Arthur Frank Rapley (born 2 September 1937) is a former

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

cricketer 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 ...

who played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

from 1958 to 1960.

Cricket career

An off-spin bowler and useful lower-order batsman, Rapley played his first match for Canterbury at the age of 20 in the last round of the

Plunket Shield New Zealand has had a domestic first-class cricket championship since the 1906–07 season. Since the 2009–10 season it has been known by its original name of the Plunket Shield. History The Plunket Shield competition was instigated in Octob ...

in 1957-58 and took four wickets (match figures of 35–15–60–4). He was selected in the trial match for

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

a few days later and took two wickets cheaply. He took only eight wickets in five matches in 1958-59. However, he made his highest first-class score of 40 in Canterbury's victory over

Central Districts The Central Stags, formerly known as Central Districts, are a first-class cricket team based in central New Zealand. They are the men's representative side of the Central Districts Cricket Association. They compete in the Plunket Shield firs ...

, when he and

Graham Dowling Graham Thorne Dowling (born 4 March 1937) is a former New Zealand cricketer who played 39 Test matches and captained New Zealand in 19 of them. He led New Zealand to its first victory in a Test series, against Pakistan in November 1969. He wa ...

added 85 for the last wicket, Dowling finishing on 103

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

. Rapley did not play in Canterbury's first four Plunket Shield matches in 1959-60 but, restored to the team for their final match, he was the leading bowler in Canterbury's victory over

Northern Districts The Northern Districts men's cricket team are one of six New Zealand first-class cricket teams that make up New Zealand Cricket. They are based in the northern half of the North Island of New Zealand (excluding Auckland). They compete in the ...

, taking 3 for 54 and 6 for 73 (match figures of 78.1–30–127–9). This victory, achieved at the last possible moment of the match, gained Canterbury the Plunket Shield. But it was Rapley's last first-class match. Rapley played for

North Canterbury Canterbury ( mi, Waitaha) is a region of New Zealand, located in the central-eastern South Island. The region covers an area of , making it the largest region in the country by area. It is home to a population of The region in its current fo ...

in the

Hawke Cup The Hawke Cup is a non-first-class cricket competition for New Zealand's district associations. Apart from 1910–11, 1912–13 and 2000–01 the competition has always been on a challenge basis. To win the Hawke Cup, the challengers must beat t ...

from 1963 to 1983. In all he played 65 matches for North Canterbury, taking 209 wickets. In a two-day match for West Coast against Buller in 1960-61 he took 8 for 11 and 5 for 33.

Later life

Rapley has spent most of his life in the North Canterbury region, where he was born. He was assistant

town clerk A clerk is a senior official of many municipal governments in the English-speaking world. In some communities, including most in the United States, the position is elected, but in many others, the clerk is appointed to their post. In the UK, a To ...

for the

Rangiora Rangiora is the largest town and seat of the Waimakariri District, in Canterbury, New Zealand. It is north of Christchurch, and is part of the Christchurch metropolitan area. With an estimated population of Rangiora is the 30th largest urba ...

Borough Council in the 1970s, and was one of the first trustees of the North Canterbury Sport & Recreation Trust after it was established in 1982. He served as a

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

in Rangiora until 2007. His grandson

Fraser Sheat Fraser Sheat (born 29 April 1998) is a New Zealand cricketer. He made his first-class debut for Canterbury in the 2017–18 Plunket Shield season on 23 October 2017. He made his List A debut for Canterbury in the 2017–18 Ford Trophy on 3 Dece ...

has played for Canterbury since the 2017-18 season.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rapley, Frank 1937 births Living people New Zealand cricketers Canterbury cricketers People from Kaiapoi South Island cricketers Cricketers from Canterbury, New Zealand