Robert Damien Bale CroftMBE(born 25 May 1970) is a former Welshcricketerwho played international cricket for theEngland cricket team.He is anoff-spinbowler who played forGlamorganand captained the county from 2003 to 2006. He retired from first class cricket at the end of the 2012 season, having played county cricket for 23 seasons. He commentates on cricket occasionally forSky Sports.
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| Full name | Robert Damien Bale Croft | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 25 May 1970 Morriston,Swansea,Wales | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Crofty | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 170 cm (5 ft 7 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-armoff break | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | All rounder | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Test debut (cap582) | 22 August 1996 vPakistan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 2 August 2001 vAustralia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ODI debut (cap138) | 29 August 1996 vPakistan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last ODI | 21 June 2001 vAustralia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1989–2012 | Glamorgan(squad no. 10) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source:Cricinfo,15 June 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Early life and education
editCroft was born on 25 May 1970 in Morriston,Swansea.He was educated atSt John Lloyd Roman Catholic Comprehensive School,Llanelli.He played rugby union as a scrum half forLlanelli RFCUnder-11s. He studied atSwansea Metropolitan University.
Cricketing career
editHe made hisEnglanddebut againstPakistanin 1996, and did enough to earn a touring place toZimbabweandNew Zealand.In Christchurch, he took hisTestbest figures of 5–95 and his winter figures were a highly impressive 182.1–53–340–18. He played the first five tests of the1997 Ashes seriesbut was dropped for the final test, replaced byPhil Tufnell,after averaging 54 with the ball and showing a weakness to short-pitched fast bowling as a batsman.
Around this time, Croft was involved in whatESPNCricinfocalls "an unsavoury, but in truth pretty harmless, pushing and finger-wagging incident" withMark Ilottduring theNatWest Trophysemi-final againstEssex,[1]which Glamorgan narrowly lost.[2]However Croft had a happier experience that year in helping his county to their firstCounty Championshipin 28 years, Croft taking 54 wickets in Glamorgan's campaign at an average of 23.31.[3]
Croft toured theWest Indieswith England that winter, but in spite of taking six wickets in the fourth Test, it was the only Test he played that series.[4]Restored to the England Test team the following summer, his last-wicket stand withAngus Fraserin the third Test of the 1998 series againstSouth Africasaved England from an innings defeat, Croft personally scoring his highest Test score, 37 not out.Wisdenobserved that "England found an unlikely hero in Croft, who made up for three wicketless Tests by keeping his end intact for more than three hours".[5]Croft was dropped for the next Test, although his innings helped to shift the momentum in the series, which England won. He enjoyed another relatively successful tour inSri Lankaearly in 2001, taking nine wickets at 28.66 as England won the three-match Test series.[6]In general, Croft was a more effective Test bowler overseas, where he took 35 wickets in 9 Tests at 24.65, than in England, where he took 14 wickets in 12 Tests at 68.71.[7]
His final Test match was the third Ashes Test of 2001 atTrent Bridgewhere he bowled just 3 overs. He was selected for the subsequent tour of India but he withdrew because of safety fears[8]and was also selected for the2003/04 tour of Sri Lankabut failed to play. After returning home, he announced his international retirement to concentrate on the captaincy of Glamorgan.
On 12 September 2006, after just twoCounty Championshipvictories in 15 games thus far in the season, he announced his resignation from the captaincy, and was succeeded byDavid Hemp.
Exactly a year later, he passed 1,000 first-class wickets after dismissingNiall O'Brien;he became the first Welsh cricketer to take the double of 10,000 first-class career runs and 1,000 first-class career wickets.[9]As of March 2022, he is the last cricketer anywhere to achieve this feat in first-class cricket, and with the increasing focus of higher-ability cricketers on limited-over forms of the game, he is likely to remain the last.[10]In November 2007, he joined voices calling for a "clampdown" onTwenty20problems with abusive crowds, after suffering abusive calls atTaunton Cricket Ground.[11]On 1 August 2010 he got his first hat-trick against Gloucestershire to help Glamorgan win the match. It also made him the first Glamorgan spinner to take a hat-trick in 46 years.
