Craig Kieswetter facts for kids
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| Full name |
Craig Kieswetter
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| Born | 28 November 1987 Johannesburg, Transvaal Province, South Africa |
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| Nickname | Hobnob | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm off break | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Opening batter; wicket-keeper | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side |
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| ODI debut (cap 214) | 28 February 2010 v Bangladesh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last ODI | 19 January 2013 v India | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| T20I debut (cap 49) | 5 May 2010 v West Indies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last T20I | 29 September 2012 v New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007–2015 | Somerset (squad no. 22) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2013/14 | Brisbane Heat (squad no. 22) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2014 | Warriors | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: ESPNcricinfo, 26 September 2014
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Craig Kieswetter (born 28 November 1987) is an English professional golfer. He used to be a cricketer. He played 71 matches for the England cricket team between 2010 and 2013. Craig was born and grew up in South Africa. He moved to England to finish his schooling. He started playing county cricket for Somerset in 2007.
Three years later, he played his first international match. This was a One Day International (ODI) against Bangladesh. Craig was a wicket-keeper and a batsman. He was known for playing well in one-day games. All his international matches were in ODIs or Twenty20 Internationals.
Craig played junior cricket in South Africa until he was 18. He then looked for chances to play in England. He went to a school called Millfield. There, he was noticed by Somerset. Somerset needed a good wicket-keeper. This gave Craig his chance, and he played his first game for them in 2007. His mother was Scottish, so he could play county cricket in England. Soon, people started talking about him playing for England. The captain of South Africa, Graeme Smith, asked him to come back and play in South Africa. But Craig wanted to play for England.
In early 2010, Craig achieved his goal. He played very well for the England Lions. Especially in a game against the main England team. This helped him get a spot in the England squad to play Bangladesh. Some people didn't like that he and other South African-born players were in the England team. They thought there should be fewer foreign-born players. Craig scored his only international century in his third match. A few months later, he was the man of the match in the final. England won the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 that day.
After a good start, he was dropped from the team in late 2010. This was because his performance was not always consistent. He came back to the team the next year. But his spot was not secure. In 2013, Jos Buttler, his teammate at Somerset, took his place. Craig's cricket career ended because of an injury. In July 2014, he was batting for Somerset. A ball hit him in the face, damaging his eyesight. He hoped to recover fully. He was even named in a possible England squad for the 2015 Cricket World Cup. But his vision problems continued. He announced he was retiring from cricket in June 2015, when he was 27. In 2017, he became a professional golfer.
Contents
Early Life and Cricket Journey
Craig Kieswetter was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. His father, Wayne, was Afrikaner, and his mother, Belinda, was Scottish. He went to school at Diocesan College in Cape Town. He played cricket for junior teams in Western Province from age 13 to 18. Craig was sad when he was told to play club cricket for a few years before joining the senior team. He decided to move to England at 18 to play cricket there.
He studied for a year at Millfield school. There, Mark Davis, a former Somerset bowler, saw him play. Somerset quickly signed him. In 2006, he played for South Africa in the Under-19s World Cup in Sri Lanka. He won a Man of the Match award in a game against the United States. He scored 80 runs from 66 balls.
Starting at Somerset
Craig first played for Somerset's second team in May 2006. He became the wicket-keeper during a match when another player got hurt. He scored 94 runs without being out in his first turn at bat. By the end of that season, he had scored 245 runs. His playing was so good that Somerset let go of their other wicket-keeper. They chose Craig and Carl Gazzard as their two wicket-keepers for the 2007 season.
In April 2007, he played his first one-day game for Somerset. He scored 69 runs without being out. He also made a catch that was called "world class." He played his first first-class match the next month. He scored 63 runs in that game.
Craig kept playing well in 2007 and 2008. He won an award for "most promising young player" for Somerset in both years. He scored many half-centuries in different types of cricket. In a 40-over match in 2008, he scored his first century for Somerset. He made 121 runs from 107 balls. He also shared a record-breaking partnership of 302 runs with Marcus Trescothick.
