Anthony Roy MacGibbon (28 August 1924 – 6 April 2010) was a cricketer who played 26
Tests
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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 ...
in the 1950s.
MacGibbon was a useful lower-order right-hand batsman and a right-arm fast-medium bowler who led the attack for his country for most of the 1950s. Tall and able to move the ball off the seam, MacGibbon was known as a wholehearted cricketer in what was, for most of his career, one of the weakest teams in international cricket.
Early career
MacGibbon 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 1947 to 1948, and was in the trial match for the 1949 New Zealand tour to England, though he was not selected.
International career
He made his Test debut against the 1950–51
England touring team but achieved little in the two matches, making 32 runs in four innings and failing to take a wicket. He was not much more successful in just one match against the touring
South African cricket team
The South Africa national cricket team, also known as the Proteas, represents South Africa in men's international cricket and is administered by Cricket South Africa (CSA). South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council (I ...
two years later, though he did take his first Test wicket:
Roy McLean
Roy Alastair McLean (9 July 1930 – 26 August 2007) was a South African cricketer who played in 40 Test matches between 1951 and 1964. A stroke-playing middle-order batsman, he scored over 2,000 Test runs, but made 11 ducks in 73 Test innings.
...
.
But when New Zealand visited South Africa the following year he cut down the length of his run-up and was the team's most successful bowler, taking 22 wickets at the respectable average of under 21 runs per wicket. A second tour, to Pakistan and India in 1955–56, brought him less success as a bowler, but he played in all eight Tests and hit two 50s. Back home in New Zealand later that season, he was a member of the team that recorded New Zealand's first-ever Test victory against
the West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater ...
at
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
; when he bowled
Alphonso Roberts in the first innings he became the first New Zealander to take 50 Test wickets.
[ R.T. Brittenden, ''Great Days in New Zealand Cricket'', A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington, 1958, p. 189.]
MacGibbon's final Tests were played on the
1958 tour to England, when he was one of the few New Zealand players to come out of a disastrous tour in a wet summer with an enhanced reputation. In the first Test, he took five wickets in an innings for the only time in his international career: his five for 64 dismissed England for 221 in their first innings and he took three more wickets in the second innings, though England won the match comfortably enough. His 66 in the fourth Test at
Old Trafford
Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...
was not just the highest score of his own Test career, it was also New Zealand's highest of the series. On the tour as a whole, he scored 670 runs and took 73 wickets.
After cricket
MacGibbon retired from Test cricket after the 1958 tour, and stayed in the UK to study
civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...
at
Durham University
, mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1)
, established = (university status)
, type = Public
, academic_staff = 1,830 (2020)
, administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19)
, chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen
, vice_chan ...
. He played in New Zealand domestic cricket until 1961–62. He died on 6 April 2010.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Macgibbon, Tony
1924 births
2010 deaths
New Zealand cricketers
New Zealand Test cricketers
Canterbury cricketers
Alumni of Durham University
20th-century New Zealand engineers
South Island cricketers