Full name Michael Richard Swart Role Cricketer Date joined June 28, 2011 | Batting style Right-handed Name Michael Swart Bowling style Right-arm Off Spin | |
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Last T20I 21 March 2014 v Ireland Profiles | ||
Michael swart
Michael Richard Swart (born 1 October 1982) is a professional cricketer who is the current vice-captain of the Dutch national side and has represented them at both One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) level. Born in Australia, he formerly played for Western Australia in Australian domestic matches.
From Perth, Swart was a member of the WA state under-19 teams in 2000 and 2001 that were captained by Brett Jones and Shaun Marsh, respectively. However, he did not make his senior debut for the Warriors until January 2010, despite years of scoring heavily for his grade-cricket side Joondalup. While he made a duck in his first List A game, a few weeks later he made an impressive 83 in his debut Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania. In May 2010, he was awarded a contract with the Warriors for the 2010–11 season. He scored his maiden century in October 2010 against Victoria at the WACA Ground.
In February 2011, it was reported that Swart was to be called up to represent the Netherlands at the 2011 Cricket World Cup following an injury to the team's captain Peter Borren. His father was born in the Netherlands, enabling Swart to hold a Dutch passport and being eligible to represent the country. He had previously rejected an offer to join the team at the Twenty20 World Cup, preferring to concentrate on maintaining his position in the Western Warriors team. However, in the following days it appeared that he was unlikely to play at the World Cup, with both Borren's injury being less severe than first thought and a Dutch selector denying that Swart had been approached.
The previous week Swart had been dropped from the Warriors squad after being charged with assaulting an opponent, Billy Godleman, in a grade cricket match between Joondalup and Bayswater-Morley. He was later found guilty by the WACA tribunal and suspended for three matches, with the tribunal rejecting his defence that he was only acting in self-defence. The following week the conviction and suspension was overturned upon appeal.
Swart's contract with the Warriors was not renewed for the 2011/2012 season, instead signing with Bootle Cricket Club in England
