CRANE RAISING GAME
MASON CRANE had Twitter buzzing this week with the highlights of his leg-spin – and even Aussies admit he’s better than anything they’ve got.
Hampshire leggie Crane (left) lines up for the MCC in the traditional first-class opener against champions Middlesex in Abu Dhabi today.
Playing at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, where in midweek he outfoxed four North batsmen in the space of a dozen deliveries to set up a 3-0 whitewash for the South, completes an incredible month for the 20-year-old.
At the start he became New South Wales’ first overseas player since Pakistan’s Imran Khan in 1985 after impressing in Sydney grade cricket.
Crane fell for cricket during the Ashes of 2005 and was mentored by Shane Warne’s understudy Stuart Macgill.
Crane said: “I have improved a lot as a bowler this winter, partly through working with Stuart but also being away on my own, and it has mixed together quite well.”