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Full name Graham Xavier Ford
Born November 16, 1960, Pietermaritzberg, Natal
Current age 47 years 252 days
Major teams Natal B
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm offbreak
Other Coach
Batting and fielding averages
Mat
Inns
NO
Runs
HS
Ave
100
50
Ct
St
First-class
7
13
1
162
43
13.50
0
0
3
0
Bowling averages
Mat
Balls
Runs
Wkts
BBI
BBM
Ave
Econ
SR
4w
5w
10
First-class
7
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Career statistics
First-class span
1982/83 - 1989/90
Profile
Unassuming and determinedly low key, Graham Ford ascended gradually to the position of South African coach, by-passing several bigger and more familiar names along the way. A competent all-round sportsman, Ford is a former provincial tennis champion, has provincial colours for football and is a qualified rugby union referee to go with his cricketing credentials. As a player, Ford had an eight-year first-class career in the Natal B team during the 1980s, but as a coach he moved steadily through the ranks, from the University of the Natal team, through the Natal Colts side to become senior Natal coach in 1992. He was the first to admit that he was fortunate with Natal in having Malcolm Marshall and Clive Rice on hand to help him guide a crop of outstanding young players which included Shaun Pollock, Jonty Rhodes, Lance Klusener, Neil Johnson, Dale Benkenstein and Errol Stewart. At the same time, his personalised approach proved not only popular, but effective as Natal astounded South Africa in the 1996-97 season by winning the domestic first-class and one-day competitions. He had already had a go at coaching the South African A team and in 1998 took the A side on tour to Sri Lanka. At the beginning of 1999, Ford was appointed assistant to Bob Woolmer in New Zealand, a role he carried through to the 1999 World Cup, before taking over the senior position when Woolmer's contract ran out after the World Cup. In his time, they won eight of the 11 series under his guidance.. The Hansiegate Affair, however, has massively disrupted the South African side, and Ford was fired in 2001. Many believed he unfairly paid the price for internal power games within South African cricket. He moved to Kent as director of cricket in 2004, and while there oversaw an influx of South African players to the county. In 2006 he returned home to take charge of the Dolphins and in June 2007 was offered the challenge of coaching India but, to the embarrassment of the BCCI, declined.
Cricinfo staff June 2007
