Craig Murray Spearman (born 4 July 1972) is an English-New Zealand former

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 played 19

Tests 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), ...

and 51

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 ...

s for

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 ...

from 1995–2001. He took his education from Kelston Boys High School, Auckland and then to Massey University, New Zealand.

Domestic career

However, after meeting with fellow New Zealander,

John Bracewell John Garry Bracewell (born 15 April 1958) is a former New Zealand cricketer who was most recently the coach of the Irish national team. He played 41 Test matches between 1980 and 1990, as well as 53 One Day Internationals. He was the second New ...

, he was asked to play for the team he was coaching,

Gloucestershire County Cricket Club Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Gloucestershire. Founded in 1870, Gloucestershire have always ...

. Spearman immediately became a favourite in Bristol, when he hit a century in his first match. In 2004 he hit 341 against Middlesex at Gloucester. His innings contained 40 fours and six sixes and was the highest ever score by a Gloucestershire batsman, beating the record of WG Grace. Since then he has continued to score runs and has gone on to add two more double centuries. During a game against Oxford in 2005 he hit 34 runs off an over. In 2006 he became just the 4th player from his county to score a century in both innings against Northamptonshire. He finished the year with 1370 runs in the Championship. In 2009, he made only six Championship appearances with 206 runs at 22.88, and at the end of the year agreed to be released from his contract.

International career

A right-handed opening batsman, Spearman made his international debut for New Zealand in a Test Match in December 1995 against Pakistan at Christchurch. He was never able to secure his spot in the side and only scored one Test hundred, an innings of 112 against Zimbabwe. He was, however, a member of the New Zealand squad for the

1996 Cricket World Cup The 1996 Cricket World Cup, also called the Wills World Cup 1996 after the Wills Navy Cut brand produced by tournament sponsor ITC, was the sixth Cricket World Cup organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was the second World ...

. After giving up on his international career, he moved to

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 ...

in 2001 to pursue a career in banking.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spearman, Craig 1972 births Living people Auckland cricketers Central Districts cricketers Cricketers at the 1996 Cricket World Cup Gloucestershire cricketers New Zealand One Day International cricketers New Zealand Test cricketers New Zealand cricketers New Zealand emigrants to the United Kingdom English cricketers