Tom Westley


Thomas Westley is an English professional cricketer who has played Test cricket for the England cricket team. He is a top order right-handed batsman who occasionally bowls offbreaks and has played first-class cricket for Essex County Cricket Club since 2006. He began his cricket career at Weston Colville Cricket Club in Cambridgeshire.

Early life and education

Westley was born on 13 March 1989 in Cambridge. He studied at Durham University.

County career

Westley's Essex career began in the 2004 Second XI Championship where he played his debut match as a 15-year-old against a Middlesex side captained by then 51-year-old ex-Test cricketer John Emburey. Westley continued to play occasionally throughout this and the next season, 2005 proving to be an excellent year for the young player as he proved his worth as a squad member. In the same year Westley played two matches in the Minor Counties Championship for Cambridgeshire.
2006 saw Westley make his first List A match appearance, against a team of Sri Lankans, as well as gaining a place in the first team for the 2007 season. In September 2009 Westley scored his first century for the first team reaching 132 against Derbyshire.
Westley has also played for MCC and captained the Durham MCC University side in games against county sides and against other university sides. When he is not needed by Essex, he plays in the East Anglian Premier Cricket League for Mildenhall Cricket Club, as well as playing for Radwinter Bowls Club.

International career

After playing for the England Under-19 cricket team, including at the 2008 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia, Westley was added to England's Test squad ahead of the third Test against South Africa in July 2017 batting third as a replacement for the injured Gary Ballance. He made his Test debut at The Oval on 27 July 2017, scoring 25 runs in the first innings and 59 in the second, as England won by 239 runs.
Westley was again selected to bat third in the fourth Test and for all three of England's Test matches against the West Indies played in August and September 2017. A series of low scores meant that he dropped out of the side after the end of the 2017 English summer.