Arguably the most naturally talented England spinner of his generation, Tufnell's laid-back approach also made him one of the most frustrating.

He played in 42 Tests for England, claiming 121 wickets. But he would doubtless have had more opportunities were it not for his patchy relationship with the England selectors.

Tufnell: Hero or villain?

Few, however, could match his rapport with the crowd, to whom he was one of the most popular and exciting talents of his time.

A glittering media career beckons for Tufnell. He has reportedly been lined up to appear in the forthcoming series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here.

So was Tufnell a flawed genius - or was he just flawed? Send in your Tuffers tributes and memories.

Can't wait to hear Tufnell demolishing a few egos from the commentary box!

He was a great cricketer but my abiding memory of him is on 'A Question of Sport', trying to spell Muralitharan - hilarious!
Linda, England

Never a boring moment with Tufnell around! Nathan, Australia

As an Aussie we use to have a love-hate relationship with Phil Tufnell. A mercurial talent with the ball on his day, who couldn't bat and sure as hell couldn't field!

My favourite memory of the man was in a ODI with Australia batting second. There was a mix up in the running and both batsmen found themselves at the same end while Tufnell picked up the ball five metres from the stumps.

A much younger Steve Waugh decided the game was up, tucked his bat under his arm and started to walk off the field, Phil had different ideas.

He picked up the ball and hurled it at the stumps from point black range, missing it and all the backing up fielders. Steve Waugh, already with the gloves off and on his way off the ground, couldn't believe his luck and quickly turned around and ran back 20m from the pavilion to the other end of the pitch and got home.

Never a boring moment with Tufnell around!
Nathan, Australia

'Cat' had one thing that made him popular with all Middlesex supporters and that was a will to win. He will be missed for this, both at Middlesex and in English ranks. We would win more Tests if we had more players who actually cared enough to worry if England did well.
John, Barnet

I'm sorry, but I never rated him. Compare him to the true greats and he doesn't come close. He is just another mediocre English spinner who enjoyed a fag and a beer too often. When the going got tough on a flat wicket he moved out serving up a feast of long hops and full tosses!

I will always remember him plying against the Australians at Old Trafford and to think he was supposed to be our prime spin bowler was laughable. Perhaps if he had put a bit more effort into his batting and bowling then he wouldn't have been a coward with the bat and his bowling average would have been below 30 odd!
Foz, UK

You don't take 11 Australian wickets in a match unless you've got talent! Unfortunately Phil had the `English Disease` - a good deal of ability and a good helping of poor self discipline, sad really.
Tony, Coventry

He played in the wrong era when a tight line outside off was more preferable to taking wickets Matthew, Scotland

So the last of the great characters of the game goes leaving us with a bunch of unsmiling robots. It's a pity the English management couldn't or wouldn't manage him we may have been more successful.
Barry, Chelsea

I'm afraid England just has a block when it comes to good spinners. We can't play against them and we don't seem to want them in our team. This is the only explanation as to why the likes of Such and Illingworth got picked.

And don't get me started on Croft. Brett Lee got more turn than him. Good luck in retirement Phil and at least now you can tell your side of things and be honest about the cricket establishment that held you back.
Mike Linwood, London

He played in the wrong era when a tight line outside off was more preferable to taking wickets. Alongside Devon Malcolm and Angus Fraser the only English bowler of the nineties who was a genuine match winner. Saying that if you look at the stats his bad days probably outweighed the good.
Matthew, Scotland

Tuffers epitomises the great English loser. He is in the same mould as 'Eddie the Eagle'. It's a pity people want to overstate his achievements. He was a half decent bloke who could spin the ball.

The fact he never took time to improve his batting or fielding says volumes about his commitment to the game. It's bad enough he was able to sustain a long County career. Admiring Tuffers just reminds the rest of the world what a sad cricketing nation England is.
Tim Kelly, UK

A wasted talent - a bit more discipline and he would be right up there with the Warne's of the world. Should have played a lot more for England but lets face it the man could not bat nor field and was alarmingly inconsistent, 121 wickets in 40 tests is average at best.

Without doubt, Tufnell was the best English spinner of his generation Colin Page, Wiltshire

A very talented bowler no doubt but in the end a lot of hype and not much else...and the tragedy of it is the fact that its all his own fault.
Zed, U.K

The memory of the Windies batmen's bafflement at the Oval in 91 is one that keeps many English cricket lovers warm on cold winter nights - good on yer, Tuffers, now get your hair sorted out!
Julian, England

The game will miss him as one of the games great characters, however I feel Fraser's decision to retire in the early stages of last season was worse for Middlesex and they rose above it. It will give Compton or Dalrymple a chance to shine, but they won't be as 'large as life' like Tufnell
Janet Davis, Tottenham

Dress him up how you want to but basically he was bone idle and selfish. He only turned out to his full potential if he fancied it. He lacked loyalty to his country and more importantly his team mates. Fantastic talent totally without courage. An underachiever.
Don Pape, Glossop

I'm sure he's a nice bloke, however my enduring memory of him will be his atrocious fielding displays against Australia.
Tim, Sydney

Without doubt, Tufnell was the best English spinner of his generation. I would also say he was a superior player to the constantly over-rated Emburey.

