ian craig

Ian Craig

For English cricketer, see Ian Craig (English cricketer),for the Australian footballer Ian Craig (footballer).

Ian David Craig, OAM (12 June 1935 16 November2014) was an Australian Test cricketer who representedAustralia in 11 Tests between 1953 and 1958. A right-handed batsman, Craig holds the record for being theyoungest Australian to make a rst-class double century,gain Test selection and captain his country. Burdenedby the public expectation of being the next Bradman",Craigs career did not full its early promise. In 1957, hewas appointed Australian captain, leading a young teamas part of a regeneration plan following the decline of thenational team in the mid-1950s, but a loss of form and ill-ness forced him out of the team after one season. Craigmade a comeback, but work commitments forced him toretire from rst-class cricket at only 26 years of age.A teenage prodigy, Craig made his rst-class debut forNew South Wales in the last match of the 195152 Aus-tralian season, aged only 16. The following summer,Craig earned comparisons to Don Bradman, generally re-garded as the greatest batsman of all time, after becomingthe youngest player to score a rst-class double century,an unbeaten 213 against the touring South African team.The innings secured Craigs Test debut in the nal matchagainst South Africa, making him the youngest player torepresent Australia in a Test, aged 17 years and 239 days.Craig started his Test career well, scoring 53 and 47 toensure his selection for the 1953 Ashes tour, making himthe youngest Australian player to tour England. Craigsarrival precipitated media comparisons to the arrival andsuccess of Bradman in 1930, but he performed poorlyand was not selected for any of the Tests.Having missed a season due to national service and uni-versity studies, Craig returned to rst-class cricket in195556, earning a place in the 1956 Ashes touringsquad. Craig regained a Test position for the nal twoTests of the series. After the series, at which point Aus-tralia had suered three consecutive Ashes series de-feats, captain Ian Johnson and vice-captain Keith Millerretired. The selectors focussed on young players to re-build the team, appointing Craig as the captain for the195758 tour of South Africa, although he had playedjust six Tests and was not an established member of theteam. Aged 22 years and 194 days, Craig was, at thetime, the youngest captain in Test history and led a teamthat critics dismissed as having no chance to a convinc-ing 30 victory; his own batting form was poor, and heaveraged less than 20. He contracted hepatitis before the

start of the 195859 season and withdrew from cricket.Although he returned the following season for New SouthWales, he could not regain his Test place. He retired fromrst-class cricket at the age of just 26: work commit-ments as a pharmacist increasingly restricted his abilityto train. In later life, Craig was the managing directorof the Australian subsidiary of the British pharmaceu-tical rm Boots. He had a continued involvement withcricket as an administrator, working with the New SouthWales Cricket Association, the Sydney Cricket GroundTrust and the Bradman Museum. Craig was awarded theMedal of the Order of Australia in 1997 for his serviceto cricket.

1 Early life

1.1 Birth and school success

Ian Craig was the rst son of John Craig and his wifeKatherine (ne Dun).[2] Shortly after Ians birth in the ru-ral town of Yass, John jokingly told friends that Aus-tralias second Don Bradman has just been born.[3][4]When Johns employers, the Bank of New South Wales,moved him to Sydney, the family relocated when Ian wasjust three; John went on the be the chief manager of theSydney oce.[2][3][5] Ian studied at North Sydney BoysHigh School,[3] and showed an aptitude for ball gamesfrom an early age.[3] He was a member of Australiasschoolboy baseball team for three years, rst playing at13 years of age.[3] He captained his schools rugby unionteam and was a member of the states schoolboy team,[6]but was only vice captain of the First XI cricket team be-hind Peter Philpott, another future Test player.[7] At thetime, cricket was only his third priority;[3] his obituaryin the Sydney Morning Herald suggests that he was ini-tially a better rugby player but was persuaded to focuson cricket when he broke his jaw playing rugby.[2] Hejoined Mosman Cricket Club on Sydneys North Shoreand scored a rst-grade century at the age of 16.[6] Craigwas not coached heavily; the philosophy of the day was tosupervise young players and to only intervene if mistakeswere being made.[8]

After good performances for Mosman,[2] Craig was se-lected to make his rst-class debut for New South Walesat the age of 16 years and 249 days, during the 195152 season, making him the youngest ever Sheeld Shieldplayer.[9][10] He struck 91 against South Australia inhis only rst-class innings of the season,[5][11][12] before

1

2 2 TEST MATCH CAREER

falling leg before wicket.[9][11] He remained in the teamfor the following season; in the rst eight games he scored350 runs at an average of 35.00, with three fties.[11]Given a chance to push his claims for Test selection afterbeing selected for the Australian XI to play South Africa,he made only 38 and 11.[11]

1.2 The Next Bradman

Craig was one of many players burdened with the tag of beingthe next Bradman" (pictured).

