Lieutenant-Colonel Claude Blake Rubie (25 March 1888 – 3 November 1939) was an English

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

first-class

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er and soldier. Rubie was a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...

and

wicketkeeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

. He was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

Special Reserve

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

(later Lieut-Colonel) who saw long service in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and played for the

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in the

Bombay Quadrangular The Bombay Quadrangular was an influential cricket tournament held in Bombay, British India between 1892–93 and 1945–46. At other times it was known variously as the Presidency Match, Bombay Triangular, and the Bombay Pentangular. Presidency ...

between 1919 and 1926. He played a prominent part in the development of cricket in the

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

area, where he played most of his cricket. He captained three of the local teams that opposed the MCC on its tour of India in 1926–27 before returning to England and representing

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

in four matches in 1930. In 1928, with B. D. Shanker, he wrote ''A History of the Sind Cricket Tournament and Karachi Cricket in General''. In recognition of his knowledge of Indian cricket, Rubie was appointed to manage the

England national cricket team The England cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club (the MCC) since 1903. Engla ...

's tour of India in 1939–40. The team was selected but the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

on 1 September 1939 caused its immediate cancellation. On 3 November that year, when the tour would have been under way, Rubie died of a heart attack after an operation. Rubie was born at

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

and died at

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th cen ...

, both in

. He made 10 first-class appearances, scoring 245 runs @ 24.50 with a highest innings of 84, his sole half-century. He held 16 catches and completed 7 stumpings to average more than two victims per match.

References

External links

*
Claude Rubie
at CricketArchive

Bibliography

* 1888 births 1939 deaths English cricketers English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 Europeans cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Sussex cricketers Northern India cricketers Karachi cricketers Lancashire Fusiliers officers Royal Norfolk Regiment officers British Army personnel of World War I Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Sportspeople from Lewes {{England-cricket-bio-1880s-stub