Colin Croft

Colin Croft

Personal information
Full name	Colin Everton Hunte Croft
Batting style	Right-hand bat
Bowling style	Right-arm fast
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1972–1982	Guyana
1975–1982	Demerara
1977–1982	Lancashire
Career statistics
Competition	Tests	ODIs
Matches	27	19
Runs scored	158	18
Batting average	10.53	9.00
100s/50s	-/-	-/-
Top score	33	8
Balls bowled	6165	1070
Wickets	125	30
Bowling average	23.30	20.66
5 wickets in innings	3	1
10 wickets in match	-	n/a
Best bowling	8/29	6/15
Catches/stumpings	8/-	1/-
Source: CricInfo, 25 January 2006

Colin Everton Hunte Croft (born 15 March 1953 in Demerara, British Guiana) is a former West Indian cricketer. He provides expert analysis on the British Broadcasting Corporation's Test Match Special.

Cricket career

Croft was part of the potent West Indian quartet of fast bowlers from the late 70s and early 80s. With his height (6'5"), he bowled bouncers and was very aggressive. He was renowned for bowling wide of the crease over the wicket and angling the ball in to right-handers. Croft's figures of 8/29 against Pakistan in 1977 are still the best Test innings figures by a fast bowler from the West Indies.

Rebel Tour

In 1982 Croft accepted a place on the rebel tour of apartheid-divided South Africa, in violation of an international ban on sports tours of the country. The rebel players were granted "honorary whites" status by the South African government to allow them access to all-white cricket playing areas.^[1] All the players who took part in the tour were banned for life from international cricket, thus marking the end of Croft's cricket playing career. That ban was effectively lifted in 1989, by both the WICB and the UN. Croft moved to the United States to avoid recriminations at home.^[2]

Teaching career

Croft taught Maths at Lambrook Haileybury school in Winkfield, Berkshire, UK from 2007-2008 for one and a half terms. He never coached cricket at the school but frequently gave autographs to parents of pupils at the school.

Media career

Since 1994, Croft has been doing cricket coverage part-time, as a commentator/analyst, and was one of the first writers for CricInfo, contributing over 500 articles so far to that entity. He has continued his sports journalism career everywhere that cricket is played, covering West Indies tours since 1994.

Croft's first overseas sports journalism sojourn was to the United Kingdom in 1995. During the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup Croft provided analysis for the BBC's Test Match Special radio coverage on all the Guyana based matches. He continued his analyst's role during the West Indies tour of England the same year.

In his private life, having been an Air Traffic Controller from 1973 to 1981, while also playing cricket for the West Indies cricket team, he has also obtained a Commercial Airline Pilot's licence in the USA, with endorsements for the UK, and worked as a Commercial Pilot in the Caribbean.

He also regularly appears as a studio guest on Sky Sports when West Indies are playing.

Notes

1. ^ AdelaideNow... Tragedy of the West Indian rebels
2. ^ Colin Croft states so in the documentary Fire in Babylon

Persondata
Name	Croft, Colin
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	15 March 1953
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death