Craigs breakthrough came in January 1953 when, at theage of 17 years and 207 days,[5][7] he became the youngestdouble centurion in the history of rst-class cricket at thetime, in only his 13th rst-class innings.[7][9] As of 2015,he remains the youngest Australian to have achieved thefeat.[7] In a match for New South Wales against the tour-ing South Africans, Craig came into bat on the secondday and after a slow start reached 105 not out at theclose of play.[5][13] After play, he went to work at hisjob as an apprentice pharmacist.[5] The next day, team-mate Sid Barnes oered him a new bat if he reached200.[5] When play resumed, he took his score 213 not outhelping to build a total of 416 runs for the loss of sevenwickets (7/416). Hitting many cover drives,[14] Craigscored quickly, making 98 of the 159 runs scored in apartnership with Keith Miller,[6] a Test player known forhis attacking strokeplay.[15] Craig brought up his doublecentury by sweeping Hugh Tayeld for a boundary.[7][9]

The innings generated comparisons with Don Bradman,widely regarded as the nest batsman in cricket history.Bradman had dominated Australian sports media cover-

age for two decades until his retirement in 1948 and theAustralian public were eager for another sporting heroof his magnitude. Bradman had not played rst-classcricket at the age of 17 and was 20 when he made hisTest debut,[16] so Craigs quicker rise up the ranks causedmuch excitement. The Daily Telegraph said that Craigbatted with a grim purposefulness that was reminis-cent of Bradman.[5] Miller cautioned against heapingso much media pressure on Craig, but the newspaperspersisted, even comparing Craigs batting grip to that ofBradman.[9][17]

Craigs innings also caught the eye of Australian selectorsand he was selected for the Test team. He was namedtwelfth man for the Fourth Test, before making his de-but in the Fifth Test after Miller and Ray Lindwall wererested due to mild injuries.[7][18] Australia were leadingthe series 21 heading into the deciding match.[19]

2 Test match career

2.1 Debut

Making his Test debut at the Melbourne CricketGround,[20] Craig became, at the age of 17 years and 239days, the youngest ever Australian to play Test cricket.[7]Australia batted rst and Craig received a standing ova-tion from the 47,000-strong crowd as he walked out to batamid high expectations from the public.[3][21] As SouthAfrican captain Jack Cheetham stopped proceedings toset his eld, the crowd jeered.[22] Australia were comfort-ably positioned at 3/269 with Craigs partner Neil Harveyon his way to a double century.[23] Craig cover drove histhird ball, bowled by Percy Mansell, for four and quicklymoved to 20.[24] In an innings marked by leg glances andne cuts, Craig progressed to 53 before the new ball wastaken. He hit a ball into the covers and was caught, end-ing the 148-run partnership with Harvey and silencingthe crowd.[3][18][23] Australia collapsed and ended at 520but still took a rst innings lead of 85 runs.[11] Craig top-scored in the second innings with 47, giving him exactly100 runs for the match as Australia collapsed to be all outfor 209 and conceded defeat by six wickets.[11][25] GivenBradmans Test average of 99.94,[25] Craigs match aggre-gate prompted further press discussions of Bradmanesquesimilarities.[3][26] However, his debut ended on a sournote as South Africa scored 4/297 to win by six wicketsand level the series 22.[11]

2.2 Ashes tour of 1953

Craig was selected for his rst tour of England in 1953 asthe last player to make the cut,[27] after only 10 rst-classmatches.[26] The youngest Australian player ever to besent to England, Craig was 15 months younger than ClemHill in 1896.[9] He had been one of the leading batsmen

2.4 Second Ashes tour 3

of the summer, scoring 867 rst-class runs at a batting av-erage of 54.18 with seven half-centuries in addition to hisdouble century. This placed him fourth amongAustralianbatsmen for the season in terms of run-scoring, with onlyleading Test batsman Neil Harvey averaging higher.[28]Craig had a strong preparation before departing for Eng-land, scoring fties in three consecutive matches for theAustralians on home soil.[11]

Craig was again the centre of media speculation, withsome media likening his arrival to Bradmans rst tourof England in 1930.[26] Bradman had scored a world Testseries record of 974 runs in 1930, a mark that remainsunsurpassed.[25] At a reception at the start of the tour,British judge and cricket enthusiast Lord Birkett said IfI know the English as I think I do, every Mother in theland will pray for him.[29] During the tour he was pre-sented with a birthday cake on television.[30] However,the trip was unsuccessful in terms of batting.[31]

