Steven Croft signs T20 contract and joins Lancashire’s coaching staff
Lancashire Cricket can announce that Steven Croft has signed a T20 only contract for the 2024 season and has also joined the Club’s coaching staff on a full-time basis.
Croft will enter a 21st season as a player with the Club but has called time on his First-Class and List A careers after making 212 and 175 appearances in the formats respectively.
The 38-year-old was part of Graham Onions’ backroom team during the Metro Bank One Day Cup as Lancashire reached the quarter-final stages and will now join the coaching staff permanently as he takes the next steps in his long-standing career with the Red Rose. He has also spent time coaching within Lancashire’s Academy and Age-Group system during the last few years.
Croft will go down in Lancashire folklore as the man who hit the winning runs to secure County Championship title glory for the first time in 77 years against Somerset at Taunton in 2011.
He was appointed Club Captain in 2016, a season which saw the club retain their Division One status in the Championship for the first time in three attempts. It was his first of two years as permanent skipper before he was awarded a benefit year in 2018.
Between June 2006 and July 2018, Croft played 148 consecutive T20 matches for Lancashire - an English record - which included playing a key role as the Club lifted the T20 Blast for the first time in 2015 - scoring 478 runs from 16 matches with five fifties, including a best of 94 not out.
Steven Croft said: “This is something that has been an ambition of mine for a while, when I started to think about my post playing career, and I am delighted to have the opportunity to start my coaching career with Lancashire - a Club which has given me and my family so much over the last 20 years.
“The timing feels right to call time on playing First-Class and List A cricket, especially with the number of talented players we have in contention for places, but I will also be ready and looking forward to helping the team in T20 cricket again next season.
“I have some amazing memories from my playing career – topped by winning the County Championship in 2011 – and it was an honour to captain the Red Rose for a couple of seasons too.”
Director of Cricket Performance, Mark Chilton, said: “Steven has been a wonderful servant to Lancashire Cricket for over 20 years now and we are delighted that will continue, albeit in a different capacity, as he moves into a coaching role with the Club.
“This is something that Steven has been working towards for a while and he has coached with our Academy and age group players in recent years before joining the coaching staff during this summer’s Metro Bank One Day Cup.
“He will also continue to be available in T20 cricket next season and I know that he will be keen to continue contributing towards wins as a player.”
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