Cricketer Of The Week: G. O. RABONE

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28234, 23 March 1957, Page 5

Cricketer Of The Week: G. O. RABONE

A N almost certain choice for the English tour next year is the Auckland all-rounder. G. O. Rabone, whose eigty wickets for ? his province in Australia’s only ; innings in the match which ended on Monday was one of the triumphs of a successful career. | Rabone, a player noted for iron < resolution more than virtuosity, $ has less appeal to the cricketing public than most of his contem- . poraries, particularly since he -j took three hours to score 18 in i a test at Dunedin two years ago. ■ There were extenuating circumstances for such an innings, but they were, by and largb, over- i looked, and Rabone has accepted his’ reputation with the indifference to criticism which marks him out. Surprise Choice Beginning his first-class career , for Wellington in 1940-41, when I he was only 19, Rabone played j only two games before he went ' overseas to serve with distinc- 1 tion as a pilot in Britain. After the war he did little of note and his selection as an all-rounder in the 1949 team for England . was surprising. But he very soon justified the faith the selectors had in him. The tour was only five matches old, and very much in the formative stage, when the New Zealanders went to Lords to play a strong M.C.C. team. The M.C.C. scored 379, and New Zealand had lost six wickets for 94 when F. L. H. Mooney joined Rabone. It was a desperate situation, but the pair scored 176 together. Mooney scored a century. Rabone fell eight short of that mark, bowled by a Surrey man called Laker. Consistent Success From that stage, Rabone’s record was one of consistent if . modest success. He finished the ’ tour with 1021 runs, average 33, * and 50 wickets. Perhaps his a greatest success, however, was ; his slips fielding. He took five 1 catches in one innings, 24 all f told, and his anticipation, and B prehensile hands, gave the New a Zealand bowlers rare confidence. 7 In 1953 Rabone, temporarily ® out of big cricket, came back 1 rather dramatically to lead the e team which toured South Africa. There he did wonderfully well, 1 and the century he scored in- the

Durban test was a magnificent 1 example of courage and concen- 1 tration, measured in bruises as 1 well as runs. Rabone has been a consistent if not a high scorer in test I cricket, and his off-break bowling —he has of recent years for- i saken such extravagances as oc- 1 casional interludes of leg breaks 1 or seam bowling—has been most i useful. He remains a fine field. i Criticism For so- Spartan a cricketing ' character, Rabone off the field has a remarkably winning peri sonality, with a highly developed sense of humour and a appreciation of life’s absurdities. He has been the subject of more criticism since his “We could beat the Australians” statement before the f match at Auckland. Anyone 3 knowing Rabone, however, must wonder whether the emphasis was s on the first or the second word, s for if he is one of the game’s e greatest triers, he is a realist, and 1 is not given to idle boasting. 3 At 35, Rabone cannot have v many years of big cricket ahead *. of him, but he is one of the most r likely to succeed in England. Adt mired by most cricketers, re2 spected by all of them, he reL . mains, in New Zealand cricket, a ~ solid. unchanging, and most 2 valuable asset.