Craig began poorly; in ten innings before the Testsstarted, he scored only 146 runs at 14.60 without pass-ing fty.[11] He was overlooked for the First Test,[11] andcontinued to struggle for runs during the tour; he endedwith 429 runs in 27 innings with a top score of 71 notout and an average of 16.50. He was not selected for anyTests.[20][32] Craig had diculty adjusting to the Englishpitch conditions and his condence plummeted.[7][26][31]Craig had particular trouble against o cutters on theseaming pitches.[31] In a reception at Lords, the home ofcricket, Queen Elizabeth II asked him I understand thisis your rst visit to England?", which prompted Craig toreply Yes, your majesty, and unless my batting improves,it will be my last.[26][30][31][33] During the tour, tensionssometimes arose between the senior players, who werewar veterans and drinkers, while the younger players in-cluding Craig tended to abstain from alcohol.[34] Craigestimated that bus journeys to matches proceeded at anaverage speed of 16 km/h because of persistent stop-pages outside pubs, something that frustrated the non-drinkers.[34]

2.3 In the wilderness

Upon returning home, Craig was unable to maintain thelevel of performances that he displayed in the previousAustralian summer. In a season which contained no in-ternational cricket, he scored 395 runs at an average of35.90 in eight matches, placing him 20th in the seasonsrun scoring list.[35] He scored 93 in an eight-wicket vic-tory over South Australia, and 106 for Arthur Morris'sXI in a testimonial match against Lindsay Hassett's XI,his rst century against Australian opposition.[11]

Craigs career was interrupted by nal year universitystudies for a diploma of pharmacy at the University ofSydney and national service,[1][36] causing him to missthe entire 195455 season, including the home Test se-ries against England, the early 1955 tour to the West In-

dies and the Sheeld Shield season.[26][37] He returnedto rst-class cricket during the 195556 Australian sea-son, and a healthy aggregate of 495 runs at 45.09 withone century.[38] During the season, he made his rstcentury in the Sheeld Shield, amassing 145 againstQueensland.[11] For these performances, he was selectedfor the 1956 Ashes tour, the last player to be picked.[26]

2.4 Second Ashes tourCraigs tour started poorly, and food poisoning ham-pered him until after the Second Testone particularsevere bout forced him to be hospitalised.[26][31] In hisrst six rst-class matches, Craig made only 104 runs at17.33.[11] His tour began to improve in late June,[11] whenhe made consecutive half-centuries against Yorkshireand Gloucestershire before breaking through in a matchagainst Somerset.[11] He was dropped before going onto score 62 and 100 not outhis rst century in 38 in-nings in England.[31] He was selected for the Fourth Testat Old Traord,[20] after Australia had suered a heavydefeat at Headingley in the Third Test at the hands of theSurrey spin pairing of Jim Laker and Tony Lock, Aus-tralias rst innings defeat in 18 years.[19] The FourthTest was to be known as Lakers Test, in which Lakertook a record 19 wickets in the match. Laker trappedCraig leg before wicket for eight in the rst innings asAustralia were bowled out for 84.[39] In the second in-nings, Craig came out to bat at 1/28 in the second in-nings on a sticky wicket and combined in a deant third-wicket partnership of 59 with Colin McDonald.[39] Hebattled for over four hours in compiling 38 before beingdismissed by Laker.[1][7][39][40] Reecting on the match,Craig said Jim bowled well, and we batted very badly.We were all pissed o, felt we'd been dudded and wedropped our bundle a bit.[40] His stubborn display sawhim retain his position for the Fifth Test at The Oval whenhe scored two and seven.[20][26] Craig ended the seasonwith 872 runs at 36.33 from 20 matches, with one cen-tury and ve fties,[11] the fth highest aggregate for theAustralians.[41]

Despite his failure to reach double gures at The Oval,Craigmaintained his position in the playingXI on the tourof the Indian subcontinent en route to Australia in late1956, playing Test matches against Pakistan and India.[11]However, he failed to pass 40 in his ve innings. Hemadea duck and 18 on a matting wicket in Australias one-o Test against Pakistan in Karachi before playing in theFirst Test against India, scoring 40 in an innings win inMadras.[20] He was dropped for the Second Test but re-turned to make 36 and 6 in the Third Test in Calcutta asAustralia took a 20 series win.[20][26] The matches werethe rst time that Australia had played a Test in Asia.[19]

