Geoff Rabone
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Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Geoffrey Osborne Rabone | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Gore, Southland, New Zealand | 6 November 1921|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 19 January 2006 Auckland, New Zealand | (aged 84)|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bowling | Right-arm offbreak, Legbreak | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National side |
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Test debut (cap 48) | 11 June 1949 v England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last Test | 25 March 1955 v England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Cricinfo, 1 April 2017 |
Geoffrey Osborne Rabone (6 November 1921 – 19 January 2006), known as Geoff Rabone, was a
Cricket career
Geoff Rabone played for Wellington from 1940–41 to 1950–51 and for Auckland from 1951–52 to 1959–60 as a dour right-handed batsman and as a right-arm off-break bowler who bowled the occasional leg-break too.
After
His maiden century made an unbeaten 120 against Nottinghamshire, opening the innings and batting for 340 minutes in a total of 329 for four declared. On the tour as a whole, he made 1,021 runs at an average of 32.93. His bowling proved expensive in English conditions, and he took 50 wickets, but at an average of 35.70. In the Tests, he took only four wickets.
In his next Test series, when the
In 1953–54,
But the third game, which ended as a draw, saw New Zealand's then-highest Test score, 505, and the first time the team had managed to enforce the follow-on. Rabone scored 56 and then took six for 68 as
Rabone was restored to the New Zealand captaincy the following year for the 1954–55 MCC tour of New Zealand. The results in the two Tests were poor and there was criticism of his captaincy, but Rabone's own adhesive qualities seemed undiminished. In the first innings of the first match, he was one of only two players – the other was Sutcliffe – to reach double figures, taking three hours to score 18. And in the second, when New Zealand were dismissed for the record Test low of 26, he was again second highest scorer and longest survivor, with 7 in 53 minutes. Both matches, though, were lost by a distance.
That was the end of his Test cricket, though he played for Auckland for a few more seasons. In retirement, he was a New Zealand selector.