Stephen Peter James (born 7 September 1967) is an English journalist and former cricketer who played two Test matches for England in 1998,^[1] making 71 runs in four innings.

James was captain of Glamorgan for three seasons before retiring in 2003 after 17 seasons with the club, aged 35. He played a total of 245 first-class matches, making 15,890 runs at a batting average just above 40, with a total of 47 centuries and a highest score of 309 not out against Sussex in 2000 – which is the Glamorgan record highest score.^[2] He scored more than 1,000 runs in a season nine times, with his two most prolific seasons following each other – 1,766 runs in 1996 was followed up with 1,775 runs in 1997, which led to his selection for the England A team before graduating to Test level the following season.

James also played two seasons of domestic cricket in Zimbabwe for Mashonaland in 1993/94 and 1994/95.

Since retirement, he has made a career as a journalist, initially covering cricket and rugby for The Sunday Telegraph and occasionally writing for The Daily Telegraph.^[3] He was removed by the paper just before Christmas 2016,^[4] and now writes for The Times.

Rugby career

James was also a successful rugby player with Lydney R.F.C. mainly at the full back position. In a career spanning the 1985/86 to 1995/96 seasons he scored 140 points, including 31 tries, in 81 games.^[5]