Kyle Coetzer: Greaves goes from delivering packages for Amazon to shipping to Bangladesh in just its second Q20I.
As soon as Saafyan Sharif claimed Scotland’s biggest victory in the 50over World Championship, T20 captain Kyle Coetzer tried to rally the team. There were small groups hugging on the Al Amerat grounds before they finally reunited as Chris Greaves was about to receive the Player of the Game.
Greaves turned the Scotland game around twice – his 28ball 45 knocked them out of the woods 53-for-6 when he and Mark Watt added 51 for the seventh wicket. Then when Scotland had to break the association with Shakib Al Hasan Mushfiqur Rahim, they eliminated both clubs to change the game again.
It was no surprise that the rest of the team cheered him on, even if they seemed in awe of what he had just accomplished.
Coetzer got emotional when he spoke about Graves, revealing that he was an Amazon delivery man not too long ago before doing his best for his cricket career.
When Scotland started preparing for the T20 World Cup a few months ago, it was still anyone’s guess. Coetzer said that cricketers like Greaves and Watt illustrate how associate cricketers struggle on a daily basis to balance their cricket ambitions with life.
“I am really proud of Greaves,” Coetzer said. “He really sacrificed a lot. He was delivering parcels for Amazon not too long ago, and now is getting Player of the Match against Bangladesh. I am not sure if he will appreciate me saying this. Seeing the performance from Mark Watt and Chris Greaves with the bat today, they are lesser-known people who had to make many sacrifices to get to where they are today.”Greaves isn’t a contracted player in Scotland. He was on the fringes. He put his hand up, worked extremely hard, and put himself in the picture. Going back a month, he wouldn’t even start in one of these games. Look at what he has done. It is just proof in the pudding that there are some quality players around Associate cricket. They just need the platform to show it.”
Greaves, who only made his T20I debut this month, came to the fore in Scotland’s minds when he made a four-inning run against the Netherlands in a warm-up earlier this week.
“It was an incredible day for him,” Kyle Coetzer said. “It certainly wasn’t a surprise for us. We knew he had the ability. He showed some exciting skills on this tour. It was so nice to see him take on the Bangladesh bowlers. He chanced his arms at times, but these were shots that we believed that he is capable of playing.”
Greaves said that he still couldn’t believe he was in the middle with the opportunity to rebuild Scotland’s innings. “We were in a tough situation obviously. We had to rebuild the innings and see where we go from there. It was unbelievable that I could be that person to be a part of that [rebuilding]. Incredible.”
“The plan was to keep them out of their hitting zones,” Coetzer said. “We knew that they are extremely dangerous and very experienced players, so part of the challenge was to keep the ball spinning away from them or keep it underneath the bat.”We knew Bangladesh’s depth. They gave us a lesson at the start with their skills. It took a real fighting effort today. I kept on telling our guys that we are never out of the game.”
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