Full Name

Henry Butler Cave

Born

October 10, 1922, Wanganui

Died

September 15, 1989, Wanganui, (aged 66y 340d)

Also Known As

Caveman

Batting Style

Right hand Bat

Bowling Style

Right arm Medium

RELATIONS

(brother)

Henry Butler Cave, who died on September 15, 1989, aged 66, was a member of one of New Zealand's best-known cricketing families: his father and five uncles played for Wanganui and one, K. H. Cave, stood as an umpire in New Zealand's first four Test matches - against England in 1929-30. A member of the New Zealand teams to England in 1949 and 1958, Harry Cave was a popular captain of New Zealand's first touring team to Pakistan and India in 1955-56 when, in the most trying of conditions, he bowled 254 overs at medium pace in the five Tests against India, 119 of them maidens. His return was seven wickets for 412 runs. When the West Indians toured New Zealand later that season, he was again captain for the First Test, but after being unfit for the Second, he graciously accepted John Reid's captaincy for the remainder of the series. With a match analysis of eight for 43 off 41 overs at Auckland, he was a key figure as New Zealand won - at their 45th attempt - their first Test. But perhaps his finest moment came the following season against a visiting Australian B team containing such players as Craig, Simpson, Favell, Burge, Benaud, O'Neill, Harvey and Meckiff. In the three-match series, Cave displayed his mastery with in-swing and a leg-cutter, conceding less than 2 runs an over and taking seventeen wickets at 16.70; the rest of the New Zealand bowlers managed only seventeen wickets between them. For his provincial side, Central Districts, Cave took 150 wickets and in 1952-53, against Auckland, captured seven for 31, his best-ever return, and six for 33 on the same day. An obstinate batsman, he hit two hundreds, the higher being 118 against Otago at Dunedin in 1952-53 when he and Ian Leggat set the present New Zealand record of 239 for the ninth wicket. In his first-class career of 117 games he scored 2,187 runs at 16.08 and took 362 wickets at 23.93. He was deeply respected for his tact, his skill and his sportsmanship.
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack

Harry Cave Career Stats

Batting & Fielding

FormatMatInnsNORunsHSAve100s50s6sCtSt
Tests1931522922*8.8000080
FC11717539218711816.0823-700

Bowling

FormatMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Tests192540741467344/218/4343.142.16119.8200
FC117-2552086643627/31-23.932.0370.4-131
Henry Butler Cave

Explore Statsguru Analysis

Test

Debut/Last Matches of Harry Cave

Recent Matches of Harry Cave

MatchBatBowlDateGroundFormat
New Zealand vs England2 & 20/4203-Jul-1958LeedsTest # 456
New Zealand vs England12* & 10/29 & 2/7005-Jun-1958BirminghamTest # 454
New Zealand vs West Indies11 & 0*4/22 & 4/2109-Mar-1956AucklandTest # 424
New Zealand vs West Indies0 & 52/9603-Mar-1956WellingtonTest # 423
New Zealand vs West Indies0 & 02/4703-Feb-1956DunedinTest # 421