Olly Stone Profile

 

Oliver Peter Stone

On 23rd July 2022, it was confirmed that Notts had completed the signing of right-arm fast bowler Olly Stone from Warwickshire on a three-year deal starting in 2023. In an injury-ravaged 12-season career, Stone has taken 150 first-class wickets @24.78 in 44 games and scored 708 runs @15.39.

Born in Norwich on 9th October 1993, Stone (6’ 3”” tall) was attached to Vauxhall Mallards CC progressing through the Norfolk youth set-up, making his Norfolk debut in a Minor Counties Championship contest versus Bedfordshire at Manor Park in July 2011, Norfolk winning an enthralling contest by a single run as 17-year-old Stone scored 58 runs and took six wickets in the contest. He had joined Northants Academy in 2009 making his debut for Northants Seconds against Middlesex at Wantage Road the following season.

In 2011, his first-team debut for the Steelbacks came on 14th July at The Riverside in a T20 contest against Durham, he did not bowl and was the third victim of a Paul Collingwood hat-trick. He had to wait ten months for a further first-team appearance for Northants when Yorkshire skipper Andrew Gale became his initial first-class victim in May 2012. He went on to make 14 appearances for Northants in 2012, including three County Championship fixtures. On the back of his performances for Northants he was selected, along with Ben Duckett, for the England Under-19 of South Africa, making his Under-19 test debut at Newlands, Cape Town in January 2013 taking six wickets in the process as England won by 107 runs. The next Test was a personal triumph for Stone having match figures of 11-79 though England lost by 67 runs in Paarl. He played three matches in the one-day series which followed.

Stone’s season was restricted to two white-ball appearances for Northants in 2013 as his team won the Friends Life T20 competition. In five Championship matches in Northants' abject Division One season in 2014 he was not overawed by the experience and, approaching his 21st birthday, finished top of the county's averages with 19 wickets @26.47 including innings figures of 5-48 versus Sussex at Northampton.

Stone bowled some of the fastest spells in county cricket in 2015. In 13 first-class games he took 38 first-class wickets @30.68. The highlight was a career-best 5-44 against Kent at Northampton, Northants skipper Alex Wakely claiming it was one of the quickest spells he had seen. He was selected for an England Performance Programme development camp in South Africa before he was beset by the back trouble that had also afflicted him earlier in his career.

He missed the start of the 2016 season but returned in early May. However, disaster struck in a T20 game against Worcestershire at Wantage Road on 3rd June as he damaged anterior cruciate ligaments and his cartilage when he landed awkwardly while celebrating the dismissal of Moeen Ali. He missed the rest of the season. The possibility that he could spend up to a year out of the game did not dissuade nine counties from chasing his signature before he opted to join Warwickshire on a three-year deal.

His comeback eventually came on 7th July 2017 as Stone made his Bears debut in a T20 clash against neighbours Worcestershire. He played in seven matches in that season’s competition, but they fell to a 22-run defeat against Notts Outlaws in the Final, with Notts winning the tournament for the first time. Stone had the expensive figures of 4-0-50-0. He sadly only managed a solitary Championship appearance during this comeback season.

Stone’s height and speed have aided him, on his day, in developing into one of the most fearsome bowlers on the county circuit and 2018 was very much a breakthrough year for him. Stone played in eight championship that season, as Warwickshire topped the Division 2 table, as he took 43 wickets @12.30. In April he had career best innings figures of 8-80 v Sussex at Edgbaston. The following month he took 5-49 against his old club Northants at Edgbaston and he claimed 11 wickets in the match (7-59, 4-37) against Durham at Edgbaston. In addition, in that summer, Stone took 12 List A wickets @28.16 in eight matches and 7 T20 wickets @23.28 in five matches. In September 2018, he was named in England's Test and One Day squads for the series against Sri Lanka. He made his ODI debut for England against Sri Lanka on 10th October at Dambulla where he neither batted nor bowled. In a rain hit 5-match series Stone played in the first four contests with a top score of 9* and bowling 16-0-97-1. He had figures of 1-23 in the second game at Dambulla on 13th October. These are his only limited overs internationals to date.

Stone was picked for the England tour of the West Indies, but a stress fracture of the back meant he had return home from the tour without making an appearance. Stone returned to cricket in May 2019, playing as a batter only for Barnt Green CC in the Birmingham League before starting bowling again in mid-June. At the start of July, he played two championship games for Warwickshire having innings figures of 5-93 against Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl. He became England’s 692nd Test player, making his debut in the one-off Test against Ireland at Lord’s on 24th July. He had figures of 3-29 in the Irish first innings with Andrew Balbirnie becoming his maiden Test scalp. Stone returned to his county and made a single appearance in a T20 game against Notts at Trent Bridge on 2nd August before missing the rest of the season after going lame once more.

In late May 2020, Stone was named in a 55-man group of players to begin training ahead of international fixtures starting in England following the Covid-19 pandemic but he failed to make an international appearance. His game time were restricted to one Bob Willis Trophy match and eight Vitality Blast fixtures.

In early 2021, Stone was part of the England Test Squads for their tours of Sri Lanka and India. He played in the second Test of the India series at Chennai registering figures of 3-47 and 1-21 as England were thrashed by 317 runs. Stone also played in the second Test versus New Zealand in June 2021, the visitors won by 8 wickets with Stone claiming 2-92 and 1-5. Injury then ruled him out for the rest of the season. Stone had claimed 13 championship wickets @30.38 in four matches. His best match was at Trent Bridge with match figures of 5-133 and scores of 0* and 43 as Warwickshire successfully chased 333 to win, with three wickets in hand.



The injury riddled Stone failed to make a single championship appearance in 2022, his season being cut short after picking up a hand injury in Warwickshire Seconds game against Notts Seconds at Lady Bay. He did make ten T20 appearance for the Bears in the Vitality Blast taking 13 wickets @21.61, including a T20 best of 4-21 v Lancashire at Old Trafford. As a result of having a successful Blast, Stone was picked by England for the 7-match T20 series in Pakistan, making his T20 international debut on the 25th September in the National Stadium at Karachi having figures of 4-0-36-0 and registering a golden duck as Pakistan won by 3 runs. Still highly rated by the England hierarchy, Stone was one of six players to be handed a England Pace Bowling Development Contract in October 2022 and the following month he was selected in the 15-man England squad for three 50-overs games in Australia. MAG

Stone on Bear Website