| Tom Groube | |
| Fullname: | Thomas Underwood Groube |
| Birth Date: | 2 September 1857 |
| Birth Place: | New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand |
| Death Place: | Melbourne, Australia |
| Heightft: | 5 |
| Heightinch: | 11 |
| Club1: | Victoria |
| Year1: | 1878-79 to 1881-82 |
| Batting: | Right-handed |
| Bowling: | Right-arm medium-pace |
| Columns: | 2 |
| Column1: | Tests |
| Matches1: | 1 |
| Runs1: | 11 |
| Bat Avg1: | 5.50 |
| 100S/50S1: | 0/0 |
| Top Score1: | 11 |
| Deliveries1: | 0 |
| Wickets1: | 0 |
| Bowl Avg1: | – |
| Fivefor1: | 0 |
| Tenfor1: | 0 |
| Best Bowling1: | – |
| Catches/Stumpings1: | 0/0 |
| Column2: | First-class |
| Matches2: | 13 |
| Runs2: | 179 |
| Bat Avg2: | 8.52 |
| 100S/50S2: | 0/1 |
| Top Score2: | 61 |
| Deliveries2: | 0 |
| Wickets2: | 0 |
| Bowl Avg2: | – |
| Fivefor2: | 0 |
| Tenfor2: | 0 |
| Best Bowling2: | – |
| Catches/Stumpings2: | 2/0 |
| International: | true |
| Country: | Australia |
| Testdebutagainst: | England |
| Testdebutdate: | 6 September |
| Testdebutyear: | 1880 |
| Testcap: | 20 |
| Onetest: | true |
| Source: | http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/5446.html Cricinfo |
| Date: | 28 November |
| Year: | 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.[1]
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. 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.[6] He was a late replacement for Charles Bannerman, who had to withdraw from the selected touring team owing to illness.[7]
Groube's highest first-class score was 61 against Yorkshire in 1880, which was the only time he reached 20 in first-class cricket.[8] 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.[9] [10]
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] [11] 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.[11]