Craig Overton (born 10 April 1994) is an English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

er who plays for

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. He is an all-rounder who bowls right-arm medium-fast and bats right-handed. He made his international debut for

in December 2017. His twin brother Jamie Overton also plays cricket for

Domestic career

Overton made his first-team debut for Somerset in the

2012 County Championship The 2012 County Championship season, known as the LV= County Championship for sponsorship reasons, was the 113th cricket County Championship season. Warwickshire won their seventh County Championship title. It was contested through two divisions: ...

against

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

. He played seven County Championship games in 2012, taking 12 wickets at an average of 30.25. He also scored 75 runs at 10.71; scoring his maiden first-class half-century in the process. Overton also made his

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

debut in the same year. Overton was unable to play throughout much of the 2013 season due to a stress fracture of the back. He managed to play a single first-class match in which he took just a single wicket. The 2014 season saw Overton become a regular selection for the first-team as he played 27 matches across all three formats. His batting improved greatly as he scored 431 runs in the County Championship in which he averaged 30.78 while also taking 42 wickets at 28.52. In a game against

, Overton fell short of making his maiden first-class century; given out while on 99. Making his debut in the

twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have ...

format, Overton struggled with both bat and ball taking just four wickets and scoring a total of 35 runs from 10 matches. In 2015, Overton was the leading wicket-taker for Somerset in both the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It b ...

and the One Day Cup taking 47 and 12 wickets respectively. He continued his batting form in the longer form of the game as he averaged 28.38 in 16 County Championship innings. During a County Championship match against Sussex in September 2015, Overton said "go back to your own fucking country" to Pakistani batsman Ashar Zaidi whilst bowling. The incident was considered racist by some but the Cricket Discipline Commission punished him only for using abusive language. It was his third minor offence—following another report for abusive language in the previous match and physical contact in May—and Overton received an automatic two-match ban. Zaidi later called on Overton to apologise.ECB denies double standards after Pakistan player told 'get back to own country'
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'', 2015-12-10. Retrieved 2016-01-26.Ashar Zaidi: Somerset's Craig Overton must apologise for 'racist behaviour'
''The Guardian'', 2015-12-13. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', 2015-12-13. Retrieved 2016-01-26.Craig Overton: Ashar Zaidi wants apology for alleged slur
BBC Sport, 2015-12-14. Retrieved 2016-01-26. Overton enjoyed another successful season in 2016 as he again made over 400 runs and took 34 wickets in the County Championship. During a Championship game against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, Overton made his maiden first-class century, scoring 138 as part of a stand of 217 for the eighth wicket with Roelof van der Merwe. This set a new record for the eighth wicket for Somerset, beating the previous record of 172 made by

Ian Botham Ian Terence Botham, Baron Botham, (born 24 November 1955) is an English cricket commentator, member of the House of Lords, a former cricketer who has been chairman of Durham County Cricket Club since 2017 and charity fundraiser. Hailed as on ...

and

Viv Richards Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards (born 7 March 1952) is an Antiguan retired cricketer who represented the West Indies cricket team between 1974 and 1991. Batting generally at number three in a dominant West Indies side, Richards is widel ...

in 1983, although the record was surpassed by Peter Trego and

Ryan Davies Ryan Davies (22 January 1937 – 22 April 1977) was a Welsh comedian, actor, musician, singer, and songwriter. Though his career lasted just 11 years, he became widely known in Wales through his work with Ronnie Williams as the comedic double ac ...

in Somerset's next game. In 2021, he was drafted by

Southern Brave Southern Brave is a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in the city of Southampton. The team represents the historic counties of Hampshire and Sussex in the newly founded The Hundred competition, which took place for the first time during ...

for the inaugural season of

The Hundred The 100 may refer to: Arts and entertainment * 100 (DC Comics), fictional organized crime groups appearing in DC Comics * ''The 100'' (novel series), a 2013–2016 science fiction novel series written by Kass Morgan * ''The 100'' (TV series), 20 ...

. He played for them in 3 matches, picking up 3 wickets in total. In April 2022, he was bought by the

for the 2022 season of

. The following month, in the

2022 County Championship The 2022 County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the 122nd cricket County Championship season in England and Wales. The season began on 7 April and ended on 29 September 2022. Warwic ...

, Overton took his 400th wicket in first-class cricket.

International career

Overton first played international cricket for England Under-19s playing a total of 16 youth ODIs between 2011 and 2012. He scored a total of 350 runs at an average of 26.92 with a high score of 68 * as well as taking 14 wickets at 35.57. Overton received his first international call-up in June 2015 when he was selected as cover for Chris Jordan for

's third

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cup ...

(ODI) against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

. In June 2017, Overton was named in England's

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

(T20I) squad for the series against South Africa. In September 2017, Overton was named in England's

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

squad for the

2017–18 Ashes series The 2017–18 Ashes series (named Magellan Ashes Series for sponsorship reasons) was a series of Test cricket matches contested between England and Australia for The Ashes. The series was played at five venues across Australia between 23 Novemb ...

. He made his Test debut in the second Test at

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

, on 2 December 2017. He claimed Australian captain Steve Smith as his first Test wicket. In February 2018, he was added to England's ODI squad for their series against New Zealand, after

Liam Plunkett Liam Edward Plunkett (born 6 April 1985) is an English cricketer who bowls right-arm fast. He was an England international until 2019, and was part of the squad that won the 2019 Cricket World Cup. He most recently played domestic cricket for ...

was ruled out due to an injury. He made his ODI debut for England against Australia on 21 June 2018. Overton replaced

Chris Woakes Christopher Roger Woakes (born 2 March 1989) is an English cricketer who plays internationally for England in all formats. In domestic cricket, he represents Warwickshire, and has played in multiple Twenty20 leagues, including for Kolkata Knigh ...

for the fourth 2019 Ashes Test. In the first innings, he was brought into bat at number 3 as a nightwatchman after the early dismissal of

Joe Denly Joseph Liam Denly (born 16 March 1986) is an English professional cricketer who plays for Kent County Cricket Club. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional leg break bowler who plays as a top-order batsman. Denly played age group cricket f ...

. On 29 May 2020, Overton was named in a 55-man group of players to begin training ahead of international fixtures starting in England following the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. On 17 June 2020, Overton was included in England's 30-man squad to start training behind closed doors for the

series against the West Indies. On 4 July 2020, Overton was named as one of the nine reserve players for the first Test match of the series. On 30 July 2021, in England vs India's series, England's

Ben Stokes Benjamin Andrew Stokes (born 4 June 1991) is an English international cricketer who is the captain of the England Test team and plays for the England Twenty20 International (T20I) team. In domestic cricket, he represents Durham and has playe ...

announced that he would be taking an "indefinite break" from cricket. Overton was added to England's squad as his replacement.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Overton, Craig 1994 births Living people English cricketers England Test cricketers England One Day International cricketers Devon cricketers Somerset cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Sportspeople from Barnstaple English twins Southern Brave cricketers Cricketers from Devon