In 2009, Craig scored over 1,000 first-class runs in a season. This was the only time he did this in his career. Early that year, he scored 150 runs without being out. This was his first century in first-class cricket. A few weeks later, he scored 106 runs to help his team avoid losing. He scored two more first-class centuries that year. He averaged almost 60 runs for his 1,242 first-class runs. In one-day cricket, he opened the batting and averaged 65.83 runs. He scored 138 runs without being out in one game. He also helped Somerset reach the final of the 2009 Twenty20 Cup. He was given his official county cap at the end of the 2009 season.
Playing for England
Getting Selected for England
After playing so well for Somerset, Craig joined the England Performance Programme squad. They trained in England and South Africa. The South African cricket captain, Graeme Smith, wanted Craig to come back and play in South Africa. But Craig said again that he wanted to play for England.
In 2010, Craig could play for England. This was because he had a British passport through his Scottish mother. He also lived in England. He had to wait four years after his last game for South Africa. That game was in 2006 at the Under-19s World Cup. In January 2010, he was part of the England Lions squad. They went to the United Arab Emirates to play against Pakistan A. The England coach, Andy Flower, said Craig played very well on that tour. Craig scored 81 runs in a warm-up match against the main England team. The Lions beat the senior team in that game.
In February 2010, Craig joined the main England squad. This was for the ODI series against Bangladesh. He played as a specialist batsman in a warm-up match. He scored 143 runs, his highest score in one-day cricket. This led to him being chosen for the first ODI against Bangladesh on 28 February. He opened the batting but struggled a bit in his first few games. In the third match, he scored his first international century, 107 runs. This helped England win the game and the series.
Craig was then chosen as the only wicket-keeper for the 2010 ICC World Twenty20. He opened the batting with Michael Lumb throughout the tournament. Their good playing helped England reach the final. In the final, Craig was England's top scorer with 63 runs. He was named man of the match. England won their first major international title. Craig scored 222 runs in the tournament, which was the fourth-most of any player.
Being Dropped and Coming Back
After returning to England, Craig's form dropped. He scored only 121 runs in eight ODIs against Australia and Bangladesh. So, he was not chosen for the ODI series against Pakistan in September. Another player, Steven Davies, was chosen instead. Craig played in the T20I squad but scored low runs. He was not chosen to play in Australia later that year. Instead, he played for the England Lions.
Craig started the 2011 season well for Somerset. He scored 308 runs in his first four one-day matches, including two centuries. His good form led to him being called back to England's one-day teams. In his first match back, he scored 61 runs, the highest for England. He scored another half-century in the fourth match, helping England win easily. A week later, playing for Somerset, he scored 164 runs. This was his highest score in first-class cricket.
Craig stayed as England's wicket-keeper for matches against India later that season. His Somerset teammate, Jos Buttler, also made his debut in these games as a batsman. Craig struggled a bit in English conditions. But he was praised for his attacking batting. He was given a contract by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in September 2011. In a later series in India, Craig was the only England batsman to score runs quickly. He scored one half-century on that tour.
End of International Career
Playing for the England Lions, Craig started batting lower down the order. This was to prepare him for a similar change in the main England team. He scored a century and a half-century. In early 2012, playing against Pakistan, he was praised for his 43 runs. But his wicket-keeping was still not as good as he wanted. He kept his place as an opening batsman in T20Is. However, during the 2012 ICC World Twenty20, he lost his spot in England's T20I team. This was after a match against New Zealand where he scored only four runs. That was his last international Twenty20 match. He scored 526 runs in 25 T20I games.
Even with his international struggles, Craig had a good season with Somerset in 2012. He scored 848 first-class runs. The next year, he stayed in the ODI team for the tour of India. But some thought it was to protect other players. Craig played the first three ODIs, scoring 24, 18, and 0 runs. He was then dropped and replaced by Buttler. Craig played 46 ODIs, scoring 1,054 runs.
