About Ronnie Irani
Ronald Charles Irani (born 26 October 1971) is an English former cricketer. He played three Tests for England in 1996 and 1999, 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 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. Irani was awarded fans' player of the series in Natwest Series 2002 featuring India and Sri Lanka for his allround performance. When he discovered what they were doing, he played up to the tens of thousands of fans and became quicker as to make the fans carry on even more.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.