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An unusual first for Spearman and some spin-bowling curiosities

While the focus of New Zealand's tour has been on the international matches, some interesting events have taken place in the first-class games outside of the Tests

Francis Payne
28-Nov-2000
While the focus of New Zealand's tour has been on the international matches, some interesting events have taken place in the first-class games outside of the Tests.
Mark Richardson became the twentieth New Zealand batsman to score a century on first-class debut in another country when he made his unbeaten 173 against Boland at Paarl. Mathew Sinclair had joined the list earlier in the tour when he scored a century against the Zimbabwe President's XI at Mutare.
Of the twenty players who have achieved the feat, Martin Crowe did so in three countries (England, West Indies and India), while John Reid (South Africa and Pakistan) and Matt Horne (Zimbabwe and England) did so in two. Horne's innings of 181 against Mashonaland in 1997/98 is the highest on debut outside New Zealand.
In ENGLAND
CCR Dacre       107    New Zealand v MCC                        Lord's             1927
MD Crowe        104    DB Close's XI v Pakistan                 Scarborough        1982
MJ Horne        133    New Zealand v British Universities       Oxford             1999
In AUSTRALIA B Sutcliffe 142 New Zealand v Western Australia Perth 1953/54 LSM Miller 142 New Zealand v South Australia Adelaide 1953/54 DN Patel 105 New Zealand v Western Australia Perth 1987/88
In SOUTH AFRICA JR Reid 111 New Zealand v Western Province Cape Town 1953/54 RJ Kasper 122* Natal 'B' v Transvaal 'B' Pietermaritzburg 1970/71 CZ Harris 118* Canterbury v Eastern Province Grahamstown 1993/94 MH Richardson 173* New Zealand v Boland Paarl 2000/01
In WEST INDIES BF Hastings 100* New Zealand v Jamaica Kingston 1971/72 MD Crowe 118 New Zealand v Shell Award XI Kingston 1984/85
In INDIA BR Taylor 105 New Zealand v India Calcutta 1964/65 MG Burgess 102 Prime Minister's XI v President's XI Bombay 1967/68 JM Parker 104 New Zealand v India Bombay 1976/77 JG Wright 104 New Zealand v West Zone Rajkot 1988/89 MD Crowe 101* New Zealand v President's XI Rajkot 1995/96
In PAKISTAN JR Reid 105* New Zealand v Chief Commissioner's XI Karachi 1955/56 RW Anderson 103* New Zealand v NWFP Chief Minister's XI Peshawar 1976/77
In SRI LANKA CS Dempster 112* Sir Julien Cahn's XI v Ceylon Colombo 1936/37 KR Rutherford 108 New Zealand v Board President's XI Galle 1986/87
In ZIMBABWE TJ Franklin 153* Young New Zealand v Zimbabwe Harare 1984/85 MJ Horne 181 New Zealand v Mashonaland Harare 1997/98 MS Sinclair 100* New Zealand v President's XI Mutare 2000/01

In the match against North West at Potchefstroom, Craig Spearman achieved the rare feat of scoring two centuries in a match for New Zealand. This has happened on just six occasions, three times in Tests.
B Sutcliffe   243 & 100*   New Zealand v Essex               Southend        1949
JR Reid       101 & 118*   New Zealand v Orange Free State   Bloemfontein    1961/62
GM Turner     101 & 110*   New Zealand v Australia           Christchurch    1973/74
GP Howarth    122 & 102    New Zealand v England             Auckland        1977/78
AH Jones      122 & 100*   New Zealand v Sri Lanka           Hamilton        1990/91
CM Spearman   100 & 115    New Zealand v North West          Potchefstroom   2000/01
There is an interesting connection between the two previous lists. Ces Dacre, who was the first New Zealand batsman to score a century on debut in another country, was also the first to score two centuries in the same first-class match (127* & 101* for Auckland v Victoria at Auckland, 1924/25).