Still, he never fulfilled his talent, which was partially his own fault, yet unquestionably more so because the regimes under which he played saw him as troublesome.

This notwithstanding, he has been the only spinner to have single-handedly won a match for England in years, and he possessed more abilty than Such, Illingworth, et al, put together.

He was a real character in a period where characters were few and far between Vijay, USA

I wonder, if the Hussain-Fletcher axis had been in charge whilst he was at his peak, if we may have seen him with double the caps and 250+ Test wickets?
Colin Page, Wiltshire

Yet another "character" retires from the game. On his day, Tuffers was a match-winner. His 6-25 Windies at the Oval in '91 and 7-66 and 4-27 there against Australia in '97. He took two wickets after on the first day after England were bowled out for 180 and lifted the gloom! We'll miss the Cat.
Barry Wilbourn, England

The Cat was arguably the best England spinner over the past 15 years. His pitiful career return, I believe was more due to the idiosyncratic selection policies of the ECB than to his lack of discipline (as claimed by many).

He was a real character in a period where characters were few and far between - who can forget his newspaper column advocating the "Tufnell diet for trained athletes" (a beer and a fag) to his former team-mates at the beginning of an Ashes tour?

Cricket will be poorer for his retirement, but all is not lost - I fully expect to se his shenanigans manifest themselves is his new career with the media. Go Tuffers!
Vijay, USA

During an era when England where not over-burdened with match-winners, much more use should have been made of Tufnell's talent than was. Perhaps, if Tufnell had ever been allowed to feel secure in the Test team then an average return of less than three wickets per Test would have been significantly enhanced.

Tufnell was the best attacking spinner England have had in the last decade Paul Hewson

If he will be missed as a cricketer, then he will be acclaimed irreplaceable as an entertainer and as a character. The most shamefully under-bowled and most engagingly-awful fielder English cricket has produced in years.
David Fensome, Leicester

England's Shane Warne, a character, unique, under-used. Tuffers suffered under the old and stuffy MCC and ECB committees. As with many other cricketers of his area he came from the wrong side of the fence.

Will be missed greatly by Middlesex fans at Lord's and county grounds around the country. Top man.
Brian, a Middlesex fan, Sunbury

Tufnell was the best attacking spinner England have had in the last decade. It's due to the arrogance of a few captains and selectors that he hasn't played more games.
Paul Hewson, Clent

Is there any point debating his individual cricketing skills when his time came in an era where England were at best poor and at worst embarrassing on the field of play? The thing he should be applauded for is his role as an ambassador for the game of cricket as a whole.

He flew in the face of the stuffy old farts at the MCC that were making cricket into a game only watched by old men and created interest in the younger audience.

As a player he was fair and sporting and did more for the game as a whole than a great deal of his contemporaries most of whom seemed disinterested and lacking in enthusiasm for this great sport.
David Howe, Chelmsford Essex UK

A great bowler and a very nice chap Paul Chandler

Tufnell was easily the best English spin bowler of his generation. It's sad that he didn't play nearly as much as he should for England. Certainly he was a difficult character, but surely good management means being able to include such 'mavericks'?
Nick Harrison, Orpington, Kent

No matter what your opinion of this guy's cricketing ability - he is a genuine character. Something that the game in this country desperately needs. An average spinner? Compared to the rest of the world maybe - but what English spin bowler has bowled a side out recently?

Long live the Cat. I can't wait to hear him the commentary box.
Al, Epsom, Surrey

Tuffers....what can you say? One of THE great entertainers. Maybe not always with his cricketing performances, but without characters like him the sport would be in an even worse state than it already is.
Leo, London

A great bowler and a very nice chap. Pleased to have met Phil in the Windies and again at his book signing and AGAIN at a TV show! Honest, I wasn't stalking him! Best of luck in your new career.
Paul Chandler, London

Tuffers is, and always will be, my hero. The reason I took up cricket was watching him at the Oval in '91. A man who frequently won games for his county and on occasions, his country, but a man who the authorities could never handle.

He couldn't hack the professionalism required in the modern game. Hardip, UK

If only Ray Illingworth, Atherton and Stewart had used Tufnell properly we'd now be witnessing the retirement of a bowler who'd taken 300+ wickets for his country! The policy of "anyone but Tufnell" failed!

