Craig Kieswetter

Craig Kieswetter (born 28 November 1987) is an English professional golfer and former cricketer who appeared in 71 matches for the England cricket team between 2010 and 2013.

At the 2006 Under-19s World Cup in Sri Lanka, he represented South Africa and won a Man of the Match award in a game against the United States for his innings of 80 off 66 balls.

Kieswetter made his first appearance for Somerset's second team in May 2006, taking over from Sam Spurway as wicket-keeper midway through a match when the latter was injured.

He scored 94 not out in his first innings of that match against Glamorgan, and by the end of the season he had scored 245 runs at an average of over 40.

Born and raised in South Africa, Kieswetter moved to England to complete his education, and began playing county cricket for Somerset in 2007.

Three years later, he made his international debut in a One Day International (ODI) against Bangladesh.

A wicket-keeper batsman, he was considered a one-day specialist, and all his international appearances came in ODIs or Twenty20 Internationals.

Kieswetter played junior cricket for Western Province until the age of 18, but lack of opportunity led him to seek an alternative route in England.

He studied at Millfield, where he was noticed by Somerset.

The county's lack of a strong wicket-keeper gave Kieswetter his opportunity, and he made his debut for the team early in the 2007 season.

Through his Scottish mother, he qualified to play county cricket, and his performances soon generated discussion about his potential to play for England.

Around this time, the captain of South Africa, Graeme Smith, invited him to return to play in South Africa but Kieswetter preferred to qualify for England.

His performances were so strong that Somerset chose to release Spurway at the start of the 2007 season, and named Kieswetter alongside Carl Gazzard as their two wicket-keepers.

In early April that year, he made his one-day debut for Somerset against Glamorgan; he made 69 not out off 58 balls and took a catch described as "world class" by Somerset's director of cricket, Brian Rose.

He made his first-class debut the following month, keeping wicket while Derbyshire made 801 for8 declared and scored 63 in the Somerset reply.

Kieswetter continued to perform well during 2007 and 2008, and was awarded the NBC Denis Compton Award, as the "most promising young player", for Somerset in both seasons, scoring several fifties in first-class and one-day cricket.

Against Glamorgan, he scored 93 while batting at number eight.

Kieswetter came in after two wickets had been lost in an over, with the score at 250 for 6.

His innings, which included a partnership of 130 with Andrew Caddick, helped Somerset to reach 402 and eventually win the match.

Towards the end of the 2008 season, during a 40-over match against Gloucestershire, Kieswetter scored his first century for Somerset, scoring 121 runs from 107 balls, and sharing a competition-record 302-run partnership with Marcus Trescothick.

In 2009, Kieswetter passed 1,000 first-class runs in a season for the only time during his career.

Early in the year, he scored an unbeaten 150 in a high-scoring draw against Warwickshire, his maiden first-class century.

A few weeks later, he scored 106 runs against Durham to help his county avoid defeat.

In his report for ESPNcricinfo, Andrew McGlashan described Kieswetter as "another likely South African to make the transition to England colours".

Kieswetter scored two further first-class centuries during the year, both at Taunton, against Sussex and Lancashire; he averaged just under 60 for his 1,242 first-class runs in the season.

In one-day cricket, Kieswetter opened the batting alongside Trescothick, and averaged 65.83, scoring an unbeaten 138 off 131 balls against Warwickshire.

In the quarter-final of the 2009 Friends Provident Trophy, Kieswetter scored his second one-day century of the season, but Somerset were defeated by six wickets.

In early 2010, Kieswetter achieved his target; some strong performances for the England Lions, especially in a match against the senior England team, won him a place in the squad to face Bangladesh.

His selection, along with the presence of other South African-born players in the England team, was criticised; some commentators suggested there should be fewer foreign-born players in the team.

Kieswetter scored his only international century in his third match, and a couple of months later he was the man of the match in the final when England won the 2010 ICC World Twenty20.

After a promising start for England, he was dropped owing to his inconsistency before the end of 2010.

He returned to the team the following year, but his place was insecure, and in 2013 he was replaced by Jos Buttler, his teammate at Somerset.

Kieswetter's career was cut short by an injury sustained while batting for Somerset in July 2014: a ball penetrated the gap between his helmet's grille and visor and struck him in the face, damaging his vision.

There was some hope of a full recovery and he was named in a provisional England squad for the 2015 Cricket World Cup, but he continued to experience difficulties with his vision and he announced his retirement from professional cricket in June 2015, aged 27.

In 2017, he became a professional golfer.

Kieswetter was born in Johannesburg to an Afrikaner father, Wayne, and Scottish mother, Belinda.

He studied at Diocesan College in Cape Town, and played cricket for Western Province junior teams between the ages of 13 and 18.

Kieswetter was disappointed when he was asked to play club cricket for two or three seasons before returning to play for the senior team; he never received an explanation and decided instead to pursue a cricket career in England, where he moved at the age of 18.

He studied for his A-levels for a year at Millfield, where Mark Davis, a former Somerset bowler, spotted him.

He was quickly signed by Somerset.