Spearman's feat is made all the more interesting because of the fact that in his second innings he became the first New Zealand batsman in all first-class cricket to be recorded as "retired out".
This is a rare enough entry in a New Zealand scorebook in any case and had only happened on five previous occasions in first-class cricket, including three Pakistan batsmen in one innings at Napier in 1993/94. The list is made up exclusively of touring team batsmen retiring to enable others to bat.
VS Ransford (158)     Australia v Hawke's Bay     Napier          1920/21
GS Chappell (130)     Australia v Wellington      Wellington      1976/77
Saeed Anwar (114)     Pakistan v New Zealand XI   Napier          1993/94
Basit Ali (100)       Pakistan v New Zealand XI   Napier          1993/94
Inzamam-ul-Haq (65)   Pakistan v New Zealand XI   Napier          1993/94
CM Spearman (115)     New Zealand v North West    Potchefstroom   2000/01
Spearman also retired in the second innings of the match against Border but that entry was "retired hurt" i.e. a not out innings.

Returning to Richardson's innings against Boland, we find that the New Zealand opener now has the three highest innings played by New Zealand batsmen this calendar year. The highest are:
MH Richardson   306    New Zealand v Zimbabwe 'A'        Kwekwe
MH Richardson   212*   New Zealand 'A' v Sussex          Hove
MH Richardson   173*   New Zealand v Boland              Paarl
BA Pocock       167    Auckland v Wellington             Auckland
GP Sulzberger   159    Central Districts v Wellington    New Plymouth
NR Parlane      147    Northern Districts v Wellington   Wellington
JD Wells        143    Wellington v Canterbury           Wellington
MJ Horne        141    Otago v Central Districts         Palmerston North
CB Gaffaney     140*   Otago v Central Districts         Palmerston North

In last week's edition of The Numbers Game, we noted that New Zealand played two leg-spinners in the same Test on two occasions during the 1955/56 tour to Pakistan and India. Two in a Test for New Zealand had never happened before and has never happened since.
An eagle-eyed reader has pointed out that in the Test against Pakistan at Karachi, although Jack Alabaster and Alex Moir both played, Alabaster did not actually get to bowl in Pakistan's only innings, which lasted for 130 overs, and assumes illness was the cause.
Illness does indeed play a part in this curious tale, but not in the way one might imagine. Alabaster was selected for the tour without any previous first-class experience and played in the tour-opener against the Chief Commissioner's XI bowling 19 overs without taking a wicket.
The next game was the first Test and because of illness, New Zealand found themselves with only eleven players who were fit enough to take the field. Alabaster was one of these and thus made his Test debut with one first-class match and no wickets to his name. Pakistan made 289, recovering from 144-6, but Alabaster did not get to bowl. He believes that his captain, the late Harry Cave, decided not to use him due to his lack of experience. The bowling was shared between Tony MacGibbon (37.1 overs), Cave (24), John Reid (30), Moir (37) and Matt Poore (2).
Later on the tour, however, Moir and Alabaster were paired together again at Bombay, with Alabaster taking 0-83 off 25 overs and Moir 0-51 off 12 in India's total of 421-8 declared.

A far more inexplicable non-use of a bowler occurred when New Zealand met Australia at Eden Park in 1927/28. The Australian side was very strong and included such names as Woodfull, Ponsford, Kippax, Jackson, Oldfield and Grimmett. They ran up a total of 573-5 before declaring but throughout the 171 overs, New Zealand skipper Tom Lowry steadfastly refused to bowl left-arm spinner Norm Gallichan. A total of seven bowlers were used including opening batsmen Jack Mills and Stewie Dempster, both very occasional bowlers, but Gallichan was ignored.
Not surprisingly, Gallichan was dropped for the following game but reappeared ten years later when New Zealand toured England, albeit under bizarre circumstances. The Manawatu-based Gallichan was not in the original party of 14 named for the tour and amidst general controversy over the team selection, the Palmerston North Chamber of Commerce offered to raise funds to send Gallichan with the team. NZCC declined the offer but a week before the team was due to leave, the council received a telegram from Lowry (player manager), Curly Page (captain) and Giff Vivian (vice-captain) stating that they were of the opinion that the team was short of slow bowling for such a long tour and suggested the inclusion of Gallichan.
For the record, Gallichan ended up playing in 18 first-class matches on tour, including one Test, taking 59 wickets at 23.94, placing him third in the averages behind Jack Cowie's oustanding 114 wickets at 19.95 and occasional bowler, double All Black, Bill Carson.