page_title: Graeme Swann
section_title: Early years (1998–2007)
hierarchical_section_title: Graeme Swann / Career / Early years (1998–2007)
caption_attribution_description: Graeme Swann bowls for Nottinghamshire in a County Championship match against Leicestershire at Trent Bridge. The batsman is Tom New and the fielder is David Hussey.
context_page_description: Graeme Peter Swann is a former English cricketer who played all three formats of the game. Born in Northampton, he attended Sponne School in Towcester, Northamptonshire. He was primarily a right-arm offspinner, and also a capable late-order batsman with four first-class centuries, and often fielded at second slip. After initially playing for his home county Northamptonshire, for whom he made his debut in 1997, he moved to Nottinghamshire in 2005.
  Swann played a single One Day International against South Africa in 2000, before losing his place in the squad. Seven years later he was chosen to accompany England on its tour of Sri Lanka as the team's second spin bowler, alongside Monty Panesar, and subsequently cemented a regular place in England's Test team, playing throughout England's 2–1 victory in the 2009 Ashes. In December 2009, he became the first English spinner to take 50 wickets in a calendar year, culminating in back-to-back man of the match awards in the first two Tests of the tour of South Africa and rising to third place in the world rankings for bowlers.
context_section_description: Swann began his domestic career for Northamptonshire. As a teenager, he was part of the U-19 World Cup winning side in 1998, a tournament that took part in South Africa (alongside future England players Owais Shah and Robert Key).
  Against Leicestershire in 1998 he scored 92 and 111, his maiden first-class half-century and century. Touring South Africa and Zimbabwe with the England A-team that winter, Swann took 21 wickets at 25.61 and averaged 22 with the bat. Wisden commented,
  Swann did spin the ball appreciably and emerged as a definite candidate for elevation. He had the potential to become a genuine allrounder, with a wide range of attractive strokes, though he needs to use them more selectively.
  In 1999, Swann was brought into the England squad for the final Test against New Zealand. He did not play, but featured in an ODI against South Africa following an injury to Ashley Giles. This tour also saw him miss the team bus once due to oversleeping.
  In domestic cricket, Swann scored his highest first-class score of 183 in 2002, sharing a partnership of 318 with Northants captain Mike Hussey (310 not out).
  He moved to Nottinghamshire in 2005, and finished the season of 2007 with 516 runs and 45 wickets, leading to his recall to the England side against Sri Lanka. While England fell heavily in defeat during the first match, Swann hit 34 to help seal victory in the second, and took four for 34 and hit 25 in the third as England took a two-one lead in the series.
  An unsuccessful tour of New Zealand followed, and Swann was unable consistently to occupy a place in the England ODI side. He remained in the squad but faced tough competition from Samit Patel, who had already taken his first ODI five-wicket haul, against South Africa in his third match.
caption: Swann bowling for Nottinghamshire against Leicestershire in 2007
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