3 Captaincy of Australia

4 3 CAPTAINCY OF AUSTRALIA

3.1 Youngest ever captain

Craigs signature

The 195657 season marked the start of a renewal phasein Australian cricket. Australia had lost three consecu-tive Ashes series and had fallen from the heights of theInvincibles team that had toured England in 1948. Aus-tralia were not scheduled to play any Tests until a tourof South Africa in 195758 and captain Ian Johnson andhis deputy Keith Miller retired upon their return to Aus-tralia, both men being in their late 30s.[7][15][19][21][42] Ina move regarded as surprising,[43] the 21-year old Craig,rather than Richie Benaud, replaced the retired Miller asstate captain and staked his claim to be a part of Aus-tralias long-term future with a consistent season in whichhe scored 521 runs at an average of 47.36, with twocenturies.[1][44] New South Wales won another SheeldShield title under Craigs leadership.[45] In one matchagainst arch-rivals Victoria, Craig was ill with tonsillitis,but came out to bat with his team struggling at 7/70 whilechasing a low total of 161.[11] Craig made 24 and put on70 with Benaud to take his team towards victory,[43] butthe match eventually ended in a tie.[11]

Near the end of the 195657 season, the selectors metto choose a team for a short non-Test tour of NewZealand. The leading contender for the captaincy was28-year-old Victorian Neil Harvey, who had been a regu-lar member of the team for eight years and was the se-nior batsman.[25][46] However, both Harvey and Millerhad been criticised for their attitude towards Johnson inan ocial report to the board about the 1956 tour.[47] Theselectors thus thrust Craig into the leadership at the ageof 21 and a half. He was a young player leading an in-experienced teamthe youngest cricket team from anycountry to be sent overseas,[48] with no players older than30.[48] It was seen as a bold move,[7][21] as Craig had onlyplayed six Tests, was far from being a regular member ofthe team and had only a year of captaincy at rst-classlevel.[7]

The day after the announcement, the Harvey-led Victo-rians met Craigs New South Welshmen at the SCG.[49]Harvey admitted to being irked by the boards snub andfelt that it was because of his blunt nature.[49] The menwere cordial at the toss and Craig sent the Victorians into bat. At the same time, Colin McDonald broke his nosewhile practising in the nets and was taken to hospital.Harvey asked Craig for a gentlemans agreement to allow

a substitute, but the home skipper refused.[49] An angryHarvey struck 209 in ve hours,[49] but Craig scored 45and 93 to help secure a draw and the therefore win theSheeld Shield.[11][45]

Craig, regarded as a personable, level-headed andwell ed-ucated man, was seen as an investment in the future.[7][21]Personal skills were seen as important in an era when cap-tains were expected to make many after-dinner speechesat functions on tours, especially to England.[7][21] RayRobinson opined that a sincere nature and unassumingmanner reduced the risk of team friction in the rebuild-ing phase and that Craig was level headed and tactfulbeyond his years.[7] Craigs lack of leadership ambi-tion was cited as a major reason for the improvement inteam harmony.[48] The New Zealand tour was regardedas a test of Craigs leadership. Wicket-keeper Barry Jar-man said that Craig had to do it himself...I wasn't sodumb that I couldn't see the senior players didn't givehim much support.[49] The senior players resented hissurprise selection as captain, but he gained favour by de-fying a management-imposed curfew, which was laterscrapped.[50]

During the tour, the Australians won all three of theirrst-class matches against the hosts provincial teams.[11]The Australians then played against a New Zealand repre-sentative team, although the matches were not classiedas Tests.[2] In the rst game, Craig scored an unbeaten123 in the second innings to ensure a draw after the vis-itors had conceded a rst innings lead.[11] In the secondmatch, Australia stumbled to 6/146 in their second in-nings after conceding a rst innings lead of 34. Afterthe unconvincing performances in the rst two matches,Craig scored 57 in the third, which Australia won byten wickets.[11] Craig ended with 224 runs at 56.00 inthe three international matches and 308 runs at 38.50overall.[11]

3.2 South African tourAt the start of the 195758 season, Craig was made cap-tain for Australias Test tour to South Africa, makinghim the youngest captain in Test history at the age of 22years and 194 days,[51] with Harvey as his deputy.[7] Theappointment came despite his mixed batting form dur-ing the New Zealand tour. The selectors further demon-strated their view to the future when they dropped veteranRay Lindwall altogether.[52] The average age of Craigsteam was two and a half years younger than the Aus-tralian squad sent to England in 1956,[53][54] and theyhad only one player over the age of 30,[53] whereas the1956 team had ve members over the age of 30.[53][54]As a result of the teams relative inexperience, they werejudged by critics to be the worst to have left Australianshores.[55][56] Craig joined his team in Johannesburg af-ter ying in from London, where he had been workingfor six months as a pharmacist, with the approval of theAustralian board.[1][57]