The fact that he is loved by most of the nation says it all. The last of a dying breed of characters in the game, I will sorely miss watching his skipping bowling action. No one will ever forget THAT ball to Matthew Elliott in 97.

Thanks for the memories Phil, I will always treasure them!
Richard Mitchell, London

Nice bloke but average cricketer. He played on his cheeky character which was amusing, but he couldn't hack the professionalism required in the modern game.
Hardip, UK

Another personality quits the games. All we are left with is "goody two shoes" and public school boys. The fans' loss is the establishment's gain.
Peter Knowles, Cornwall

I totally agree with many others on this page, he should have been given more support by 'the establishment', who failed to recognise the fact that characters like Tufnell make the game more accessible to so many people. We all like and respect the more conventional players but It's the characters like Tufnell, Botham and Best that we love.

Good luck Tuffers, we'll miss you! John A, UK

Yes, cricket will miss him, but cricket's loss is television's gain. My girlfriend who hates all sport will watch anything with him in because he is such a character, I doubt she could even name any other cricketers. I wish him all the best.
Leigh, Cardiff

Tuffers was simply the best spin bowler of his generation. A small-minded English management meant that he finished with perhaps 30-40 caps fewer than he should have had. No other English spinner of the last 50 years could drive an opposition out as well as he could.
Richard Carrington, London

Tufnell was an excellent bowler and was criminally disregarded by the England selectors. His match-winning performances at The Oval in 1991 and 1997 should have guaranteed him at least another 50 caps.
Stuart Marriott, Leicestershire

Oodles of spare unfulfilled talent, trapped by insecurity - just like Wayne Larkins, really. Good luck Tuffers, we'll miss you!
John A, UK

Couldn't bat. Couldn't field. Could smoke. Tufnell was probably our best spinner of recent times, but that says a lot about the other players. Yes he should have had more Test matches, but his performances when selected did not always do justice to his talent.

However he did bowl sides out, and no other English spinner in my lifetime - including the ridiculously overrated Emburey - managed that as regularly as Tuffers.
Daniel Jones, Maidenhead

Regardless of his flaws, the selectors should have put more faith in his pure spinning ability Joris, Paris

You're a legend. Thanks so much for keeping us entertained over the years with world class displays and charismatic manner. I hope that the thought of releasing another book about your wonderful exploits on and off the field is somewhere on your agenda. I enjoyed the last one so much.
Thomas , Edinburgh

What a load of cobblers. The guy was average, ill mannered and added no value. He took less than three wickets a match and his average was poor. Why oh why is he so highly rated.....sentimentality.
Mark Hatcher, Sussex

The Cat will be sorely missed - his match-winning performance against the Aussies in 97' was a gem. Cricket's loss is the media's gain though as he offers both enlightening and intelligent views on the game.
Richard Sullivan, Lancs, UK

A great spin bowler that the game will undoubtedly miss.

Meanwhile I was in fits last night seeing him on Ready Steady Cook. He tucked straight into the wine, and told Ainslie "I know all about me herbs..." Priceless.
James, London

The Cat winning the test match against NZ in 1991 taking seven wickets - a wonderful spell. He may not have been a Warne or Murali, but no-one in England has come close to him since.
Chris, UK

Regardless of his flaws, the selectors should have put more faith in his pure spinning ability. A proven match winner for both county and country it is sad to see that in 17 years of 1st class cricket he has been selected only 42 times.

Other, less able, spinners have been favoured over him, and rarely troubled batsmen. The Cat could do just that on his day, and the risk of including him more times would have paid off... Good luck to you Phil, cricket has lost a great character!
Joris, Paris

The man was a bottler and lacked self belief, hence continually playing the clown. Instead of giving the ball flight and allowing turn against the big name batsmen he would bowl too flat to prevent himself from having runs scored off his bowling.

Yes we all think he is great because of his antics and all want to blame the selectors who at the time were useless however I think he needed to take more responsibility with his talent
Dan, London

Pure genius. The man who put the pub into pub cricket and the Test into Test cricket. An inspiration to millions of armchair fans that cricket isn't the reserve of the university classes. Has done as much for advertising the beauty of English cricket as he has for booze and fags. Give that man a cigar.
Paul, London

As someone who lives where the great Thomas Lord is buried I have grown up knowing all about cricket. I found it very boring until I saw Phil Tufnell playing for England. A true character and talented professional. Wishing him luck in all he goes on to do.
Kerry, West Meon, Hampshire

Yes is the simple answer, English cricket will miss Tufnell. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Phil bowl and I am disappointed that he has decided to retire. Phil is a match-winner and it's unfortunate he was not given more chances at international level.

