Grant David Elliott (born 21 March 1979) is a former New Zealand

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 played all formats of the game. Primarily a batting

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...

, Elliott contributed a man of the match performance to provide entrance to New Zealand's first ever World Cup final, by beating South Africa in 2015. Domestically, he played for

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

. He was also a part of the New Zealand squad to finish as runners-up at the

2015 Cricket World Cup The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 11th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was jointly hosted by Aust ...

. In March 2017, he announced his retirement from international cricket and in August 2018, he retired from all forms of cricket.

Early life

The son of a South African plastic surgeon, Grant Elliott attended St Stithians College, whose notable cricketing alumni include Michael Lumb, Roy Pienaar, David Terbrugge, Dave Rundle and

Kagiso Rabada Kagiso Rabada (born 25 May 1995) is a South African international cricketer who plays all formats of the game. He is a right arm fast bowler. He made his international debut in November 2014 in limited-overs cricket before going on to make his ...

South Africa

He debuted with 67 in 1996–97 at

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

, where on the advice of his captain, former New Zealand test skipper Ken Rutherford, who saw the quota system possibly blocking his path to higher honours, Elliott left his native Johannesburg for New Zealand in 2001. He played one match for South Africa 'A' against India 'A' before he qualified to play for New Zealand in 2007.

International career

Called up to the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

in early 2008 during

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 ...

's tour, he made his Test debut against England in the third test in Napier replacing Jacob Oram. Elliott went on to also make his ODI debut for New Zealand against England taking 3 wickets. In his second game, he scored his maiden ODI fifty. His maiden ODI century was in the 3rd game of the Chappell-Hadlee series scoring 115 against Australia at the SCG on Sunday 8 February 2009. He also did well in the Champions trophy in South Africa in 2009 as he took a four wicket haul against England at the Wanderers which actually helped New Zealand to qualify for the semifinals and in the semifinals he played an innings of 75 not out to take the Black caps to victory against Pakistan.

World records

Elliott scored his second ODI century when Sri Lanka toured New Zealand prior to the

. Elliott and Luke Ronchi both broke several batting records as the pair lifted New Zealand from 93/5 to a commanding 360 off their 50 overs. Their stand of 267* is the highest 6th wicket partnership in ODIs. In the inaugural

Pakistan Super League The Pakistan Super League (PSL), also known as HBL PSL for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Pakistan, organised by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Founded by the PCB in 2015, the league features six city-bas ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

he along with Zulfiqar Babar set the highest 10th wicket partnership in any forms of T20 (63).

2015 World Cup

His finest moment however came in the 2015 World Cup Semi final against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

where he scored an unbeaten 84 and was adjudged the

Man of the Match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

. He hit the winning six off the second to last ball of the innings from Dale Steyn and created history by putting New Zealand into their first ever Cricket World Cup Final. In the final against Australia, Elliot top-scored for New Zealand, scoring 83 runs. After the World Cup, Elliott was named in the Twenty20 side in 2016 after suffering an arm injury playing domestically for Wellington. In April 2016, Elliott announced his retirement from ODI cricket. In August 2017, he was named in a World XI side to play three Twenty20 International matches against Pakistan in the 2017 Independence Cup in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

Strengths

Early on, Ken Rutherford noted his strong batting technique while also noting his occasional lack of self-belief. Former coach of the Wellington Firebirds, Anthony Stuart, commented that was "a tough cookie", and praised his commitment and high work ethic. Glenn Turner, former convener of the national selection panel, considered Elliott a "thoughtful character" whose offside play was exceptional, such as his hallmark shot, the lofted drive over extra cover.

Other

He played for Weybridge Cricket Club in the Surrey Championship in 2008. Elliott is the maker of the Buzz Cricket Bat. It is used by himself, Dewayne Bowden, Mark Houghton, Leighton Morgan, Chris Nevin and Luke Woodcock. Luke Woodcock scored 220 with it in a first-class game. Since he has been injured he has worked with Sky Sport in the 2010 HRV Cup. In 2015, Elliott worked part-time as a business development manager. He currently works as a partnership manager for Life Flight. Previously he worked full-time for cricHQ as a General Manager. He is also a cricket commentator for TVNZ and SENZ. His international shirt number has now passed to fellow ex-pat Black Cap - Devon Conway.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, Grant Living people 1979 births Cricketers from Johannesburg South African cricketers South African emigrants to New Zealand Alumni of St Stithians College New Zealand cricketers New Zealand Test cricketers New Zealand One Day International cricketers New Zealand Twenty20 International cricketers Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup World XI Twenty20 International cricketers Chattogram Challengers cricketers New Zealand expatriate cricketers in Bangladesh Gauteng cricketers Griqualand West cricketers Lahore Qalandars cricketers Leicestershire cricketers North Island cricketers Quetta Gladiators cricketers Saint Lucia Kings cricketers Surrey cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Wellington cricketers Naturalised citizens of New Zealand Naturalised sports competitors South African expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Expatriate cricketers in New Zealand South African expatriate sportspeople in Pakistan South African expatriate sportspeople in England New Zealand expatriate cricketers in Pakistan New Zealand expatriate cricketers in England