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| Full name | Robert Damien Bale Croft | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1970-05-25)25 May 1970 (age 54) Morriston,Swansea, Wales | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Crofty | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 170 cm (5 ft 7 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-armoff break | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | All rounder | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Test debut (cap 582) | 22 August 1996 v Pakistan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 2 August 2001 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ODI debut (cap 138) | 29 August 1996 v Pakistan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last ODI | 21 June 2001 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1989–2012 | Glamorgan(squad no. 10) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source:Cricinfo,15 June 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Robert Damien Bale CroftMBE (born 25 May 1970) is a former Welshcricketer who played international cricket for theEngland cricket team. He is anoff-spin bowler who played forGlamorgan and 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.
Croft 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 RFC Under-11s. He studied atSwansea Metropolitan University.
He made hisEngland debut againstPakistan in 1996, and did enough to earn a touring place toZimbabwe andNew Zealand. In Christchurch, he took hisTest best 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 series but 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 whatESPNCricinfo calls "an unsavoury, but in truth pretty harmless, pushing and finger-wagging incident" withMark Ilott during theNatWest Trophy semi-final againstEssex,[1] which Glamorgan narrowly lost.[2] However Croft had a happier experience that year in helping his county to their firstCounty Championship in 28 years, Croft taking 54 wickets in Glamorgan's campaign at an average of 23.31.[3]
Croft toured theWest Indies with 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 Fraser in the third Test of the 1998 series againstSouth Africa saved England from an innings defeat, Croft personally scoring his highest Test score, 37 not out.Wisden observed 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 Lanka early 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 Bridge where 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 Lanka but 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 Championship victories 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" onTwenty20 problems 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 'A'
England
Glamorgan (1989 – 2012)
Champions
| Batting | Bowling | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | Fixture | Venue | Season | Score | Fixture | Venue | Season | |
| Tests | 37* | England vSouth Africa | Manchester | 1998 | 5–95 | England vNew Zealand | Christchurch | 1997 |
| ODI | 32 | England vSri Lanka | Perth | 1999 | 3–51 | England vSouth Africa | The Oval | 1998 |
| FC | 143 | Glamorgan vSomerset | Taunton | 1995 | 8–66 | Glamorgan vWarwickshire | Swansea | 1992 |
| LA | 143 | Glamorgan Dragons vLincolnshire | Lincoln | 2004 | 6–20 | Glamorgan vWorcestershire | Cardiff | 1994 |
| T20 | 62* | Glamorgan Dragons vGloucestershire Gladiators | Cardiff | 2005 | 3–9 | Glamorgan Dragons vSomerset | Cardiff | 2011 |
 | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
