Club: Naenae Old Boys
Wellington Firebirds debut: v Canterbury Wizards 2005-06 (first-class)
Best bat: 196 not out v Auckland Aces 2007-08 (first-class)
Best bowl: 5 for 34 v Otago Volts 2007-08 (one-day competition)
Putting the disappointment of being left out of the BLACKCAPS for last summer’s home series against Pakistan and for the 50-over World Cup that followed, Grant Elliott led from the front for the Wellington Firebirds in 2010-11.
Elliott’s overall numbers were impressive. He was the leading run scorer for Wellington over all three forms of the game with 976 runs – after missing the opening month of the season on duty with the BLACKCAPS in India - while he also took useful wickets with his sharp medium pacers.
Loyal and dedicated to the cause, Elliott was a popular choice to take over the Firebirds captaincy from Matthew Bell at the start of the season. With his abounding enthusiasm and professional, never-say-die attitude he was the perfect player to take on the responsibility of trying to turn around the team’s fortunes.
He was deservedly the Wellington Men’s Cricketer of the Year, and also won the All Rounder of the Year Award at the Norwood Awards held in April.
Since making the switch from Canterbury to Wellington at the start of the 2005-06 season, Elliott has proved to be a super-consistent performer for the Firebirds and this was his third Player of the Year award after previously winning it in 2006-07 and 2007-08.
Elliott returned last year after a disruptive 2009-10 summer in which he was mostly sidelined with a knee injury.
Prior to that, he had a whirlwind 18 months, when he won back-to-back Wellington Firebirds Player of the Year awards in April 2009 after another super-consistent season with both bat and ball.
In the 2007-08 season the South African born Elliott wielded 323 domestic one-day runs at an average of 64.40 and 527 first-class competition runs at 43.91 with the bat, and led the way with 15 one-day and nine first-class wickets with the ball.
Such form couldn’t be ignored and he won selection in the BLACKCAPS ODI and Test team against England in 2008, both home and away, and against Bangladesh and Australia at the end of 2008.
Against Australia in February 2009 he came into his own in the Chappell-Hadlee ODI Series in Australia, scoring 61 not out in the Melbourne match and becoming the first New Zealand batsman to score an ODI century at the Sydney Cricket Ground with a magnificent 115.
In December 2011, Elliott smashed 103 off 84 balls in a domestic Ford Trophy One-Day match against the Canterbury Wizards in Timaru. This match winning knock was also a Wellington One-Day record for being the fastest List A domestic century, beating the old mark set by Chris Nevin by 2 balls.
GRANT ELLIOT
Playing style: All-rounder
Nickname: TS
Secondary school attended: St Sithians (Johannesburg)
Club: Naenae Old Boys
Earliest cricket memory: Playing backyard cricket with my brother Scott
Favourite ground to play cricket on: The Hawkins Basin Reserve
Most memorable cricket moment: Batting against Australia at the MCG
If I could bat/bowl in partnership with any cricketer from any era I would chose:
Viv Richards; a very aggressive player and his forearms were the size of my legs!
Favourite player growing up: Viv Richards as he had a great presence at the crease
The non-cricketing sports person or team I most admire: Michael Johnson the sprinter and gold medallist and world record holder for the 200 [former] and 400 [current] metres
If I wasn’t a Firebirds cricketer I’d be: An entrepreneur
Favourite superhero: Hulk, great bench presser
Favourite book/magazine: Cricket Wellington’s Annual Report
Favourite holiday destination: Greece
If I was in a band I would play the: Recorder
In my spare time I like to: Play golf and spend time with my family
My signature dish is: Chicken Mignon