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{{Short description|West Indian cricketer}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox cricketer
|                name = Colin Croft
|               image = COLIN CROFT (5830345822).jpg
|             caption = Croft in 1977
|             country = West Indies
|            fullname = Colin Everton Hunte Croft
|            nickname = Smiling Assassin 
|          birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1953|3|15|df=yes}}
|         birth_place = Lancaster Village, [[Demerara]], [[British Guiana]]
|            heightft = 6
|          heightinch = 5
|             batting = Right-handed
|             bowling = Right-arm [[Fast bowling|fast]]
|                role = [[Bowling (cricket)|Bowler]]
|       international = true
|       testdebutdate = 18 February
|       testdebutyear = 1977
|    testdebutagainst = Pakistan
|             testcap = 159
|        lasttestdate = 30 January
|        lasttestyear = 1982
|     lasttestagainst = Australia
|        odidebutdate = 16 March
|        odidebutyear = 1977
|     odidebutagainst = Pakistan
|              odicap = 20
|         lastodidate = 24 November
|         lastodiyear = 1981
|      lastodiagainst = Australia
|               club1 = [[Guyana national cricket team|Guyana]]
|               year1 = {{nowrap|1972–1982}}
|               club2 = Demerara
|               year2 = 1975–1982
|               club3 = [[Lancashire CCC|Lancashire]]
|               year3 = 1977–1982
|             columns = 4
|             column1 = [[Test cricket|Tests]]
|            matches1 = 27
|               runs1 = 158
|            bat avg1 = 10.53
|           100s/50s1 = 0/0
|          top score1 = 33
|         deliveries1 = 6,165
|            wickets1 = 125
|           bowl avg1 = 23.30
|            fivefor1 = 5
|             tenfor1 = 0
|       best bowling1 = 8/29
|  catches/stumpings1 = 8/–
|             column2 = [[One Day International|ODI]]
|            matches2 = 19
|               runs2 = 18
|            bat avg2 = 9.00
|           100s/50s2 = 0/0
|          top score2 = 8
|         deliveries2 = 1,070
|            wickets2 = 30
|           bowl avg2 = 20.66
|            fivefor2 = 1
|             tenfor2 = 0
|       best bowling2 = 6/15
|  catches/stumpings2 = 1/–
|             column3 = [[First-class cricket|FC]]
|            matches3 = 121
|               runs3 = 855
|            bat avg3 = 10.42
|           100s/50s3 = 0/0
|          top score3 = 46[[not out|*]]
|         deliveries3 = 21,101
|            wickets3 = 428
|           bowl avg3 = 24.59
|            fivefor3 = 17
|             tenfor3 = 1
|       best bowling3 = 8/29
|  catches/stumpings3 = 25/–
|             column4 = [[List A cricket|LA]]
|            matches4 = 81
|               runs4 = 231
|            bat avg4 = 15.40
|           100s/50s4 = 0/0
|          top score4 = 33
|         deliveries4 = 4,083
|            wickets4 = 102
|           bowl avg4 = 24.16
|            fivefor4 = 2
|             tenfor4 = 0
|       best bowling4 = 6/10
|  catches/stumpings4 = 17/–
|                date = 14 August
|                year = 2012
| medaltemplates =  
{{MedalSport|Men's [[Cricket]]}}
{{MedalCountry|{{cr|WIN}}}} <!-- Mention Host Names for Team Sports-->
{{MedalCompetition|[[ICC Cricket World Cup]]}}
{{Medal|Winner|[[1979 Cricket World Cup|1979 England]]|}}
|              source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1520/1520.html CricketArchive
}}

'''Colin Everton Hunte Croft''' (born 15 March 1953) is a former [[West Indies cricket team|West Indian international]] [[cricket]]er. He was a member of the squad which won the [[1979 Cricket World Cup]].

==Cricket career==
Croft was (along with [[Andy Roberts (cricketer)|Andy Roberts]], [[Michael Holding]], and [[Joel Garner]]) part of the potent West Indian quartet of fast bowlers from the late 70s and early 80s. With his height ({{convert|6|ft|5|in|cm|disp=or}}), he bowled bouncers and was very aggressive. He was renowned for bowling wide of the crease over the wicket and angling the ball in to right-handers. His approach to the wicket was unconventional and footage of Croft bowling around the wicket show him on a run-up more typical of a ''left''-arm bowler. Croft's figures of 8/29 against [[Pakistan national cricket team|Pakistan]] in 1977 are still the best Test innings figures by a fast bowler from the West Indies.

