page_title: Ronnie Irani
section_title: Domestic career
hierarchical_section_title: Ronnie Irani / Domestic career
caption_attribution_description: English: Ronnie Irani batting for Essex against Cambridge UCCE, at Fenner's cricket ground in Cambridge, 10 April, 2005. The non-striker is Ravinder Bopara. Photograph taken by Stephen Turner and released under the GFDL.
context_page_description: Ronald Charles "Ronnie" Irani is a former England cricketer who played Tests and ODIs for England. He played only three Tests for England, with decidedly mixed success, but found a niche in One Day Internationals, where he gained much praise for his performances.
  He spent most of his career at Essex County Cricket Club, latterly as captain, after starting at Lancashire. He is of Irani descent, the Iranis being a community of Persian Zoroastrians who immigrated to India during the British Raj.
  Irani was a genuine all-rounder until a knee injury in 2003 forced him to stop bowling and play as a specialist batsman. The recurring nature of this injury led to Irani being forced to retire from first-class cricket in June 2007. At Essex, Irani helped bring through promising players such as Alastair Cook and Ravinder Bopara as well as winning two major One-Day Titles. Professionally he scored over 20,000 runs and took more than 650 wickets during his career.
  He announced his retirement from first-class cricket at the end of the 2007 season.
context_section_description: He started his career playing for Lancashire in 1990, before he moved to Essex in 1994. At Essex, he gained cult status,  before he became captain in 2000, and is generally accepted to have done a decent job in charge, helping to bring through promising players such as Alastair Cook, Will Jefferson and Ravi Bopara. After Graham Gooch stepped down as the club's head coach prior to the start of the 2005 season, Irani assumed some of these responsibilities in addition to his role as county captain.
  In June 2007, he rejected a new contract with Essex and announced his retirement from first-class cricket at the end of the 2007 season. He retired with immediate effect later that month.
caption: Irani batting against Cambridge UCCE, April 2005
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