5Craigs workload grew after the team manager Jack Jan-tke suered a heart attack before the tour, leaving thecaptain to handle o-eld matters until a replacement forJantke was found two weeks later.[1][21][53][57] Craig in-stituted a novel set of rules to raise morale,[57] but jour-nalists and former player Dick Whitington derided it asAnglicised fripperies,[55] while Jack Fingleton said thatCraig was much too callow in years and experience tolead a team abroad.[55] Some players remained resentfulof Craigs dubious elevation but appreciated that he hadnot promoted himself and that he was fair and open toinput from teammates.[55]

Craig made a good start to the tour in two warm-upmatches against Rhodesia, scoring a century in eachmatch.[11][21] Australia won the matches by an inningsand ten wickets respectively.[11] Craig led his men in verst-class matches before the Tests and Australia won allby convincing margins; three ended in innings victoriesand the others were won by nine and ten wickets.[11] Thisincluded a match against a South African XI, in whichCraig scored 88 as Australia amassed 8/519 declared be-fore winning by an innings.[11]

Craig led his team into the First Test at Johannesburgstarting on 23 December with an inexperienced bowlingattack. With Lindwall dropped,[52] the pace attack wasled by Alan Davidson,[58] who at the time had managedonly 16 Test wickets in 12 matches.[58] Davidsons part-ner Ian Mecki was making his debut. Benaud was inhis rst Test as the lead spinner, while left arm wrist spin-ner Lindsay Kline was another debutant.[59] In all, Craigsteam had four debutants.[60] Craigmade only 14 and 17 ashis team held on for a draw.[20] At the end of the match,an unpopular 10 p.m. curfew that was imposed by thereplacement manager was repealed.[61]

The Australian skipper again struggled with the bat in theSecond Test in Cape Town, making a duck, but this wasoverlooked by the media as his team won by a decisive in-nings margin. In the Third Test at Durban, Craig made 52on a pitch that was dicult for batting, his rst Test half-century since his debut.[20] His team scored 163 in theirrst innings, and after the hosts made 384, Craig madea duck as Australia struggled to a score of 7/292, sal-vaging a draw in the process.[11] In the Fourth Test at Jo-hannesburg, Craig promoted Benaud ahead of him in thebatting order, feeling that exibility in the team interestwas paramount.[62] Benaud scored a century, promptingRobinson to describe Craigs action as the most imagi-native piece of captaincy of the season.[63] The inningsallowed Australia to seize the momentum and set up a10-wicket victory,[63] which yielded an unassailable 20series lead.[19]

Despite the disagreement as to whether Craig was de-serving of the captaincy, the team proceeded withoutinghting.[64] Prior to the Fifth Test, Craig wanted to drophimself due to poor form, which would have made Har-vey captain.[64] Peter Burge, the third member of the se-

lection panel and a Harvey supporter,[55] was comfort-able with this, but Harvey ordering Burge to retain Craig.When the vote was formally taken, Harvey and Burge out-voted Craig, who was still oering to drop himself.[64]

Craig failed to pass 20 in the Fifth Test as Australiawon again to take a creditable 30 series win, somethinghighly unexpected at the beginning of the tour.[62] Over-all, Craigs men won 11 of their 20 rst-class games ontour, and the South African Cricket Annual recognised theAustralian captains leadership by naming him as one oftheir Five Cricketers of the Year.[65]

4 Later career

4.1 Hepatitis

Although the match results were encouraging for such ayoung and inexperienced team,[62] Craig scored only 103runs at 14.71.[20] Despite his contributions as a leader,this was not up to standard.[7] He had trouble with his de-fence, being bowled eight times in 17 innings.[63] In the12 matches in the last three months of the tour, Craigpassed fty only once in 13 innings.[11] However, the se-lectors did not have to reverse their youth policy: Craigcontracted a bout of hepatitis before the start of the 195859 season.[7] He returned to cricket at the beginning of theseason, but was underprepared,[25][62] scoring two ducksin his only two innings of the season, the second com-ing against the touring England team.[11] Craig declaredthat he was not ready for a return to Test cricket and re-linquished the captaincy,[66] which the selectors handedto Benaud.[25][62] Benaud went on to defeat England 40;[19] as England were widely regarded as the best teamat the time, this established him as captain of a resurgentAustralia.[25][62]

The illness-enforced layo left Craig facing an uphill bat-tle to regain his place in the national team.[7] Prior to thestart of the 195960 season, Craig recovered his healthand toured SouthAfrica with a Commonwealth XI, wherehe scored 276 runs at 55.20 including a century against acombined Transvaal XI.[7][11]

