Robert Howard Vance (born 31 March 1955) is a former New Zealand

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 str ...

er. He played in four Test matches and eight One Day Internationals for

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 ...

. Vance was born into a cricketing family; his father, Bob Vance, was for many years a part of the Wellington team and a long-term chairman of NZ Cricket.

Domestic career

Vance first played for Wellington in the 1976–77 season and for four of the next five seasons was the Wellington

wicket-keeper 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. ...

before beginning to concentrate on his batting. After establishing himself as a specialist

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

he became one of the most prolific batsmen in New Zealand domestic cricket through the 1980s Vance was in his twelfth season of first-class cricket and thirty-two years old when finally called up to the New Zealand Test team in the New Zealand summer of 1987–88. That season he scored 638 runs for Wellington at an average of 79.75 and including three centuries. This was followed up the next season with 888 runs at an average of 80.72 including four centuries – a performance which saw him again included in the Test team. Statistically, Vance's main claim to fame is deliberately conceding, on the instructions of his captain, a record 77 runs in single over in 1990.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vance, Robert 1955 births Living people New Zealand One Day International cricketers New Zealand Test cricketers New Zealand cricketers Wellington cricketers