Cricinfo - Players and Officials

Full name Daniel John Birch
Born January 21, 1981, Nottingham
Current age 27 years 315 days
Major teams Derbyshire, Kent 2nd XI
Nickname Birchy
Batting style Left-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium-fast
Height 6 ft 3 in
Education Kimbersley Comprehensive
Relations Father - JD Birch

Batting and fielding averages

Mat

Inns

Runs

Ave

100

First-class

888

130

34.15

1598

55.56

123

List A

369

24.60

423

87.23

Twenty20

116

14.50

137

84.67

Bowling averages

Mat

Inns

Balls

Runs

Wkts

BBI

BBM

Ave

Econ

First-class

List A

Twenty20

Career statistics

First-class debut

Cambridge UCCE v Derbyshire at Cambridge, Apr 25-27, 2007 scorecard

Last First-class

Derbyshire v Gloucestershire at Derby, Sep 17-20, 2008 scorecard

List A debut

Durham v Derbyshire at Chester-le-Street, Apr 29, 2007 scorecard

Last List A

Derbyshire v Warwickshire at Derby, Sep 13, 2008 scorecard

Twenty20 debut

Derbyshire v West Indians at Derby, Jun 24, 2007 scorecard

Last Twenty20

Leicestershire v Derbyshire at Leicester, Jun 27, 2008 scorecard

For Dan Birch cricket runs in the family. His father spent 16 years with Nottinghamshire, playing over 250 games from 1973 to 1988, and Dan was on the books at Trent Bridge as a schoolboy. He spent eight years playing in the Derbyshire Premier League and eventually things started to happen for him in 2006 when he played at second-team level for Kent. Two half-centuries on his debut, as well as a century against the MCC Young Cricketers in a 50-over match, earned him a one-year contract at Derbyshire and he immediately repaid their faith by scoring 130 against Cambridge UCCE at Fenners in the season opener.

He is a tall left-handed batsman who stands still at the crease and regards himself as an entertainer saying: "I'm an aggressive, big-hitting batsman" so it is no surprise that his first few outings have been in Derbyshire's one-day matches. He hit 95 on his Championship debut against Gloucestershire when he was given the chance to open. Despite missing the end of the campaign through injury - Birch showed enough glimpses of his explosive potential at the top of the order to merit a new deal.

Alan Curr October 2007