Australian all-rounder Moises Henriques has joined Essex Eagles for this year’s Vitality Blast campaign, but how much do you know about our new signing?
Moises was born in Funchal, the same part of Madeira that footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is from, and he and his family moved to Australia when he was just one.
He graduated from Endeavour Sports High School in 2004 and was the recipient of the first Rexona Australian Youth Cricket Scholarship, an initiative backed by former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting.
Later that year Henriques was selected for the Australian U19 squad for the 2004 U19 Cricket World Cup, where he took 11 wickets at 19.27 and averaged 19 with the bat.
In early 2006 Henriques made his List A debut for New South Wales against Victoria, and in doing so became the youngest ever List A debutant for the Club.
He was named Captain of the Australia U19 team for the 2006 U19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka, where he was one of the standout players of the tournament. He averaged 27.50 with the bat and finishing at the competition’s leading wicket-taker, claiming 16 wickets at 10.52.
Later that year he made his first-class debut for New South Wales against South Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground. A week later he really burst onto the scene by taking 5/17 against Queensland, and by doing so he became the youngest-ever New South Wales cricketer to take a 5-wicket haul in a first-class innings. New South Wales went on to win the Sheffield Shield the following season, which was Henriques’ maiden first-class title in professional cricket.
In early 2009 he tasted his first T20 success, with his New South Wales Blue team defeating Victoria in the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash Final at Sydney. Off the back of his performances, he was signed by Indian Premier League side Kolkata Knight Riders for $300,000, and averaged 19 with the bat in his first IPL campaign.
After consistent and strong performances, Henriques made his full international debut in 2009, in a T20 match against New Zealand in Sydney, but he was run out for just 1. Later that year Henriques was called up for Australia’s tour of India and scored 12 runs on his ODI debut at Delhi, however he got injured later on in the tour and had to return to Australia.
In 2010 he was traded by Kolkata Knight Riders to Delhi Daredevils in exchange for Manoj Tiwary and in late 2012, he recorded his maiden first-class century, scoring 161 not out from 229 balls for New South Wales against Tasmania at Bankstown.
He experienced further T20 success in 2012, as his Sydney Sixers beat Perth Scorchers by 7 wickets to claim the very first rebranded Big Bash League title. Henriques was named Man of the Match for his performance, which saw him score 70 runs from 41 balls, and he was announced as the Club’s new Captain for the following season.
In 2013, the all-rounder was selected for Australia’s Test squad for the first time for their tour of India. On Test debut, he made his maiden half-century with 68 runs in the first innings and backed it up with 81 not out in the second. This also made him just the second person from Portugal to play a Test match, following in the footsteps of South Africa’s Portuguese-born Dick Westcott.
In 2013 he returned to the Indian Premier League but with Royal Challengers Bangalore. It was a successful tournament for the all-rounder, as he averaged 41.25 with the bat and took 7 wickets at 26.42.
He enjoyed more red-ball success with New South Wales in 2014, with the side reclaiming the Sheffield Shield title for the first time since 2008. The side followed this up by securing Marsh One-Day Cup titles in both 2015 and 2016.
His performances for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the previous IPL campaign saw Henriques move to Sunrisers Hyderabad where he’d stay for four IPL campaigns. Over this period, he scored a total of 755 runs at an average of 27.96, with his highest score of 74 not out from 46 balls coming against Delhi Daredevils in 2015. He also took 28 wickets at 32.75 apiece during his stint with Sunrisers and was part of the side that claimed the IPL title in 2016.
In the following years, Henriques was in and out of the Australia T20, ODI and Test squads, but recorded his best T20I score against India in 2017, scoring 62 not out from 46 balls.
In January 2020, Henriques skippered Sydney Sixers to the Big Bash title after claiming a 19-run victory over Melbourne Stars.
