Ivan Thomas

Ivan Alfred Astley Thomas (born 25 September 1991) is an English professional cricketer who most recently played for Kent County Cricket Club. He is a right-arm medium-fast seam bowler who bats right-handed. He made his first-class cricket debut for Leeds/Bradford MCC Universities in March 2012 and has played in all forms of cricket for Kent.

Early life and youth career

Thomas was born in Greenwich and attended The John Roan School in Blackheath.^[1] He played youth cricket for Blackheath Cricket Club and for Kent^[2] before going to Leeds University to study Sports Science.^[3] At university he was part of the Leeds/Bradford MCC Universities cricket team. A series of back injuries in his late teens, including a triple-stress fracture of his back, threatened Thomas' career. He has credited Pilates and other core strength exercises with helping to save his career.^[4][5][6]

Cricket career

Thomas made his first-class cricket debut for Leeds/Bradford MCC Universities in March 2012 in a match against Surrey.^[7] He played six first-class matches for the team between 2012 and 2014 as well as playing in MCC Universities competitions.^[8]

Thomas made his Kent debut in May 2012 against Essex in the 2012 County Championship.^[3][4] He made a second appearance for Kent against the touring South Africans later in the season.^[7] A variety of injury concerns limited his Kent appearances in 2013 and 2014,^[9][10][11] but in 2015 he played more regularly for the team, making 11 first-class appearances as well as appearing in List A cricket and Twenty20 matches for the county and signing a contract extension in August.^[7][12][13]

During the 2014–15 English winter Thomas played for Sunshine Coast Scorchers in Brisbane Grade Cricket in Queensland.^[14] During the 2015–16 off-season he cycled from Land's End to John O'Groats, raising more than £4,000 for the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young.^[15][16]

During the 2018 season Thomas played regularly in the Kent team, especially in the County Championship where he played in 11 matches, taking 24 wickets at a bowling average of 26.25 runs per wicket.^[17][18] Against Middlesex in June he was part of a century partnership for the last Kent wicket with Grant Stewart, Thomas contributing just a single run in the 36 balls he faced. This was the first time a batsman had scored only one run as part of a century partnership in England and only the second time this had occurred in first-class cricket anywhere.^[19][20][21]

Towards the end of the season he tore his anterior cruciate ligament in training and underwent surgery in September to reconstruct the ligament with the expectation that he would be unable to play cricket for six to nine months.^[22] Despite his injury, Thomas was signed a new contract with the county during the 2018–19 off-season, although he did not play a match during the 2019 season.^[17][18] He appeared in Kent's Bob Willis Trophy team during the shortened 2020 season before leaving the club at the end of the season.^[23]

References

1. ^ Reid J (ed) (2016) 2016 Kent County Cricket Club Annual, Kent County Cricket Club, pp.30–31.
2. ^ Teams Ivan Thomas played for, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
3. ^ "Thomas swaps uni books for wickets". Faversham Times. 17 May 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2024. – via Newsbank.
4. ^ Ivan Thomas overcomes back injury to make Kent debut, BBC Sport, 2012-05-11. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
5. ^ How Ivan has defied back trouble to get out in front, Kent County Cricket Club, 2012-11-12. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
6. ^ Pilates saved my fast-bowling career, Men's Health Forum. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
7. ^ First-class matches played by Ivan Thomas, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
8. ^ First-class batting and fielding for each team by Ivan Thomas, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
9. ^ New fitness regime to boost player power, Kent County Cricket Club, 2014-04-16. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
10. ^ The challenge of keeping the players fit and healthy - staff profile: Dan George, Kent County Cricket Club, 2014-06-10. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
11. ^ County Championship: Glamorgan behind despite Bragg ton, BBC Sport, 2015-05-11. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
12. ^ Kent: New contracts for Haggett, Qayyum and Thomas, BBC Sport, 2015-08-14. retrieved 2016-06-15.
13. ^ Hoad A (2015) Kent Cricket duo Calum Haggett and Ivan Thomas have signed long-term contract extensions, Kent Online, 2015-08-15. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
14. ^ Brand A (2014) Scorchers envision some joy in difficult pitch, Sunshine Coast Daily, 2014-11-02. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
15. ^ Kent cricketer cycling for charity, Bucks Free Press, 2015-10-20. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
16. ^ Ivan Thomas raises more than £4000 for charity Archived 7 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Professional Cricketers' Association, 2016-05-04. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
17. ^ Ivan Thomas: Kent fast bowler signs contract extension, BBC Sport, 2018-11-16. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
18. ^ Contract extension for Thomas, Kent County Cricket Club, 2018-11-16. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
19. ^ Claridge A (2018) Kent bowler makes history – with the bat, The Canterbury Journal, 2018-06-27. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
20. ^ Bandarupalli S (2018) Stats: Kent’s No.11 batsman scores one run in a century partnership, CrickTracker, 2018-06-27. Retrieved 2018-06-28.
21. ^ Callinan J (2018) Hunter-bred, first-class all-rounder Grant Stewart smashes maiden English county ton batting at No.10 for Kent after claiming five-wicket haul, Newcastle Herald, 2018-06-27. Retrieved 2018-06-27. (Archived version Archived 2018-06-27 at the Wayback Machine. Archived 2018-06-27.)
22. ^ Ivan Thomas: Kent fast bowler faces absence after knee surgery, BBC Sport, 2018-09-26. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
23. ^ Ivan Thomas: Kent release fast bowler, BBC Sport, 2020-10-09. Retrieved 2020-10-09.