Bradley Thomas James Wheal (born 28 August 1996) is a South African-born Scottish

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who has played for the Scotland national cricket team since 2016. He is a right-handed fast medium bowler who bats right-handed. He has also played for several sides in English county cricket. Wheal made his

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

debut for Scotland against

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

in the 2015–17 ICC World Cricket League Championship on 26 January 2016. He made his

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

debut for Scotland against Hong Kong on 30 January 2016.

Early life

Wheal was born in

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

, South Africa, on 28 August 1996 to a Scottish mother. He attended Clifton School in Durban, where he matriculated in December 2014. He began his cricketing career with the

Kwazulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

youth teams, where he played up to under-19 level. He also represented the province in youth

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

. While playing under-19 cricket, he was spotted by

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

coach Dale Benkenstein, who is also an assistant coach with the

Dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

in Durban.

Domestic career

Wheal impressed Benkestein and was offered a development contract with Hampshire for the 2015 season due to a shortage of fast bowlers at the county, with only Chris Wood and Tom Barber as available backups to the first team side. Wheal impressed greatly in pre-season, performing well in games on the tour of

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

and in a friendly against

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. A strong performance then against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

2nd XI for Hampshire's 2nd XI where he took 10 wickets in the match and earned himself a call up to the first team for the match against Middlesex on 17 May 2015. Hampshire batted first in this match where Wheal batted at number 10 finishing 3

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

. In Middlesex's 1st innings Wheal took the wicket of opener Sam Robson for 10 runs by

bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

him out. He finished with figures of 1/97 from his 20 overs as Middlesex where bowled out for 362. The match, which was rain affected, would end in a draw. In April 2022, he was bought by the London Spirit for the 2022 season of The Hundred.

International career

Wheal holds a

British passport The British passport (or UK passport) is a travel document issued by the United Kingdom or other British dependencies and territories to individuals holding any form of British nationality. It grants the bearer international passage in acco ...

through his parentage. After joining Hampshire, he expressed an interest in representing

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

upon fulfilling the residential qualifications. Wheal is qualified to represent

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

through his mother. In August 2015 he played for a Scotland XI against MCC at Titwood, Glasgow, taking seven wickets. He was subsequently fast-tracked to selection for the full Scotland team, and in December 2015 was named in the squad for the tour of Hong Kong, that took place the following month. In September 2021, Wheal was named in Scotland's provisional squad for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. In May 2024, he was named in Scotland’s squad for the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wheal, Brad 1996 births Living people Scottish cricketers Scotland One Day International cricketers Scotland Twenty20 International cricketers South African emigrants to the United Kingdom Hampshire cricketers Cricketers from Durban Naturalised citizens of New Zealand London Spirit cricketers Gloucestershire cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Glamorgan cricketers