John Grant (cricketer)

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John Grant
Personal information
Full name
John William Grant
Born (1941-02-09) 9 February 1941 (age 83)
Essendon, Victoria, Australia
NicknameThe General
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm fast-medium
RoleAll-rounder
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1964–65 to 1968–69Victoria
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 43
Runs scored 1172
Batting average 22.53
100s/50s 0/6
Top score 70
Balls bowled 7856
Wickets 110
Bowling average 31.53
5 wickets in innings 4
10 wickets in match 0
Best bowling 6/37
Catches/stumpings 25/–
Source: CricketArchive, 26 August 2014

John William Grant (born 9 February 1941, Essendon, Victoria, Australia) is a former cricketer who played first-class cricket for Victoria from 1964 to 1969.

Career with Victoria[edit]

Short and strongly built, John Grant was a bustling opening bowler and hard-hitting lower-order batsman who played 43 matches for Victoria in five seasons. He made his first-class debut in the first match of the 1964–65 season against Western Australia, taking three wickets and, going in to bat when Victoria were 148 for 7 and still trailing, scoring 64 in the second innings to help salvage a draw.[1] A few weeks later, against Queensland, he took 4 for 50 in the first innings and scored 61, again at number nine.[2] He finished the season with 16 wickets at an average of 30.18[3] and 171 runs at 19.00.[4]

He was less successful in 1965–66, but he did take 5 for 79 and 3 for 57 in Victoria's victory over New South Wales.[5] His most successful season was 1966–67, when he made 252 runs at 31.50 and took 29 wickets at 24.58, and Victoria won the Sheffield Shield. He took 5 for 89 against New South Wales in Melbourne,[6] then in the final match of the season in Sydney, after the first three days had been rained out, he bowled unchanged throughout the New South Wales innings to take 6 for 37 off 17 overs to dismiss New South Wales for 93 and give Victoria an easy run-chase for first-innings points.[7]

He made 292 runs at 26.54 and took 25 wickets at 30.00 in 1967–68. In 1968–69 he took 5 for 25 and 3 for 55 against Queensland,[8] and two weeks later against South Australia he hit his highest score of 70 in a seventh-wicket partnership of 133 with Paul Sheahan that took Victoria to a first-innings lead.[9] He finished the season with 287 runs at 22.07 and 21 wickets at 31.42.

Other cricket[edit]

Grant played 191 matches for Essendon in Melbourne district cricket from 1959–60 to 1976–77, playing in two premiership sides and winning the Jack Ryder Medal twice. He was appointed captain-coach for the 1969–70 season and immediately led Essendon to the premiership. He served as a Victorian selector from 1992 to 1998.[10] He has also been a successful coach at The Peninsula School in Mount Eliza.[11]

He had three productive seasons as a professional for Rawtenstall in the Lancashire League. In 1967 he took 95 wickets at an average of 8.41 and made 275 runs at 17.26, and Rawtenstall finished second;[12] in 1968 he took 125 wickets at 9.98 and made 506 runs at 28.23, and Rawtenstall finished second again;[13] and in 1970 he took 89 wickets at 10.49 and made 583 runs at 34.29, and Rawtenstall finished third.[14]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]