Who is Craig Ervine?

The ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup is scheduled to be played from October 16, 2022, to November 13, 2022, and will mark the eighth international championship. After being postponed for almost two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the tournament will finally take place in Australia, the host country.

Craig Ervine will serve as the captain for the Zimbabwe cricket team in the upcoming T20 World Cup starting with their first match against Ireland on October 17, 2022.

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Who is Craig Ervine?

Craig Richard Ervine is a Zimbabwean international cricketer who was born on August 19, 1985, in Harare, Zimbabwe. His father, Rory Ervine also played first-class cricket and his two brothers, Sean Ervine and Ryan Ervine are also cricketers.

Ervine and his brothers were brought up on a farm outside Harare and gained their interest in cricket from their grandfather, Alexander Den who was also recorded to play the sport in 1936. At a young age, he accidentally slipped and fell on broken glass after which he required a three-hour reconstructive operation on his right hand.

After studying his A-Levels at Lomagundi College, he was placed at the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy. He soon started playing in the domestic set-up in the U-19 category and Zimbabwe A-sides and played at the U-19 Cricket World Cup in 2004. Ervine is a left-handed, middle-order batsman and bowls right-arm off-break.

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He made his international debut in a T20 match in 2010 against Sri Lanka although he did not bat in that match. He made his World Cup debut in the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup and ended as the leading run scorer for his country. He scored his first ODI Century in 2015 and his first test century in 2016, both against New Zealand. In January 2020, Ervine scored his 1000th run in Test cricket during the first test match against Sri Lanka. He has played 18 Tests, 41 T2Os, and 105 ODIs.

In February 2020, he captained the Test team in a one-off Test match against Bangladesh. He was appointed as the white-ball captain for Zimbabwe for the first time in 2021 and was reinstated as captain for the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka in January 2022. 

Craig Ervine is married to Belina Ervine and the couple have two children together.