James Middlebrook (born 13 May 1977)[1] is a former English first-class cricketer, who last played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club on a short-term contract. He played as an all-rounder, batting right-handed and bowling off spin. Since retiring from professional cricket Middlebrook has become an umpire, standing in first-class matches from the 2017 season onwards.[2]
Middlebrook was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, and made his first-class debut in the 1998 English cricket season with Yorkshire, but was released by them in 2001.[1] From 2002 to 2008 he plied his trade with Essex, taking 32 first-class wickets and 20 one day wickets. Middlebrook joined Northamptonshire at the start of the 2010 season,[3] where he regularly opened the batting. In January 2010, Middlebrook along with new team-mate David Sales, was picked to represent the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) against Durham in Abu Dhabi.[4] Despite being Northants leading runscorer in the 2014 season, Middlebrook was released following the club's relegation to Division Two of the County Championship.[5] He was signed by Yorkshire on a short-term contract as cover for Adil Rashid whilst the leg-spinner was part of England's tour party in the West Indies.