4.2 Attempted comebackReturning to Australia, he had a moderately successfulSheeld Shield season, accumulating 376 runs at 31.33with three half-centuries.[67] New South Wales went onto win another title.[45] The selectors named him to leadan Australian Second XI to New Zealandwhile the rstchoice team toured the Indian subcontinenthoping thathe was still good enough to secure a long-term futurein the Australian team.[7] The four matches against NewZealand were closely contested.[11] In the rst match,Australia were 7/201 in pursuit of 22 for victory whentime ran out. In the second xture, Craig made 70 as the

6 6 AFTER CRICKET

tourists struggled to 8/211 in pursuit of 262 for victoryto hold on for a draw.[11] After narrowly escaping defeatin the rst two matches, Australia won the third matchby eight wickets. In the nal match, Australia reducedNew Zealand to 8/149 in pursuit of 284 when time ranout, sealing a 10 series win.[11] Craig struggled with thebat, making 222 runs at 27.75 in the games against NewZealand.[11]

Craig had a strong Sheeld Shield season in 196061.At the time, he had become a production manager at hispharmaceutical rm and declared that the season wouldbe his last owing to work commitments. His employ-ers had been pressuring him to commit to a career aftercricket.[68] Early in the campaign, Craig scored consecu-tive centuries against Queensland and Victoria. He thenscored 83 as New South Wales defeated the touring WestIndians by an innings and 97 runs, but he was overlookedfor Test selection.[11] He ended his season with 197 in aninnings victory over Western Australia. Overall, he to-talled 710 runs at 59.16, as New South Wales won theireighth successive Shield.[11][45] After a successful cam-paign, he reversed his decision and made himself avail-able for the 1961 tour of England, but Bill Lawry wasselected ahead of him.[68]

4.3 Final season

The 196162 season was Craigs last at rst-class level;he accumulated 629 runs at 37.00,[69][70] with sevenfties but he was unable to convert any of these intoa century.[11] In one match against arch-rivals Victoria,Craig scored 80 and 65 not out to help his team to aten-wicket triumph.[11] New South Wales won six con-secutive matches to seal another title,[11][45] but Craigfound himself under increasing pressure for his place inthe state team; with no internationals that season, all theTest players were available, which put his position underthreat.[19][62] New South Wales had a streak of nine con-secutive Shield titles up until 196162,[45] and the battingline-up was particularly strong.[62][71][72] The 1950s60sera teams were regarded as among the strongest in Aus-tralian history.[73] In total, Craig acted as captain in 48rst-class matches, winning 27, tying one and losing onlytwo.[7] Although Craigs record as the youngest captainin Test history has now been surpassed,[51] he remainsthe youngest Australian to have scored a rst-class dou-ble century, play a Test match and the captain the nationalteam.[7]

Craig signed o on his rst-class career at the end of theseason with a tour of New Zealand with an InternationalXI. He played in three matches and ended with 240 runsat 48.00;[11] in his nal match, against the Cricket Clubof India Presidents XI, he made 101, his 15th century atrst-class level.[11]

5 StyleStanding 173 cm (5 ft 8 in) and weighing 63 kg(139 lb),[21] Craig was a lightly built and frail lookingbatsman.[6] He had a neat and compact batting style.Craig was known for his leg side batting repertoire, inparticular his ability to clip the ball from his pads. Hehad an unorthodox grip, low on the bat handle with theback of the top hand pointing to point. This causedhim to have a tendency to close the face of his bat.[9]Although Craig was small in stature, he was still ableto hit the ball a long distance. During the testimonialmatch for Lindsay Hassett at the end of the 195354season, Craig struck four sixes in ve balls from the ospin of Johnson.[7][31] During his rst tour to England,Craig had diculty with o cutters bowled by pacemenand eschwed the hook shot,[31] but after his comebackfrom illness, he transformed himself into an opening bats-man, earning praise for his performances against the ex-press pace of Wes Hall and Ian Mecki.[65] Benaud feltthat Craig was nally reaping the rewards of his earlyexperience.[65] On Australian pitches, Craig had a repu-tation for having diculty with the left arm wrist spin ofKline and David Sincock.[31] Craigs light build allowedhim to move quickly while elding, prompting Robinsonto call him the Bambi of the elding side.[9] In his earlyyears, Craig was a non-smoker, but the pressure and ten-sion brought on by the burden of captaincy resulted inhim taking up the habit.[63] Hewas known for being softlyspoken, with his players often having to ask him to repeathis instructions.[63] Craig had a reputation for being good-natured; he did not complain about his cricket career andsaid that he had no regrets.[6][31][65][74]

