Grant Stewart (cricketer)

Grant Stewart (born 19 February 1994) is an Italian-Australian professional cricketer who plays for Kent County Cricket Club.[1] He made his first-class cricket debut for Kent in September 2017 in the club's final County Championship match of the season, having signed his first professional contract at the end of August.[2]

Grant Stewart

Stewart at Tunbridge Wells, June 2018
Personal information
Full name	Grant Stewart
Born	19 February 1994 Kalgoorlie, Western Australia
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm medium-fast
Role	All-rounder
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2017–	Kent (squad no. 9)
FC debut	25 September 2017 Kent v Glamorgan
LA debut	10 February 2018 Kent v Guyana
Career statistics
Competition FC LA T20 Matches 21 5 15 Runs scored 671 69 86 Batting average 23.96 23.00 12.28 100s/50s 1/4 0/0 0/0 Top score 103 44 21* Balls bowled 2,497 242 282 Wickets 44 8 9 Bowling average 31.97 19.00 46.66 5 wickets in innings 1 0 0 10 wickets in match 0 0 0 Best bowling 6/22 3/17 2/23 Catches/stumpings 3/– 1/– 4/–
Source: CricInfo, 8 October 2020

He plays as a bowling all-rounder and has been described as "a big, strong lad who hits it a mile and bowls with reasonable pace" and as having "heaps of natural ability" as a cricketer.[3]

Early life

Stewart is a qualified civil engineer who attended the University of Newcastle and worked as a graduate project engineer in Australia.[4][5] He was born in Kalgoorlie in Western Australia but grew up mainly in New South Wales, first in Sydney and then in Lorn near Newcastle, living on a turf farm.[5][6][7] Originally a wicket-keeper and leg-spin bowler, he converted to play as a fast bowler and played for Northern Suburbs Cricket Club in Maitland and Newcastle Cricket Club alongside Kent pace bowler Mitchell Claydon, winning representative honours with the New South Wales Country XI in 2016.[6][8][9] Stewart's brother, Luke, occasionally played alongside him at Newcastle.[3]

Career

Stewart was encouraged by Claydon to move to England in 2016 to play cricket in the Kent Cricket League, first with HSBC and then, in 2017, with Sandwich Town.[4][5] He holds a European Union passport as his mother is Italian, qualifying him to play as a non-overseas player in England.[4][10] Stewart moved to play for Adelaide University Cricket Club in South Australia during the 2016/17 season and returned to Kent in 2018.[6] After taking 29 wickets during a series of successful performances for the Kent Second XI in 2017, Stewart signed his first professional contract with Kent at the end of August 2017.[4][10] After making his first-class debut at the end of the 2017 season, he made his first List A appearance during Kent's pre-season campaign at the 2017–18 Regional Super50 competition in the West Indies, taking three wickets against Guyana at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua.[11][12]

After starting the season in the first XI, a hamstring injury limited his appearances for Kent at the beginning of their 2018 season. Stewart returned to the side in a day/night match against Middlesex at Canterbury in late June, taking his best bowling figures of 6/22 in a spell during the first evening of the match which reduced Middlesex to 54/9.[7] The following day he scored his maiden first-class century, making 103 runs from 71 balls, the fastest County Championship century of the season, setting a Kent record for the highest score made by a number 10 batsman.[7] Stewart and Ivan Thomas put on a century partnership for the last wicket, Thomas contributing only one run, equalling the lowest contribution made by a batsman to a 100 run partnership.[13][14]

Injuries limited Stewart's appearances for Kent in 2019 as well, with a hamstring injury suffered in August finally ending his season early. He signed a two-year contract extension in January 2020, keeping him at the club until 2022.[15][16]

References

1. Grant Stewart, Kent County Cricket Club. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
2. Denly dominates to boost Kent, CricInfo, 2017-09-25. Retrieved 2017-09-26.
3. Stewart brothers team up for Newcastle in Country Championships cricket final, Newcastle Herald, 2015-11-25. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
4. Hoad A (2017) Kent sign Australian-born all-rounder Grant Stewart to a professional contract, Kent Online, 2017-08-30. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
5. Pennell M (2017) 'Stewart jumps at the chance to engineer a cricket career', Kent v Glamorgan - match guide, Kent County Cricket Club, 2017-09-25. Canterbury: Kent County Cricket Club.
6. Callinan J (2017) Hunter product Grant Stewart cracks Kent county squad, Newcastle Herald, 2017-08-31. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
7. Callinan J (2018) Hunter-bred, first-class all-rounder Grant Stewart smashes maiden English county ton batting at No.10 for Kent after claiming five-wicket haul, Newcastle Herald, 2018-06-27. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
8. Callinan J (2015) Grant Stewart ready for NSW Country cricket debut, Newcastle Herald, 2015-12-31. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
9. Callinan J (2016) Lorn's Grant Stewart has mixed results at Australian country cricket titles, Newcastle Herald, 2016-01-12. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
10. Grant Stewart signs professional contract, Kent County Cricket Club, 2017-08-30. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
11. Gidman inspires Guyana win, Kent County Cricket Club, 2018-02-11. Retrieved 2018-02-11.
12. Hunter product Grant Stewart marks A-List debut for Kent with scalp of former Windies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Newcastle Herald, 2018-02-14. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
13. Claridge A (2018) Kent bowler makes history – with the bat, The Canterbury Journal, 2018-06-27. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
14. Bandarupalli S (2018) Stats: Kent’s No.11 batsman scores one run in a century partnership, CrickTracker, 2018-06-27. Retrieved 2018-06-28.
15. Reeves T (2020) Kent Cricket all-rounder Grant Stewart signs two-year contract extension with the club, Kent Online, 2020-01-21. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
16. Grant Stewart: Kent all-rounder extends contract until 2022 season, BBC Sport, 2020-01-21. Retrieved 2020-01-23.

External links

Grant Stewart at ESPNcricinfo