2023’s Special Guests:

Eoin Morgan: Recently retired from all forms of cricket Eoin Morgan is an undisputed legend of the game, credited with transforming England’s fortunes in white ball cricket as captain from 2015, culminating in winning the 2019 ODI World Cup in breath-taking fashion. His statistics speak for themselves; England’s most capped player in both ODI and T20 formats, and leading run-scorer to boot, and the only man in international cricket history to score a century of sixes in an international innings (17 against Afghanistan at the World Cup!) – his 248 ODIs yielded an astounding 7,701 runs at 39.29 with 14 centuries and 47 fifties, with a further 2,458 IT20 runs in 115 appearances at 28.58. Blessed with stunning power, Eoin was able to clear the ropes seemingly at will and could quickly decimate and demoralise world class bowlers with the purity of his hitting. Although he won 16 Test caps, Eoin was never quite able to translate his game into Test cricket, but still managed 700 runs for England at an average over 30. Nasser Hussain said of Morgan after his retirement, “Eoin Morgan is England’s greatest white-ball captain and revolutionary batter. He has had a huge impact on English cricket. It goes without saying that he is England’s greatest ever white-ball captain, a World Cup-winning captain.”

Phil Tufnell: Affectionately known as ‘The Cat’, (found asleep in the dressing room on more than one occasion!), former England spinner Phil has combined his cricketing expertise with his mischievous persona, to become a highly regarded media and corporate entertainer. During his illustrious sporting career, Phil took more than 1,000 first class wickets. He played 42 Tests for England yielding 121 wickets with a further 20 One-Day Internationals. Phil’s autobiography “What now?” was published in 1999, as was his ‘A To Z of Cricket’ which he co-authored with cricket journalist Adam Hathaway. Phil retired from professional cricket before the 2003 season so that he could take part in I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! and They Think It’s All Over, on which he was a team captain. In 2004, he even made two guest appearances in UK Soap opera Family Affairs! He has also co-presented the game show Simply the Best and is best-known to non-cricketing fans as a long-standing team captain on the BBC One panel show ‘A Question of Sport’.

Mark Taylor: One of the best in the world for more than a decade, Mark was a Test opening batsman from 1988 to 1999, as well as captain from 1994 to 1999, after succeeding Allan Border. He was widely regarded as an instrumental component in Australia’s rise to Test cricket dominance, and his captaincy was regarded as adventurous and highly effective. His Ashes series debut in 1989 was statistically stupendous, he occupied the crease for a total of 38 hours, scoring 839 runs at an average of 83.9 across 6 Tests, a total only bettered by the master, Don Bradman, with 974 runs in 1930. In 104 Test matches, he scored 7,525 runs with a batting average of 43.49, including 19 centuries and 40 fifties. He was also an excellent first slip – his 157 catches was, at the time, a Test record (now held by Rahul Dravid). His successor, Steve Waugh, further honed the Australian team built by Border and Taylor as Australia set the standards in Test cricket as the best team in the world. Having been named Australian of the Year in 1999, he is now a cricket commentator for the Nine Network, and former Director of Cricket Australia.

Emily Haig: We are delighted to welcome one of the UK’s best vocalists to sing between courses at our lunch. Emily’s powerhouse soprano vocals, spellbinding and dramatic performance and stunning looks, ensure that she immediately commands the stage and engages with her audience. Emily has been honoured to perform the National Anthem 27 times at Wembley Stadium, 5 times at Silverstone Circuit and Twickenham Stadium, plus amongst others, the Olympic Park, Motorpoint Arena, Copper Box and Ricoh Stadium, all of which were internationally live broadcast to millions worldwide.