He is a natural talent, overlooked far too many times by England in favour of mediocre bowlers (sorry guys). I wish Phil all the best for the future and I hope that he is invited to coach England's potential spinners of the future at the new academy. Maybe he could teach them to bowl "the ball on a string" technique? Thanks for the entertainment!
D Williams, Milton Keynes, England

I'll never forget that catch right in front of the army at Adelaide in '95. Fantastic stuff. Shame real players like Phil and Devon were chucked on the scrapheap by our laughable management committee. All the best Phil and thanks for the wonderful times.
Chris Mitchell, Totnes, Devon

A sportsman who genuinely appeared to enjoy playing his sport - not many of those around now!
Gaz, London

One of the few characters still around in a very sterile sporting community Tim, Glos

There aren't too many characters in English cricket and Phil Tufnell was certainly the biggest!

He'll be missed, but here's hoping his move into the media goes well and we continue to hear plenty about his exploits.
Ant, Yorkshire

Phil Tufnell was the best spinner that England have had since Jim Laker - he will be missed.
Naveed, Bradford

All top sportsmen have to retire sometime - it's a pity but unfortunately true. Probably Alex Stewart is now the only player of Tufnell's era still to be left playing.

I think cricket will sadly miss these characters who seem to play for the pure enjoyment of the game rather than the out-and-out desire to win whatever the cost.

Don't get me wrong, to watch someone like Brett Lee bowl is breathtaking, but he and many of the top players are now arrogant and egotistical and have no rapport with the crowds.
Simone, Essex

I am really sorry to hear Tuffers is retiring, one of the few characters still around in a very sterile sporting community. I can imagine a night in the bar after the game with him, Botham, Gower, Lamb etc - it would be a night to behold.

My funniest memory of "the Cat" was seeing him in the pavilion waiting to bat against the West Indies Matt, Scotland

Now he's gone there is nobody left, all we have is boring, "yes sir, no sir" types who do nothing to bring in the crowds. I hope now he is free of the shackles of protocol he will write a book about what really went on, and how he got on with various members of the cricketing fraternity, it would make exciting and revealing reading.

Best wishes for the future, and I hope a media career is forthcoming, at least we can then still have some fun while watching the game.
Tim, Glos.

My funniest memory of "the Cat" was seeing him sitting in the pavilion waiting to go into bat against the West Indies. Some viciously hostile bowling from Ambrose and Walsh had been demolishing England's batting.

Poor Phil was sitting there in his pads nervously chain-smoking cigarettes and visibly shaking, like a condemned man on the scaffold. Never have I seen a professional sportsman so visibly terrified.

All the best Cat, look forward to hearing more of your wit from the pundits' corner in the future.
Matt, Scotland

As with all natural sporting talents this country produces, the 'establishment' tries to control and manipulate them to fit into a nice tidy box. Phil Tufnell, to me, was one of those sporting talents.

I feel his natural talent was never allowed to flourish Dean, London

The man had a gift but I believe was never given the proper support he should have from the England selectors. Whilst he did play a good number of times for his country, the number should have been doubled if not trebled.

They should have stuck by this man through thick and thin and instead the selectors were always too quick to find a scapegoat when things didn't go to plan.

I feel his natural talent was never allowed to flourish, unlike our Antipodean friends who nurture, not control, their talent. Phil was always passed up by England for far lesser effective spin bowlers, who did, however, nod when requested, not smoke and shave when it was needed...

Because of this snobbery, England never effectively used a man with an abundance of talent.Thank you Phil. Enjoy your retirement from cricket and I hope good fortune smiles upon you.
Dean, London

It's a shame to see the passing of such an instinctive player. I think that he was penalised for showing too much aggression and passion for the game by old-fashioned selectors (and press too, come to that).

These, and a consistent ODI and Test line-up are exactly what I believe England needs for success in the future.
Mike H, London (ex-NZ)

Unquestionably the best England spin bowler since John Emburey Fraser Masefield, Fulham

The Cat was the greatest and if England had used him properly he would be retiring with 50 more caps and 200 more wickets.

Instead they forced him to bowl over after over of round-the-wicket rubbish into the rough to slow the scoring rate of the batting team. Shame on Atherton, Stewart and the England management. We'll miss you Tuffers!
Danny, Wallington, Surrey

Unquestionably the best England spin bowler since John Emburey. A great character and fantastic value in the Lord's Tavern after a day's play!
Fraser Masefield, Fulham

The guy is a legend, especially in the field!!
Robin Reeve, Farnham, Surrey

Tuffers might have been a liability on tour and followed by controversy wherever he did go, especially with remarks like "We've seen the elephants, can we go home now?" during a tour to India.

But, he was capable of winning a match when at his best, who can forget the sixer against the Windies in 1991! Tuffers is a great entertainer, probably one of the last members of the James Hunt school of sportsmen.
Mike Bailey, Austria