IT’S hardly surprising Tom Craddock is wearing a permanent grin at the moment.
The 22-year-old Honley leg-spinner has just been rewarded for a lot of hard work by being granted a two-year county contract with Essex.
The Holmfirth product made his debut against the Sri Lankan tourists before playing five County Championship games, two T20s and two CB40 games, after which Essex boss Paul Grayson told him there was a contract in the offing.
“At first they offered me just a one-year deal, but when I said I was really looking for a two-year contract and the stability that would give me, they went away and came straight back with a yes,” said Craddock as we sat chatting in the Honley clubhouse before he went out to upset Delph’s title hopes with a five for 60 return, on what is likely to be his final game for Honley (at least for some time).
“Obviously I couldn’t be happier after getting the deal with Essex. It’s something I’ve been working hard towards for a while, and I’m thrilled to get the chance with Essex because it’s such a great set-up down there.”
Craddock had played with Yorkshire at age-group levels and then with the Leeds/Bradford University side before getting a chance with the Unicorns, which is where he first came to the attention of Essex chief Grayson.
“My first chance of a county trial came with Northants, before some standard trial days with Worcestershire and Kent, and then I played one game with Gloucester earlier on this year, and although they said they were interested, they could only offer me second-team games.
“Essex then stepped in, put me up, paid me and gave me a short term contract which they later extended until the end of September, but a couple of weeks ago they turned round and offered me a full-time contract. And as you can imagine I’m chuffed to bits!
“I’ve played against Gloucester, Northants, Leicestershire twice and Glamorgan and have taken 19 wickets at 24 apiece, and it really couldn’t have gone much better for me.
“At the moment I’m living with Graham Napier in the middle of Chelmsford and the rest of the lads have been brilliant and made me very welcome straight away.
“Graham Gooch is always around and is very good to talk to for advice, as of course are Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara, who are both in the England set-up, and it’s fantastic to have players of that calibre around.
“And on top of that, former Yorkshire bowler Chris Silverwood is both the second team coach and bowling coach down there, and of course Paul (Grayson) is another ex-Yorkshire player, so I don’t feel too lonely among the southerners.”
Craddock really came to the fore in League terms two years ago, when he bagged 72 wickets in the Drakes Premiership playing for what turned out to be a relegated Holmfirth side.
Needing to continue his development in the top flight, he moved a couple of miles or so down the road to Honley where he went even better taking 79 wickets in his first season there to win the League bowling prize and help the Far End Lane club lift the Byrom Shield.
Sadly he never got a look-in with his home county, but Craddock remains philosophical about that.
“Yorkshire already have three spinners in Adil Rashid, David Wainwright and Azeem Rafiq, so they were not likely to be looking for another,” he said.
Now with the contract under his belt, Craddock is looking forward to ending the season with a flourish and then probably going to India for six weeks after Christmas, where he is likely to be playing in either Mumbai or Pune.
“They really have given me everything I need to continue my improvement at Essex. Now I really want to make myself available for all three squads and the next step is to work towards my County cap.”
