Ian Craig
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Australia (AUS) |
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| Batting style | Right-handed batsman (RHB) | |
| Bowling type | N/A | |
| Tests | First-class | |
| Matches | 11 | 144 |
| Runs scored | 358 | 7328 |
| Batting average | 19.88 | 37.96 |
| 100s/50s | 0/2 | 15/38 |
| Top score | 53 | 213* |
| Balls bowled | 0 | 130 |
| Wickets | 0 | 1 |
| Bowling average | - | 127.00 |
| 5 wickets in innings | 0 | 0 |
| 10 wickets in match | 0 | 0 |
| Best bowling | - | 1/3 |
| Catches/stumpings | 2/0 | 70c 0s |
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Test debut: 6 February 1953 |
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Ian David Craig (Born June 12, 1935 in Yass, New South Wales) is an Australian former Test cricketer. He was the youngest player to represent the Australian cricket team and was appointed as Test captain at the age of just 22, making him the youngest ever captain of Australia. His career was cut short by hepatitis. He was a slightly built right-handed batsman.
[edit] Early years
After moving to Sydney from his home town as a child, Craig was educated at North Sydney Boys High School. During his school years, he represented Australia in schoolboy baseball and New South Wales in rugby. He made his first-class debut for New South Wales at the age of 17, and then scored 213* against the touring South Africans in a total of 7/416, when he scored 63 of 81 runs in a partnership with Jimmy Burke and then 98 of 159 in another partnership with Keith Miller. This innings in January 1953 made him the youngest to score a double-century in Australian first-class cricket and earnt comparisons with Don Bradman. This earnt the eye of Australian selectors and he was subsequently selected for the Test team.
[edit] Test career
Craig made his debut in a Test match against South Africa at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where he scored 53 and 47 on debut, top-scoring in the second innings. His debut at 17 years and 239 days made him the youngest ever Australian to play Test cricket. He then was selected for his first tour of England later in the year, but this was an unsuccessful trip: he made 429 runs in 27 innings and did not play in any Test matches. After having his career interrupted by university studies in pharmacy at the University of Sydney and national service, he returned to the team and made his overseas debut on the 1956 tour of England, playing in the fourth and fifth Tests. In the later part of the year he was part of the tour to the Indian subcontinent, playing Test matches against Pakistan and India. However, he failed to pass 40 on any of these nine outings to the batting crease [2] .
In the 1957-58 season, with the retirement of Ian Johnson, Craig was elevated to the captaincy, becoming the youngest player to captain Australia, on the tour to South Africa. He made a good start to the tour, in two warm-up matches against the Rhodesian team, he scored centuries, in his first games as national captain. Although he had a disappointing time with the bat in the five Test series, scoring only one half-century, his team performed well, winning the second, fourth and fifth Tests by an innings, eight and ten wickets respectively for a convincing 3-0 series victory.
Craig was kept out of the next Australian season by an inopportune bout of hepatitis, and was forced out of the team and relinquished the captaincy to Richie Benaud. He was unable to force his way back into the team thereafter due to marriage and a full-time job as a pharmacist, which prevented him from applying himself to cricket fully. He represented New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield regularly until 1961, when he retired completely at just 26 years of age, whilst still playing for Mosman in Sydney grade cricket on weekends. He joined the Australian subsidiary of the pharmaceutical firm Boots, where he rose to the position of managing director.
| Preceded by Ian Johnson |
Australian Test cricket captains 1957/8 |
Succeeded by Richie Benaud |
[edit] References
- Cricinfo profile on Ian Craig
- Harte, Chris (2003). The Penguin History of Australian Cricket.
- Pollard, Jack (1969). Cricket the Australian Way.
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Craig, Ian David |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Cricketer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 12, 1935 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Yass, New South Wales |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
