David Grant (cricketer)

David Malcolm Kerr Grant (born 24 May 1997) is an Australian cricketer from North Adelaide, South Australia. He is a right-handed batsman and bowls right-arm medium-fast, basing his bowling style on former Test cricketer Glenn McGrath. Grant has played internationally for Australia's national under-19 team and currently plays domestically for South Australia.

David Grant
Personal information
Full name
David Malcolm Kerr Grant
Born (1997-03-24) 24 March 1997 (age 27)
Adelaide, South Australia
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm medium-fast
RoleBowler
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2016–presentSouth Australia
2017–presentCricket Australia XI
Career statistics
Competition FC LA T20
Matches 15 8 2
Runs scored 84 20 1
Batting average 7.63 20.00
100s/50s 0/0 0/0 0/0
Top score 14 9 1*
Balls bowled 2,939 384 48
Wickets 39 9 3
Bowling average 39.12 42.66 16.00
5 wickets in innings 0 0 0
10 wickets in match 0 0 0
Best bowling 4/38 4/31 3/20
Catches/stumpings 5/– 2/– 0/–
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 9 October 2022

Youth career (2014–2016) edit

When Grant started playing cricket, he decided to model himself after the Australian Test bowler Glenn McGrath, who was dominating world cricket at the time. Rather than trying to bowl as quickly as he could, McGrath focused on movement off the seam and consistently bowling the ball in the right place, so Grant followed the same suit in his own bowling.[1] While he was still a teenager, Grant started to play cricket for Australia's national under-19 team, making his Youth One Day International (ODI) debut in 2014 against Sri Lanka. The second innings of the match was washed out and Grant did not get an opportunity to bowl.[2] During 2015 Grant spent the winter training at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane, and during his time there he also got to spend time training under Glenn McGrath at India's MRF Pace Foundation. Grant described this experience as "definitely the highlight" of his career to that point.[1]

Grant was selected to play for Australia later in the winter in England. He played Youth Test matches against England[1] and took part in a Youth ODI series against them as well, with a highlight performance in the third match, taking three wickets in consecutive overs with spearing yorkers.[3] After strong performances for Australia in a variety of conditions, he was selected to play for South Australia in the national under-19 championships at the end of 2016.[1] Overall, Grant played two Youth Tests and nine Youth ODIs.[4][5]

Domestic career (2016–present) edit

In September 2016 Grant represented the National Performance Squad team in the Quadrangular Tournament, with Australia A, India A and South Africa A being the other three teams.[6] During the tournament, he made his List A cricket debut against South Africa A and was a standout performer with bowling figures of four wickets for 31 runs to help the National Performance Squad to a 17-run victory, bowling out South Africa A for 226.[7]

Grant was given a rookie contract with South Australia's state cricket team for the 2016–17 season[8] and, because he was not selected to play for South Australia in the 2016–17 Matador BBQs One-Day Cup, he was part of the Cricket Australia XI squad for the tournament instead, along with a number of people he'd played and trained with in the National Performance Squad.[9] Later in the season, he was also given an opportunity to make his first-class cricket debut when he was named in South Australia's 12-man squad for two consecutive matches in the 2016–17 Sheffield Shield season.[10] His debut came against New South Wales on 5 December 2017. He took two wickets for 55 runs in his first bowling innings.[11] In March, Grant suffered a foot stress fracture, meaning he couldn't play for South Australia for the rest of the season,[12] but he was still upgraded from his rookie contract to a full contract with South Australia for the next season.[13]

Player profile edit

Grant is a tall pace bowler.[14] As he has based his playing style on McGrath, Grant does not focus on bowling very quickly. He is a seam bowler who works on getting the ball in the right place and only bowls at speeds of around 125 km/h (78 mph),[1] though South Australian Cricket Association high-performance manager Tim Nielsen has said he is capable of getting into the 130's.[10] Nielsen has also said that he is similar to fellow Redbacks bowler Chadd Sayers, but as he is taller and potentially faster, he could become more like Australian Test bowler Josh Hazlewood with time.[10] His experience on pitches around the world from a young age have given him more experience in different conditions and helped his development.[14]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e "Glenn McGrath clone David Grant to lead SA's charge at under-19 national championships". The Advertiser. 14 November 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  2. ^ "1st Youth ODI, Australia Under-19s tour of Sri Lanka at Colombo, Sep 25 2014 | Match Summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  3. ^ "Lawrence hundred helps level series". ESPNcricinfo. 17 August 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  4. ^ "All-round records | Under-19s Youth Test matches". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  5. ^ "All-round records | Under-19s Youth One-Day Internationals". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  6. ^ "National Performance Squad | Quadrangular A-Team One-Day Series (Australia), 2016 | Cricket Squads". ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  7. ^ "Debutants Heazlett, Grant fire NPS to 17-run win". ESPNcricinfo. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  8. ^ "Cosgrove and Cooper cut by South Australia". ESPNcricinfo. 15 April 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  9. ^ "Bosisto to captain Cricket Australia XI". ESPNcricinfo. 22 September 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  10. ^ a b c Capel, Andrew (3 December 2016). "David Grant a chance to face Blues in Shield clash at Adelaide Oval". The Advertiser. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  11. ^ "14th Match (D/N), Sheffield Shield at Adelaide, Dec 5-7 2016 | Match Summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  12. ^ Capel, Andrew (4 March 2017). "Redbacks: David Grant is gone for the season but Joe Mennie is on the comeback trail". The Advertiser. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  13. ^ "David Grant". cricket.com.au. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  14. ^ a b Pereira, Aaron (7 March 2016). "The Next Gen: David Grant (South Australia)". cricket.com.au. Retrieved 15 December 2017.

External links edit