and 310 First-Class.
Be he hitting the top of off at slippery pace, avoiding being smashed out of the park by unfurling the box of tricks, or occasionally straddling the two, Gurney is truly an all-format cricketer of significant repute.
24 years
The length of Harry’s obsession with the game thus far.
From the age of ten, this Loughborough lad would prefer to take a rain check on family trips away if they clashed with his cricket.
By association, Dad John missed many of them too.
8 trophies
Harry’s first taste of silverware came in domestic T20 cricket with Leicestershire in 2011, and three further pieces of coveted county crystal were to come his way after joining Nottinghamshire.
The 2013 Yorkshire Bank 40 was followed by further success at Lord’s in 2017, combined figures of 7-36 brought Blast Finals Day glory to Notts later that year and the left-armer also went on to win titles in Australia, Pakistan, the West Indies and the UAE.
7 for 36
It’s not often that you’ll see bowling figures from two matches combined, but in the case of Harry’s Finals Day performance of 2017, it’s the best way to do it justice.
Three wickets for no runs in the 18th over put paid to Hampshire’s pursuit of 170 for a semi-final win, but the best was yet to come.
Defending 191 to claim the crown, the former England international’s standout figures of 4-17 ripped the engine room from the Bears’ middle order and ensured that they never stood a chance.
21, 20 and 22
Seasonal hauls of Blast wickets in 2017, 2018 and 2019 respectively while Harry was playing the best limited-overs cricket of his life.
Third, joint seventh and second were his respective positions within the country’s wicket-taking charts.
It was during this period that Dan Christian crowned his Notts Outlaws and Melbourne Renegades teammate the best death bowler in the world.
512 runs
A modern-day cricketer concluding his career with more wickets than runs is a statistician’s dream, and is fitting of Harry’s levels of expertise in both disciplines.
A genuine number 11 with no delusions of grandeur. And yet, striker of the winning runs in a dramatic, one-wicket, victory for the Green and Golds at Liverpool in 2014.
Eased it through the covers, no less.
12 England caps
A left-field selection in 2014, and perhaps every bit as much a left-field omission whilst playing better cricket later in his career, Gurney nonetheless has 12 caps for his country.
Two matches, three wickets and an economy-rate of 6.87…in T20 cricket in particular, he didn’t do half bad.
26 at 17.3
In the sporting world, as in the animal kingdom, every species has their natural predator.
Time and time and time again in T20 cricket, Harry made Derbyshire his prey.
He took 26 wickets against Nottinghamshire’s East Midlands rivals in the format (more than against any other opposition) averaging 17.3, sustaining an economy rate of seven runs per over and taking a wicket every 14 balls.
190, 22.58 and 7.84
Wickets, average and economy rate spanning a 12-year career in T20 cricket.
We’ve heard the Mr Bean analogy, we’ve witnessed the self-deprecating humour, but these numbers speak for themselves.
310 First-Class wickets at 31
Retiring first from red-ball cricket in 2018, Harry attracted some traditionalist ire, largely via social media. He was outspoken in defence of his decision too.
But Harry doesn’t hate red-ball cricket. He loves it. He was good at it too.
There were 16,909 occasions on which Harry slammed multiple times his body weight through his right lower limb in the name of the First-Class game, and there are many that would give their eye teeth for such a red ball career.
1 wife and 2 children
“Thank you to my amazing wife Avril who has been on the journey with me through thick and thin. I can’t wait to spend more time with her and my beautiful children Arthur and Mabel.”
Well said Harry. Well said.
1 pub
The Tap and Run at Upper Broughton. Business partner, Stuart Broad.
As Harry denotes more time to his already established business venture, the Cat & Wickets pub company, prepare to see that number expand.
We wish him the best.
*******
Tickets to witness Notts Outlaws’ defence of their Vitality Blast title in 2021 are now on general sale.
