Ian_Craig

Ian Craig was the first son of John Craig and his wife Katherine (née Dun).[2] Shortly after Ian's birth in the rural town of Yass, John jokingly told friends that "Australia's second Don Bradman has just been born."[3][4] When John's employers, the Bank of New South Wales, moved him to Sydney, the family relocated when Ian was just three; John went on the be the chief manager of the Sydney office.[2][3][5] Ian studied at North Sydney Boys High School,[3] and showed an aptitude for ball games from an early age.[3] He was a member of Australia's schoolboy baseball team for three years, first playing at 13 years of age.[3] He captained his school's rugby union team and was a member of the state's schoolboy team,[6] but was only vice captain of the First XI cricket team behind Peter Philpott, another future Test player.[7] At the time, cricket was only his third priority;[3] his obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald suggests that he was initially a better rugby player but was persuaded to focus on cricket when he broke his jaw playing rugby.[2] He joined Mosman Cricket Club on Sydney's North Shore and scored a first-grade century at the age of 16.[6] Craig was not coached heavily; the philosophy of the day was to supervise young players and to only intervene if mistakes were being made.[8]

After good performances for Mosman,[2] Craig was selected to make his first-class debut for New South Wales at the age of 16 years and 249 days, during the 1951–52 season, making him the youngest ever Sheffield Shield player.[9][10] He struck 91 against South Australia in his only first-class innings of the season,[5][11][12] before falling leg before wicket.[9][11] He remained in the team for the following season; in the first eight games he scored 350 runs at an average of 35.00, with three fifties.[11] Given a chance to push his claims for Test selection after being selected for the Australian XI to play South Africa, he made only 38 and 11.[11]

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