6 After cricketCraig retired from rst-class cricket at just 26 years ofage in 1962, but continued playing forMosman in Sydneygrade cricket on weekends until 1969.[7][75] His marriageto Rosslyn Carroll in 1962[6][7][76] and his pharmaceuti-cal career prevented him from applying himself fully tocricket.[6][7] The couple had a boy and a girl, as well asan adopted son. Craig joined the Australian subsidiaryof the British pharmaceutical rm Boots, rising to theposition of managing director. He later served on theboard of directors of the Bradman Museum in Bowraland later became its chairman. He was a board memberof the New South Wales Cricket Association (NSWCA)for three years and served on the Trust of the SydneyCricket Ground for varying periods from 1968 to 1996,totalling 18 years.[77] Upon rst being appointed in 1968to replace Stan McCabe, Craig was the youngest evertrustee of the SCG.[75] One of the most controversialincidents during this time occurred in 197778 duringthe period of the breakaway World Series Cricket, whichwanted to install oodlights at the SCG. The NSWCAop-

7posed this, while the government sided with WSC. As aresult of Craigs support of the NSWCA, the governmentdismissed him.[78] Craig retired as the managing directorof Boots Australian subsidiaries.[7] Craig was awardedthe Medal of the Order of Australia in 1997 for his con-tributions to cricket as a player and administrator.[2] Hedied in Bowral from cancer on 16 November 2014.[79]

7 Test match performance

Ian Craigs Test career batting graph. The red bars indicate theruns that he scored in an innings, with the blue line indicating thebatting average in his last 10 innings.[20]

8 Notes[1] Robinson, p. 262.

[2] Craig, Geo (2014-12-13). Obituary: Former Aus-tralian cricket captain Ian Craig excelled early. SydneyMorning Herald. Retrieved 2015-06-07.

[3] Robinson, p. 259.

[4] Haigh, p. 46.

[5] Haigh, p. 47.

[6] Pollard, p. 155.

[7] Cashman, p. 67.

[8] Haigh, p. 30.



[11] Player Oracle ID Craig. CricketArchive. Retrieved2009-05-14.

[12] Australian First-Class Season 1951/52: Batting MostRuns. Cricinfo. Retrieved 2007-12-04.

[13] New South Wales v South Africans in 1952/53. Crick-etArchive. Retrieved 2015-06-07.

[14] Piesse, p. 173.

[15] Cashman, pp. 212213.

[16] Cashman, pp. 3234.

[17] Perry, pp. 206207.


[19] Statsguru Australia Tests Results list. Cricinfo.Retrieved 2007-12-21.

[20] Statsguru ID Craig Tests Innings by innings list.Cricinfo. Retrieved 2007-11-30.

[21] Perry, p. 209.

[22] Piesse, p. 174.

[23] Perry, p. 207.

[24] Piesse, p. 175.

[25] Cashman, pp. 1819.

[26] Perry, p. 208.



[29] Haigh, p. 73.

[30] Haigh, p. 79.


[32] First-class Batting and Fielding for Australians in Aus-tralia in England 1953. Cricket Archive. Retrieved2008-04-09.


[34] Haigh, p. 29.


[36] Haigh, p. 27.



[39] 4th Test:England v Australia at Manchester, Jul 2631,1956. Cricinfo. Retrieved 2008-04-09.

[40] Haigh, p. 99.

[41] First-class Batting and Fielding for Australians in Aus-tralia in England 1956. Cricket Archive. Retrieved2008-04-09.

[42] Cashman, p. 152.

[43] Haigh, p. 103.


8 10 EXTERNAL LINKS

[45] Williamson, Martin. A history of the Sheeld Shield.Cricinfo. Retrieved 2007-11-30.

[46] Cashman, pp. 118119.

[47] Haigh, pp. 101, 103.

[48] Pollard, p. 115.

[49] Haigh, p. 104.

[50] Haigh, p. 105.

[51] Test matches Youngest captains. Cricinfo. Retrieved2008-04-09.

[52] Perry, p. 204.

[53] Pollard, p. 117.


[55] Haigh, p. 108.

[56] Benaud, Richie (1998). Anything But. Hodder &Stoughton. p. 142. ISBN 0-340-69648-6.

[57] Haigh, p. 107.

[58] Cashman, pp. 7273.

[59] 1st Test:South Africa v Australia, Johannesburg Dec 2328 1957. Cricinfo. Retrieved 2007-12-18.

[60] 1st Test:South Africa v Australia at, Dec 2328 1957 atJohannesburg. Cricinfo. Retrieved 2007-11-30.

[61] Haigh, p. 111.

[62] Perry, p. 210.


[64] Haigh, pp. 114115.


[66] Haigh, p. 116.


[68] Haigh, p. 274.



[71] Perry, p. 233.

[72] Perry, p. 244.

[73] Derriman, p. 198.

[74] Perry, p. 211.


