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ZimbabweBowler
Graeme Cremer
- Age
- 40y 54d
- Bats
- Right-hand
- Bowls
- Right-arm leg break
- From
- Harare
- Age
- 40y 54d
- Bats
- Right-hand
- Bowls
- Right-arm leg break
- From
- Harare
Graeme Cremer is a Zimbabwean leg spinner whose bowling has been noted for its variety, including a well-disguised googly, along with tidy economy and good control. He has long been seen as the man to take over the leg-spin duties left vacant when Paul Strang retired.
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His introduction to Test cricket came amid upheaval. Heath Streak and a number of senior players had fallen out with the Zimbabwe Cricket Board and were dismissed, leaving a young, untested squad that sank to the foot of the Test standings. It was in this setting that Cremer first played, against Bangladesh in 2004. He collected six wickets across two matches, but the tour was a painful one for his side: the opening Test at Chittagong was lost by 226 runs, handing Bangladesh their first Test win. A series against South Africa proved even tougher, with Jacques Kallis taking him apart in Cape Town, yet Cremer still claimed the scalps of Graeme Smith, AB de Villiers and Kallis himself, and he kept going rather than letting the punishment break him.
After a series against New Zealand in 2005, Zimbabwe stepped away from Test cricket of their own accord that year. Cremer's progress continued in the one-day game. In his first ODI series, played in Kenya, he took 15 wickets in five games, and when Kenya visited Zimbabwe in return he recorded his maiden five-wicket haul in the format. At one stage his ODI tally stood at 53 wickets from 43 matches.
When Zimbabwe were set to resume Test cricket in August 2011, injury kept Cremer out of the comeback. Once fit again, he was chosen for a one-off Test against New Zealand in 2012. By then he had also strengthened his batting, giving Zimbabwe a useful extra option.
