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Tom Groube

The Australians in 1880. Tom Groube is standing at the far right.
Personal information
Full name	Thomas Underwood Groube
Born	(1857-09-02)2 September 1857 New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand
Died	5 August 1927(1927-08-05) (aged 69) Melbourne, Australia
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm medium-pace
International information
National side	Australia
Only Test (cap 20)	6 September 1880 v England
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1878-79 to 1881-82	Victoria
Career statistics
Competition Tests First-class Matches 1 13 Runs scored 11 179 Batting average 5.50 8.52 100s/50s 0/0 0/1 Top score 11 61 Balls bowled 0 0 Wickets 0 0 Bowling average – – 5 wickets in innings 0 0 10 wickets in match 0 0 Best bowling – – Catches/stumpings 0/0 2/0
Source: Cricinfo, 28 November 2023

Thomas Underwood Groube (2 September 1857 – 5 August 1927) was an Australian cricketer who played in one Test in 1880. He was the first New Zealand-born Test cricketer.

Life and career

Groube's father was Horatio Groube, a Congregational minister who was among the first white settlers in New Plymouth, where Tom was born. The family left New Zealand in the early 1860s as a result of the Second Taranaki War and settled in Melbourne. Tom's paternal grandfather was a rear-admiral in the Royal Navy.

Five feet eleven inches tall and slimly built, Tom Groube was a successful batsman in Melbourne club cricket in the late 1870s and early 1880s. Between 1878 and 1885 he scored 2350 runs for the East Melbourne club at an average of 44. He played four matches of first-class cricket for Victoria between 1879 and 1881 but with little success. In 1878-79 he averaged 155.33 for East Melbourne, which helped him earn a place in the Australian team to England in 1880. He was a late replacement for Charles Bannerman, who had to withdraw from the selected touring team owing to illness.

Groube's highest first-class score was 61 against Yorkshire in 1880, which was the only time he reached 20 in first-class cricket. He played in the Test at The Oval in 1880, the first-ever Test match in England, but was not successful. He later toured New Zealand with the Australian team in 1880-81, his highest score there being 42 against Canterbury.

In later years Groube wrote about cricket and Australian rules football in Victoria for the Weekly Times and The Herald under the pen-names "Old Cricketer" and "Rover". He conducted the choir at the Congregational church in Hawthorn, Melbourne, for about 40 years. He was survived by his wife and their three sons.

References

1. Nigel Smith, Kiwis Declare, Random House, Auckland, 1994, p. 20.
2. "Death of Mrs. A. M. Proctor". Riverine Grazier: 2. 11 December 1923.
3. "Miss S. J. Groube". Riverine Grazier: 2. 4 September 1934.
4. ^ The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket, Oxford, Melbourne, 1996, p. 223.
5. Jack Pollard, Australian Cricket: The Game and the Players, Hodder & Stoughton, Sydney, 1982, p. 459.
6. ^ "OLD CRICKETER DIES". Weekly Times. No. 3024. 13 August 1927. p. 86. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
7. "Tom Groube". ESPNcricinfo. 2 September 2005. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
8. A. G. Moyes, Australian Cricket: A History, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1959, p. 210.
9. "First-class Batting and Fielding Against Each Opponent by Tom Groube". CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
10. "The Australians in New Zealand". Evening Star: 5. 24 February 1881.
11. "Canterbury v Australians 1880-81". CricketArchive. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
12. "Death of Mr. T. U. Groube". The Australasian: 38. 13 August 1927.

External links

• Tom Groube at ESPNcricinfo
• Tom Groube at CricketArchive (subscription required)

• 1857 births
• 1927 deaths
• Australia Test cricketers
• Victoria cricketers
• Cricketers from New Plymouth
• Australian cricketers
• New Zealand emigrants to Australia