Gavin Rolf Larsen (born 27 September 1962) 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 ...

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 who specialised in the art of economical

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

. He was known playfully by his teammates as "The Postman". He is currently chief

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for the national side.

Domestic career

Unusually for a New Zealand player, he played his entire first-class career with one team, Wellington. He also captained the side in the 1994 Australasian Cup in

Sharjah Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sharjah is the capital o ...

in the

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, where New Zealand reached the semi-finals of a six-team tournament. His nickname of "The Postman" came about as a compliment:

"John Graham, New Zealand's team manager during much of his career, explained the nickname in the foreword to Larsen's book Grand Larseny (yes, really): "He is the consummate professional, committed, conscientious, competitive and consistent. His nickname of 'The Postman' sums him up well, he always delivers!""

International career

Larsen finished his career with an exceptional economy rate in

ODI cricket A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cu ...

of 3.76 – the norm at the time was usually somewhere between 4 and 4.50 – in his 121 ODIs, stretching over a ten-year span. He also played eight

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with reasonable success, taking 24 wickets. However, as a useful batsman and handy bowler, he held a place in the one-day side and played a major part in New Zealand reaching the semi-final stage of the

1999 Cricket World Cup The 1999 Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Cricket World Cup '99) was the seventh edition of the Cricket World Cup, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted primarily by England, with Scotland, Ireland, Wales ...

. Larsen earned his 100th ODI wicket in his home-town of Wellington, claiming the prize scalp of Indian batsman

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-scor ...

After cricket

Larsen was formerly chief executive of Cricket Wellington, leaving the post in October 2011 after four years. He was appointed on July 8, 2015 as a selector of the New Zealand cricket team.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Larsen, Gavin 1962 births Living people New Zealand One Day International captains New Zealand One Day International cricketers Cricketers at the 1992 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1996 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1999 Cricket World Cup New Zealand Test cricketers New Zealand cricketers Wellington cricketers New Zealand cricket commentators People educated at Onslow College North Island cricketers