Craig George Williams (born 25 February 1984) is a Namibian

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. He currently runs a cricket shop in Namibia besides working as a quality/quantity surveyor writing reports for

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...

companies as well as loss adjusting. Williams also opened a cricket academy in

Windhoek Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek, which ...

which is regarded as Namibia's first state of the art indoor training facility.

Biography

He was born in

South West Africa South West Africa was a territory under Union of South Africa, South African administration from 1915 to 1990. Renamed ''Namibia'' by the United Nations in 1968, Independence of Namibia, it became independent under this name on 21 March 1990. ...

in 1984 and grew up in

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

, South Africa. He moved to his native country Namibia at the age of 23.

Career

Williams made his first-class debut for the

Namibian cricket team The Namibia men's national cricket team (nicknamed the Eagles) is the men's cricket team representing the Republic of Namibia in international cricket. It is organised by Cricket Namibia, which became an associate member of the Internatio ...

in 2007, in a Three-Day South African Provincial Challenge match against North West. Williams bowled four overs in the first innings of the match, conceding 23 runs. He scored a half-century in his debut first-class innings. He scored twin centuries in the final of the

2009–10 ICC Intercontinental Shield The ICC Intercontinental Shield 2009–2010, is the tier two of the ICC Intercontinental Cup, will be played between Bermuda, Namibia, Uganda and United Arab Emirates. The Shield started in August with the match Bermuda vs Uganda in Hamilton ...

against the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

to guide Namibia to Intercontinental Shield triumph in Dubai. He was also the leading run scorer of the 2009-10 ICC Intercontinental Shield with a tally of 498 runs in 4 matches. Williams has since played for the Namibia A team, scoring a century against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in his first appearance in the side. In January 2018, he was named in Namibia's squad for the

2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Two 2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Two was a cricket tournament that took place in February 2018 in Namibia. The United Arab Emirates won the tournament, after beating Nepal by 7 runs in the final. Canada and Namibia finished third and fourth ...

tournament. In February 2018, he retired from cricket, after playing for Namibia against Free State in the

2017–18 CSA Provincial One-Day Challenge The 2017–18 CSA Provincial One-Day Challenge was a List A cricket competition that took place in South Africa from 15 October 2017 to 8 April 2018. The competition was played between the thirteen South African provincial teams and Namibia. The ...

. He was the leading run-scorer in the

2017–18 Sunfoil 3-Day Cup The 2017–18 Sunfoil 3-Day Cup was a first-class cricket competition that took place in South Africa from 12 October 2017 to 15 April 2018. The competition was played between the thirteen South African provincial teams and Namibia. Unlike its c ...

for Namibia, with 687 runs in eight matches. He initially retired with the intention of focusing on his family commitments and business. However, he was convinced by the head coach of Namibia,

Pierre de Bruyn Pierre de Bruyn (born 31 March 1977) is a South African former cricketer. Having made his debut in first-class cricket in the 1995–96 South African cricket season, de Bruyn proceeded to play first-class, List A and Twenty20 cricket for severa ...

to come out of retirement given his experience at the highest level. After having discussions with the coach, Craig made comeback return to the national team in 2019. In March 2019, he was named in Namibia's squad for the

2019 ICC World Cricket League Division Two The 2019 ICC World Cricket League Division Two was an international cricket tournament that took place in April 2019 in Namibia. It was contested by six teams; Canada national cricket team, Canada, Hong Kong national cricket team, Hong Kong, Om ...

tournament. Namibia finished in the top four places in the tournament, therefore gaining

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 ...

(ODI) status. Williams made his ODI debut for Namibia on 27 April 2019, against

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

, in the tournament's final. In June 2019, he was one of twenty-five cricketers to be named in

Cricket Namibia The Namibia Cricket Board, known commercially as Cricket Namibia, is the official governing body of the sport of cricket in Namibia. Its current headquarters is in Windhoek, which is the capital and largest city of Namibia. Cricket Namibia is N ...

's Elite Men's Squad ahead of the 2019–20 international season. 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). ...

(T20I) debut for Namibia against

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

on 19 August 2019 during Botswana's tour of Namibia. In September 2019, he was named in Namibia's squad for the

2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier The 2019 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifier was a cricket tournament held during October and November 2019 in the United Arab Emirates to determine the teams that would qualify for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament. The six teams finis ...

tournament in the United Arab Emirates. On 8 January 2020, in the 2020 Oman Tri-Nation Series match against

, Williams scored his first century in an ODI, with an unbeaten 129. In September 2021, Williams was named in Namibia's squad for the

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh edition of the Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20, a Twenty20 cricket tournament that took place from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The tournament was hosted by Unit ...

. In October 2021, during the

2021 Summer T20 Bash The 2021 Summer T20 Bash was a series of Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket matches played in the United Arab Emirates in October 2021 between Ireland, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, Scotland and the United Arab Emirates. The UAE played one match ...

, he became only the third batsman ever to score four consecutive half-centuries in T20Is after

Brendon McCullum Brendon Barrie McCullum (born 27 September 1981) is a former New Zealand cricketer, and the current head coach of the England men's cricket team in all formats. Representing New Zealand, he captained the team in all formats. McCullum was renow ...

and

Chris Gayle Christopher Henry Gayle (born 21 September 1979) is a Jamaican cricket team, Jamaican cricketer who has played international cricket for the West Indies cricket team, West Indies from 1999 to 2021. Nicknamed "The Universe Boss", Gayle is wide ...

. He also matched the record for most fifties in consecutive T20I appearances. In September 2022, he once again retired from international cricket, marking the occasion by taking a wicket (clean bowled) with his last ball in international competition, against the South African Lions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Craig 1984 births Namibian cricketers Living people Sportspeople from Oshana Region Namibian cricket captains Namibia One Day International cricketers Namibia Twenty20 International cricketers 21st-century Namibian sportsmen