Later Club Career
The competition between Craig and Buttler for England's wicket-keeper spot also caused issues at Somerset. Both players wanted to be the wicket-keeper for the county team. Craig started the 2013 season as the wicket-keeper. But he broke his thumb in the third match. This kept him out of action for six weeks.
Craig had a very good Twenty20 season. He was the top run-scorer in the 2013 Friends Life t20 with 517 runs. He scored five half-centuries. His teammate, Peter Trego, praised Craig's ability to score big runs in Twenty20 cricket. Craig said he tried to be a more "responsible player." He scored a century late in the season. At the end of the season, Buttler left Somerset to join another team. This made Craig the main wicket-keeper for Somerset.
Craig signed with the Brisbane Heat for the 2013–14 Big Bash League in Australia. He scored 192 runs in eight matches, including two half-centuries. He was also called up to England's squad for the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. But he was not chosen to play. He started the 2014 season well for Somerset. He scored six half-centuries in ten Twenty20 games.
Injury and Retirement
On 12 July 2014, Craig suffered a serious injury while batting for Somerset. A ball hit him in the face. It went through a gap in his helmet. He broke his nose and fractured his cheek bone. The injuries were first described as "serious but not career-ending." He had surgery on his face. He also had double vision for a while.
He returned to play for Somerset before the end of the 2014 season. He scored a half-century in his first match back. But he admitted his vision was still not fully recovered. Craig then played for a South African team called Warriors. He played all ten matches for them, scoring 199 runs.
On 10 December 2014, Craig said he was still having vision problems. This was even though he was named in England's possible squad for the 2015 Cricket World Cup. He announced he would not play in the 2015 season. He wanted to get more treatment. The next June, he announced he was retiring from professional cricket. He was 27 years old. He said he could still play, but not to the high standard he wanted. He found batting under floodlights very hard. He said the vision in his right eye was "only at 80 or 85 percent."
He finished his career with similar statistics in first-class and one-day cricket. In both, he averaged almost 40 runs and scored eleven centuries. In Twenty20 cricket, his highest score was 89 runs. After retiring, Craig said he was interested in working in the media.
Craig's injury was rare. But another high-profile case happened when Phillip Hughes died after being hit on the head by a cricket ball. These events led to new rules. From 2016, professional cricketers in England had to wear helmets. They also could not wear helmets with adjustable grilles. The gap between the grille and the helmet's peak had to be no more than 50 mm.
Playing Style
Craig Kieswetter's confident and attacking batting style was compared to Kevin Pietersen. Kevin was another England batsman from South Africa. Craig liked to hit the ball on the off-side. He also hit well behind square on both sides. He stood with a typical South African batting stance, holding his bat high. He played with a simple and attractive technique.
He was usually thought of as a better batsman than a wicket-keeper. People often criticized his glovework. But sometimes, he was considered a better wicket-keeper than his rivals, Bairstow and Buttler. However, international teams at the time often chose players for their batting first. So, Craig's selection was mainly because of his batting skills. For a couple of matches in 2012, Somerset used him as an off spin bowler. He took three wickets.
Somerset tried Craig in different batting positions. They wanted to find the best place for him. He started as a middle-order batsman. But by the end of 2007, he often opened the batting in one-day cricket. He also opened in some Twenty20 matches. When he was called up to England, he was used as an opening batsman. He was chosen because he could hit the ball well in the early overs. Later, he moved down the batting order for England.
Golf Career
After Craig retired from cricket, his father suggested he play some golf. He had played golf in South Africa when he was younger. He even played in some tournaments. He took lessons with David Leadbetter, a golf instructor. David suggested he try to become a professional golfer. Craig then started playing in amateur tournaments. He did well in these events. He then decided to try to become a professional golfer. He aimed to play regularly on the European Tour.
In late 2016, he played in some golf tournaments. In early 2017, he became a professional golfer. In March, he played in a qualifying school in Morocco. He finished tied for 31st place. This earned him a card to play in the 2017 season. He played regularly on the Tour in 2017. In September, he won his biggest prize of the season. He won US$360 in the Dubai Creek Open.