[76] Haigh, p. 247.

[77] Perry, p. 201.

[78] Derriman, pp. 208209.

[79] Sengupta, Arunabha (2014-11-17). Ian Craig theyoungest captain of Australia. Cricket Country. Re-trieved 2015-06-06.

[80] Statsguru ID Craig Test matches Batting analysis.Cricinfo. Retrieved 2008-04-07.

[81] Statsguru ID Craig Test Bowling Bowling analysis.Cricinfo. Retrieved 2008-04-07.

9 References Cashman, Richard; Franks, Warwick; Maxwell,Jim; Sainsbury, Erica; Stoddart, Brian; Weaver,Amanda; Webster, Ray (1997). The AZ of Aus-tralian cricketers. Melbourne, Victoria: OxfordUniversity Press. ISBN 0-9756746-1-7.

Derriman, Philip (1985). True to the Blue: AHistoryof the New South Wales Cricket Association. Mos-man, New South Wales: Richard Smart Publishing.pp. 194195. ISBN 0-9589038-0-8.

Haigh, Gideon (1997). The summer game: Australiain test cricket 194971. Melbourne: Text Publish-ing. ISBN 1-875847-44-8.

Perry, Roland (2000). Captain Australia. MilsonsPoint, New South Wales: Random House Australia.ISBN 1-74051-093-3.

Piesse, Ken (2003). Crickets Colosseum: 125 Yearsof Test Cricket at the MCG. South Yarra, Victoria:Hardie Grant Books. ISBN 1-74066-064-1.

Pollard, Jack (1990). From Bradman to Border:Australian cricket 19481989. North Ryde, NewSouth Wales: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-207-16124-0.

Robinson, Ray; Haigh, Gideon (1996). On top downunder: Australias cricket captains. Kent Town,South Australia: Wakeeld Press. ISBN 1-86254-387-9.

10 External links Cricinfo prole on Ian Craig CricketArchive prole on Ian Craig

911 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses11.1 Text

Ian Craig Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Craig?oldid=666600560 Contributors: Delirium, Moondyne, JackofOz, Roisterer,D6, MeltBanana, Bobo192, Stephen Turner, Jguk, Alai, Tintin1107, Sam Vimes, Mindmatrix, Allen3, Graham87, Thefourdotelipsis,Gareth E Kegg, Sherool, RussBot, Dureo, Johnlp, Ali K, Chanheigeorge, YellowMonkey, Smickel, Bluebot, Adpete, Colonies Chris,Rcbutcher, QazPlm, Downwards, BrownHairedGirl, AdultSwim, Dl2000, The-Pope, Iridescent, ShelfSkewed, Neelix, Lugnuts, Betacom-mandBot, Epbr123, Arch dude, Mattinbgn, CommonsDelinker, Robertson-Glasgow, Jevansen, Hersfold, Jpeeling, GirasoleDE, SieBot,StAnselm, Lightmouse, Castlemate, Maralia, Dabomb87, All Hallows Wraith, Winston365, Dank, NinetyCharacters, Addbot, Tassede-the, Yobot, Bunnyhop11, AJ6J, Materialscientist, Citation bot, LilHelpa, Yottie, Sarastro1, RjwilmsiBot, AssociateAliate, GoingBatty,Hojuhanguk, Jenks24, IgnorantArmies, Neelraxit, Helpful Pixie Bot, Dutchy85, TFA Protector Bot, Monkbot, Filedelinkerbot, Vanisheduser 9j34rnfjemnrjnasj4, Jurisdicta, Maddog4274 and Anonymous: 10

11.2 Images File:Bradman&Bat.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Bradman%26Bat.jpg License: Public domain

Contributors: State Library of New South Wales (Digital Order No.: a128358) Original artist: Unknown File:Ian_Craig.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Ian_Craig.jpg License: Public domain Contribu-

tors: http://www.ebay.com.sg/itm/1996-Futera-Cricket-Heritage-Collection-Signature-Card-NO38-Ian-Craig-/371219399779?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item566e668463 Original artist: Ian Craig

File:Ian_Craig_graph.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Ian_Craig_graph.png License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Originally uploaded to EN Wikipedia as en:File:Ian Craig graph.png by en:User:YellowMonkey 3 December 2007.Original artist: en:User:YellowMonkey

11.3 Content license Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

Early life Birth and school success The Next Bradman

Test match career Debut Ashes tour of 1953 In the wilderness Second Ashes tour

Captaincy of Australia Youngest ever captain South African tour

Later career Hepatitis Attempted comeback Final season

Style After cricket Test match performance Notes References External links Text and image sources, contributors, and licensesTextImagesContent license

ian craig

Documents