Croft was involved in a number of controversial incidents during the ill-tempered test series with [[New Zealand national cricket team|New Zealand]] in 1979–80. During the Second Test at Christchurch's [[Lancaster Park]] in February 1980, the West Indies considered umpire [[Fred Goodall]]'s officiating so poor that they refused to emerge from their dressing room after the tea break on Day 3 unless Goodall was immediately replaced. After 11 minutes, they were persuaded to resume. Croft collided with Goodall at the end of his bowling run-up during the fourth day's play after knocking a bail off the stumps with a previous delivery, unhappy at being no-balled frequently and having a caught-behind appeal turned down.<ref>[http://www.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/153587.html The West Indians in New Zealand, 1979-80], Wisden, 1981; [http://www.cricinfo.com/newzealand/content/story/129232.html What's going on? Goodall has some news for Gavaskar], Cricinfo.com, 31 July 2003; [http://www.cricinfo.com/columns/content/story/237606.html Shoulder barges and flying stumps], Cricinfo.com, 18 February 2006; [http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63260.html Scorecard]</ref> West Indies captain [[Clive Lloyd]] later regretted not taking a firmer line with his players.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/241985.html |title=Ding-dong in Dunedin |date=April 2006 | first=Simon | last=Lister |publisher=ESPNcricinfo|access-date=23 March 2015}}</ref>

==County career==
[[Lance Gibbs]] arranged for Croft to go to [[Warwickshire County Cricket Club|Warwickshire]] on a coaching scholarship in 1972 where he played two games in the second eleven.<ref>{{Cite book|last=BABB, COLIN.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1126669992|title=1973 AND ME : the england v west indies test series and a memorable childhood year.|date=2020|publisher=HANSIB|isbn=978-1-912662-12-8|location=[S.l.]|oclc=1126669992}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> With Warwickshire already having a quartet of West Indies Test players, no opportunity presented itself at the Midlands county, but Croft did play for [[Lancashire County Cricket Club|Lancashire]] in 1977, 1978 and 1982 taking 136 wickets at 26.5 in first class matches.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=The Home of CricketArchive|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1520/f_Bowling_by_Season.html|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=2020-05-29}}</ref>

==Rebel tour==
In 1982 Croft accepted a place on the [[South African rebel tours#West Indian tours.2C 1982.E2.80.9383 and 1983.E2.80.9384|rebel tour]] of [[apartheid]]-divided [[South Africa]], in violation of an international ban on sports tours of the country. The rebel players were granted "[[honorary whites]]" status by the South African government to allow them access to all-white cricket playing areas.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Craddock |first1=Robert |title=Tragedy of the West Indian rebels of the '80s |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=AWGLNB&req_dat=1054640702C8DBC0&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F1187F3E0B1615F68 |access-date=12 April 2024 |work=The Advertiser |via=Newsbank |date=14 April 2007 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> However, there was controversy when Croft was ejected from a whites only seating compartment on a train out of Johannesburg.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1050448400|title=Cricket and society in South Africa, 1910-1971 : from union to isolation|others=Murray, Bruce K., Parry, Richard, 1956-, Winch, Jonty.|date=September 2018|isbn=978-3-319-93608-6|location=Cham, Switzerland|oclc=1050448400}}</ref> All the players who took part in the tour were banned for life from international cricket, thus marking the end of Croft's cricket playing career. Croft moved to the [[United States]] to avoid recriminations at home.<ref>Colin Croft states so in the documentary ''Fire in Babylon''.</ref> The ban was effectively lifted in 1989, by both the WICB and the UN.

==Teaching career==
Croft taught maths at [[Lambrook]] school in [[Winkfield Row]], [[Berkshire]], [[UK]], in 2007–2008 for one and a half terms. He never coached cricket at the school.

==Media career==
Since 1994, Croft has been doing cricket coverage part-time, as a commentator/analyst, and was one of the first writers for [[CricInfo]], contributing over 500 articles so far to that entity. He has continued his sports journalism career everywhere that cricket is played, covering West Indies tours since 1994.

Croft's first overseas sports journalism sojourn was to the [[United Kingdom]] in 1995. During the 2007 ICC [[Cricket World Cup]] Croft provided analysis for the BBC's ''[[Test Match Special]]'' radio coverage on all the Guyana-based matches. He continued his analyst's role during the [[West Indies]] tour of [[England]] the same year.

In his private life, having been an Air Traffic Controller from 1973 to 1981, while also playing cricket for the West Indies cricket team, he has also obtained a Commercial Airline Pilot's licence in the US, with endorsements for the UK, and worked as a Commercial Pilot in the Caribbean.

He also regularly appears as a studio guest on [[Sky Sports]] when [[West Indies]] are playing.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{West Indies Squad 1979 Cricket World Cup}}
{{Rebel West Indies squad}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Croft, Colin}}
[[Category:1953 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from East Berbice-Corentyne]]
[[Category:West Indies One Day International cricketers]]
[[Category:West Indies Test cricketers]]
[[Category:World Series Cricket players]]
[[Category:Guyanese cricketers]]
[[Category:Demerara cricketers]]
[[Category:Lancashire cricketers]]
[[Category:Expatriate cricketers in England]]
[[Category:Guyana cricketers]]
[[Category:Guyanese people of African descent]]
[[Category:Cricketers at the 1979 Cricket World Cup]]
[[Category:Commercial aviators]]