Role Cricket Player Name Gren Alabaster | National side New Zealand Last test 1976 | |
Batting style Left-handed batsman Bowling style Right-arm off-break | ||
Grenville David "Gren" Alabaster (born 10 December 1933 in Invercargill) is a former New Zealand first class cricketer for Otago, Canterbury and Northern Districts. A winner of the New Zealand Cricket Almanack Player of the Year Award in 1972, Alabaster was a right-arm off-break bowler. He represented New Zealand on occasions, including the tour to Australia in 1973-74, but never in a Test match. His brother Jack Alabaster played 21 Tests.
Gren Alabaster took 8/30 for Northern Districts against New Zealand Under-23s in March 1963. This established a new record for the side in first-class cricket, beating Don Clarke's 8/37 of just two months previously. Alabaster's mark stood for less than a year, until Maurice Langdon claimed 8/21 against Auckland in January 1964.
In a first-class career stretching from 1955-56 to 1975-76 he took 275 wickets at 23.24, and made 3200 runs at 23.88, with three centuries including a highest score of 108 for Otago against Central Districts at Wanganui in 1964-65. His most successful season with the ball was 1974-75; despite turning 41 during the season he took 34 wickets at 20.11 and helped Otago to victory in the Plunket Shield.
He also played 31 matches for Southland and Thames Valley in the Hawke Cup between 1961 and 1979. He captained Southland during their reign as title-holders between 1973 and 1977. When a Hawke Cup "team of the century" was selected to mark the centenary of the competition in 2011, he was named as the captain.
He made his career in teaching, finishing as Principal of Waiau College in Tuatapere.