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]
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]
