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.[1]

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
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

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.[2][3]

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.[4][5] Between 1878 and 1885 he scored 2350 runs for the East Melbourne club at an average of 44.[6] He played four matches of first-class cricket for Victoria between 1879 and 1881 but with little success.[4] In 1878-79 he averaged 155.33 for East Melbourne, which helped him earn a place in the Australian team to England in 1880.[7] He was a late replacement for Charles Bannerman, who had to withdraw from the selected touring team owing to illness.[8]

Groube's highest first-class score was 61 against Yorkshire in 1880, which was the only time he reached 20 in first-class cricket.[9] He played in the Test at The Oval in 1880, the first-ever Test match in England, but was not successful.[4] He later toured New Zealand with the Australian team in 1880-81, his highest score there being 42 against Canterbury.[10][11]

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".[4][6] He conducted the choir at the Congregational church in Hawthorn, Melbourne, for about 40 years.[12] He was survived by his wife and their three sons.[6]

See also

• List of Victoria first-class cricketers

References

External links

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