Craig Ervine

Craig Ervine Biography

Craig Richard Ervine is a Zimbabwean international cricketer, born on 19 August 1985 in Harare Primarily a left-handed batsman, he also bowls right arm off-break and has strong cricketing roots.

His brother Sean Ervine is an international cricketer, while his father and uncle both played first-class cricket. His younger brother Ryan played for the Southern Rocks franchise in Zimbabwe.

Background

Ervine received his education as Lomagundi at the outskirts of Chinhoyi. His stylish and swashbuckling batting earned him a place at the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy. He soon went on to play for the Zimbabwe U19 and Zimbabwe A sides.

Ervine was never meant to play cricket due to a serious accident in his teenage years. He slipped and collapsed on a glass roof and severely damaged his right arm. He had to undergo three hours of constructive surgery to make his right hand usable again.

He moved to England after playing for the U19 side in order to improve his game. He has represented the following teams - Matabeleland Tuskers, Bexhill, Lordhood, Lisburn, Midlands, Southern Rocks, Zimbabwe A, Zimbabwe Under-19s, Hampshire, and Zimbabwe XI.

Debut

Craig Ervine made his international debut in a T20 against Sri Lanka on 3 May 2010. He did not bat in that match as Sri Lanka won by 14 runs due to D/L method.

He made his ODI debut on 28 May 2010 against India at Bulawayo. He scored an impressive 67 out of 60 balls which helped Zimbabwe beat India by six wickets.

He made his test debut a year later on 4 August 2011 against Bangladesh. He scored six runs in the first innings and a steady 35 in the second. Zimbabwe went on to win the match by 130 runs.

Rise to Glory

Ervine’s international career experienced a slow growth. He played his way through as a middle-order batsman. He scored his first ODI century on 2 August 2015 against New Zealand and helped them overcome a mammoth 300+ score.

His first test century came on 6 August 2016 against New Zealand. The match was a one-sided affair as New Zealand won by a massive 254 runs. His other best test performance came against Sri Lanka.

One of Ervine’s top performances came against Sri Lanka in 2017. He scored a standout 69 runs in the 4th ODI to level the series 2-2. Zimbabwe then went on to win the 5th ODI to get their first ever series win over Sri Lanka.

He has played a total of 15 tests, 68 ODIs and 16 T20Is. He scored 941 runs at an average of 33.60 in tests and 1806 runs at an average of 32.25 in ODIs.

Domestic Career

Craig represented the Southern Rocks and topped the batting averages in his maiden season. He represented the Matabeleland Tuskers in Zimbabwe first-class cricket. He has also played for the Midlands team before playing for the Southern Rocks.