Croft was once honoured as a druid at the Welsh cultural event, the National Eisteddfod.[12]
He was appointedMember of the Order of the British Empire(MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to cricket.[13]
In October 2018, Croft left his role as Glamorgan head coach.[14]
England tours
editEngland 'A'
- West Indies 1992
- South Africa 1993/94
England
- Zimbabwe / New Zealand 1996/97
- Sharjah / West Indies 1997/98
- Australia 1998/99
- Sri Lanka 2000/01 and 2003/04.
Team honours
editGlamorgan(1989 – 2012)
Champions
- County Championship:1997
- National League:1993, 2002, 2004
- National LeagueDivision 2: 2001
Individual honours
edit- GlamorganCap: 1992
- GlamorganYoungPlayer of the Year:1990, 1992
- GlamorganPlayer of the Year:1996, 2003, 2004, 2007
- St. Helen's BalconiersPlayer of the Year:2007
- Glamorganbenefit season: 2000
- Glamorgancaptain: 2003–2006
- The Weatherall Award: 2004 (for the leading all-rounder in English first-class game)
- Reached 1000 first class wickets for Glamorgan
Career best performances
edit| Batting | Bowling | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | Fixture | Venue | Season | Score | Fixture | Venue | Season | |
| Tests | 37* | EnglandvSouth Africa | Manchester | 1998 | 5–95 | EnglandvNew Zealand | Christchurch | 1997 |
| ODI | 32 | EnglandvSri Lanka | Perth | 1999 | 3–51 | EnglandvSouth Africa | The Oval | 1998 |
| FC | 143 | GlamorganvSomerset | Taunton | 1995 | 8–66 | GlamorganvWarwickshire | Swansea | 1992 |
| LA | 143 | Glamorgan DragonsvLincolnshire | Lincoln | 2004 | 6–20 | GlamorganvWorcestershire | Cardiff | 1994 |
| T20 | 62* | Glamorgan DragonsvGloucestershire Gladiators | Cardiff | 2005 | 3–9 | Glamorgan DragonsvSomerset | Cardiff | 2011 |
Achievements
edit- First Welsh cricketer to score 10,000 runs and take 1,000 wickets in first-class cricket (2007)
- Elected to the Gorsedd of Bards
Books
edit- Bennett, Androw and Croft, Robert (1995)Dyddiadur TroellwrY Lolfa, Talybont, DyfedISBN0-86243-358-4
- Steen, Rob with Croft, Robert andElliott, Matthew(1997)Poms and cobbers: the Ashes 1997: an inside viewAndre Deutsch, LondonISBN0-233-99210-3
References
edit- ^"Mark Ilott".ESPN Cricinfo.Retrieved29 December2017.
- ^"SF: Essex v Glamorgan at Chelmsford, 12-13 Aug 1997".ESPN Cricinfo.Retrieved29 December2017.
- ^"1997 County Championship Averages Glamorgan".ESPN Cricinfo.Retrieved29 December2017.
- ^"Full Scorecard of West Indies v England, 4th test, 1997-8".ESPN Cricinfo.Retrieved29 December2017.
- ^"England v South Africa 1998".ESPN Cricinfo.Retrieved29 December2017.
- ^"England in Sri Lanka, 2000/01 Test Series Averages".ESPNcricinfo.Retrieved18 March2022.
- ^"Statistics/RDB Croft/Test matches".ESPNCricinfo.Retrieved13 June2022.
- ^"Caddick and Croft unavailable for India tour".ESPNcricinfo.Retrieved18 October2018.
- ^"The Home of CricketArchive".Cricketarchive.Retrieved18 October2018.
- ^"Records/first class matches/all round records/10000 runs and 1000 wickets".ESPNcricinfo.Retrieved18 March2022.
- ^Croft supports Twenty20 clampdownBBC Newsretrieved 20 November 2007
- ^"Plan for bardic founder memorial".BBC News. 12 October 2006.Retrieved18 October2018.
- ^"No. 60367".The London Gazette(Supplement). 29 December 2012. p. 16.
- ^"Robert Croft leaves Glamorgan head coach role".BBC. 17 October 2018.Retrieved18 October2018.