Shaun Graf

Shaun Graf
Personal information
Full name Shaun Francis Graf
Born (1959-12-30) 30 December 1959
Melbourne, Australia
Batting style Right-handed batsman
Bowling style Right-arm fast-medium
Role Fast bowler
International information
National side
ODI debut (cap 62) 23 November 1980 v New Zealand
Last ODI 24 November 1981 v West Indies
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1979–1983, 1985 Victoria
1980 Hampshire
1983–1984 Western Australia
Career statistics
Competition ODI FC LA
Matches 11 55 41
Runs scored 24 1559 300
Batting average 4.00 25.14 15.00
100s/50s 0/0 1/8 –/–
Top score 8 100* 37*
Balls bowled 522 9220 2033
Wickets 8 124 51
Bowling average 43.12 33.91 25.58
5 wickets in innings 0 1 0
10 wickets in match n/a 0 n/a
Best bowling 2/23 5/95 4/15
Catches/stumpings 1/– 30/– 7/–
Source: Cricinfo, 26 February 2013

Shaun Francis Graf (born 19 May 1957 in Somerville, Victoria, Australia) is a former Australian cricketer who played 11 One Day Internationals (ODIs) for Australia in the early 1980s as an all-rounder. He represented Western Australia as well as his native Victoria in the Sheffield Shield and also played county cricket for Hampshire.

Biography

Educated at St Bede's College, Graf made his grade debut at the age of 19 for St Kilda Cricket Club as an all-rounder, bowling right-arm medium fast and batting left-handed with an emphasis on driving.

Graft made his first-class debut in 1979–80 for Victoria.[1] He turned in a number of notable performances that season, including seven wickets against South Australia[2] and some final-over batting which helped Victoria win the McDonald's Cup.[3] Victoria won the Sheffield Shield that season.

Graf received an offer to play over the 1980 English summer with the Hampshire County Cricket Club. He performed disappointingly, only exceeding 50 in a first-class game once.

His form was better in the Australian 1980–81 season and against Western Australia he scored 100 and took three wickets.[4]

Australian selection

Graf was named in the Test team for the second Test against New Zealand, but wound up as 12th man.[5]

He was also selected to make his ODI debut in November 1980 against New Zealand at the Adelaide Oval.[6]

"If we have a deficiency at the moment, it is possibly that we lack a true all-rounder", said Greg Chappell at the time. "Shaun Graf is an up-and-comer in this area and he is possibly what Australia needs – not only in one day cricket but in Test matches as well".[7]

Graf made a duck and took 1/40.[8]

Graf was dropped from the Australian Test team for the third Test against New Zealand due to a back injury, which saw him miss a Shield game; he was replaced by Trevor Chappell, who played as 12th man.[9] He passed a fitness test and replaced Chappell for the first Test against India; however Graf was made 12th man again.[10] He was replaced in the next test by Bruce Yardley.[11]

Graf played in nine of Australia's ten group matches in that season's triangular ODI tournament, but was omitted from the team for the finals series after scoring just 16 runs at an average of 3.20 with a top score of 7 despite being picked as an all-rounder batting at number seven or eight.[12][13] He did manage to take eight wickets at 31.88 in the series, with three two wicket hauls.[14] Towards the end of the summer he was dropped in favour of Graeme Beard.[15]

Graf was not selected for the 1981 tour to England, but returned in the following Australian summer in the second and third matches of the series, replacing an injured Dennis Lillee.[16] He made his top score of eight against Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, but after failing to take a wicket in that match, he conceded an expensive 56 runs in nine overs without success against the West Indies in the following match, and was dropped.[17]

In 1983–84 he moved to Western Australia for one year, and was part of the winning Sheffield Shield team.[18]

He returned to Victoria the following season before retiring.

In all, he played 55 matches, scoring 1,559 runs at an average of 25.14 with one century, and claimed 124 wickets at an average of 33.91 with a best bowling of 5/95. In limited overs matches, he averaged 25.22 with the bat and 25 with the ball.

He became a Victorian selector in 1990–91 and became the cricket operations manager of the Victorian Cricket Association in 1995.

See also

References

  1. ↑ New South Wales v Victoria Sheffield Shield 1979/80 Venue Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney on 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th November 1979 at Cricket Archive
  2. ↑ South Australia v Victoria Sheffield Shield 1979/80 Venue Adelaide Oval, Adelaide on 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th March 1980 at Cricket Archive
  3. ↑ "Victoria's exciting win with three balls left.". The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995). ACT: National Library of Australia. 12 November 1979. p. 16. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  4. ↑ Victoria v Western Australia Sheffield Shield 1980/81 Venue Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne on 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th November 1980 (4-day match) at Cricket Archive
  5. ↑ "CRICKET Graf named in Test team.". The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995). ACT: National Library of Australia. 8 December 1980. p. 20. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  6. ↑ "CRICKET Walters, Chappell in one-day team.". The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995). ACT: National Library of Australia. 18 November 1980. p. 26. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  7. ↑ "CRICKET Graf could get chance.". The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995). ACT: National Library of Australia. 6 December 1980. p. 50. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  8. ↑ Australia v New Zealand at Adelaide, 23 Nov 1980
  9. ↑ "Graf to miss Test.". The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995). ACT: National Library of Australia. 24 December 1980. p. 18. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  10. ↑ "CRICKET Test drawn after NZ run chase falters.". The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995). ACT: National Library of Australia. 31 December 1980. p. 20. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  11. ↑ "Yardley a prospect for tour.". The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995). ACT: National Library of Australia. 22 January 1981. p. 28. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  12. ↑ World Series Cricket in Australia (Aus NZ Ind) Nov 1980/Feb 1981
  13. ↑ Australia v New Zealand at Sydney, 13 Jan 1981
  14. ↑ "CRICKET Border 105 gives Australia win.". The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995). ACT: National Library of Australia. 19 December 1980. p. 20. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  15. ↑ "Dyson, Graf dropped.". The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995). ACT: National Library of Australia. 27 January 1981. p. 14. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  16. ↑ "Graf comes in to fill gap.". The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995). ACT: National Library of Australia. 20 November 1981. p. 18. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  17. ↑ Cricinfo - Statsguru - SF Graf - ODIs - Innings by innings list
  18. ↑ "Queensland fails in final WA wins its ninth Shield.". The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995). ACT: National Library of Australia. 14 March 1984. p. 44. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
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