Vale Jack Alabaster
J C Alabaster, New Zealand Cricket team. Crown Studios Ltd :Negatives and prints. Ref: 1/2-191390-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22687665
Hindsight can be a beautiful thing. In the case of Jack Alabaster, it has only been in the decades since his cricketing career ended that it has become apparent New Zealand had a rare gem.
Alabaster’s Test record does him a disservice. He was rarely given the conditions or runs on the board to be an effective top-class spinner. Yet he stands alone as virtually the only leg-spinner of international repute between Bill Merritt move to the Lancashire Leagues and Ish Sodhi’s appearance in the 2010s. (Alec Moir never stepped up to international level, while all of Greg Loveridge, Brooke Walker and Tarun Nethula proved fleeting.)
Despite those barriers, and a lack of faith at times, Alabaster had his moments and troubled very good batsmen on his best days. What he could’ve achieved, provided with the right tools, will forever remain unknown.
One of Alabaster’s teammates for Otago, and more briefly for New Zealand, was the great opener Glenn Turner. He recalls a “serious chap” with his “feet firmly on the ground” – with a nod to Alabaster’s day-job as a school headmaster.
He speaks of that side of Alabaster’s character from watching his efforts to work on his batting, which Turner describes as built around a rigid defence with a temperament in the middle to match his personality off field.
In 1972, Turner was New Zealand’s burgeoning batting talent, while the 41 year-old Alabaster was at the end of his career. They found themselves rooming together, and Turner recalls Alabaster working hard on very flat wickets but without being given the opportunities or overs he should have.
And at Test level in general, “he was unlucky that he didn't play more,” Turner reflects, particularly on the 1969 tour of the subcontinent where Alabaster was omitted.
While Alec Moir, Otago’s other successful leg-spinner of the 1950s and ‘60s, was able to turn the ball more and was “more likely to bowl you the most difficult ball,” Alabaster’s skills relied on subtlety.
“Jack was at you more and more consistent,” Turner remembers. He had the “full leg-spin repertoire” but was very accurate, able to bowl flatter and tie batsmen down.
Where Alabaster’s Test record remains an unanswered question, his record for Otago was simply phenomenal. As well as picking up bulk wickets, Alabaster also contributed to team titles: in Otago’s three Plunket Shield successes during his career, Alabaster was the side’s top-wicket taker twice (and a narrow second on the other occasion).
Below First Class cricket, representing his true home province of Southland, Alabaster was a giant. In 14 challenge matches, Alabaster took 92 wickets at just 13.29. Including elimination matches, those figures would be even more flattering.
Alabaster’s first Challenge was on New Year’s Day, 1955. It was a trip to play Wanganui, who had a mortgage on the Cup at that time. Alabaster batted well in both innings, but came up against a resolute partnership from Bruce Hamilton and Barrie Jones and took 4-148.
Ten years later, Alabaster embarked on his second crack – captain for their trip to Palmerston North. This time it was rain that was the crucial factor, washing out a delicately poised contest.
In February 1970, with Alabaster now approaching his 40th birthday, a third chance beckoned. Southland hadn’t had a taste of Cup success since 1912 and it seemed that drought would continue, bowled out for only 93 at Seddon Park in Hamilton.
Waikato made their own horror start, with Rex Hooton, Russell Murphy and Wynne Bradburn gone for one run between them, however they pushed forward through Andy Roberts (93) and Hec Schuster (50). But with no other support, Waikato posted only 205 and left the door ajar to the challengers.
It scarcely mattered at 146-7 though, with Southland only 34 runs ahead when Jack Alabaster walked to the middle. When he was dismissed after nearly an hour-and-a-half of batting, he’d at least ensured the game was taken to the third day, but likely little more than that.
Needing exactly 100 to win, Waikato were 17/0 at stumps. The next morning proved a little different, with the Alabaster brothers putting on a show. Young brother Gren, captain that day, took 4-30. Jack took 6-34, including Bradburn, Roberts and Schuster.
With an 18 run win, Southland had taken the Hawke Cup.
That tenure wouldn’t last long, losing to Taranaki in December 1970 in a game Jack recalled unhappily: “It was one of the most unpleasant games I ever had. They were an unpleasant lot from Taranaki, their behaviour was barely adequate.”
Redemption came in 1973, when Jack – now finished with his New Zealand and Otago careers, and 42 years of age – loaded a star-studded Southland team onto his shoulders and ensured his team won the Cup back at Pukekura Park.
His 75 not-out at number nine, and 4-29, ensured a comfortable win. In a team well above the usual District Association standard – featuring four New Zealand reps in the Alabasters, Brian McKechnie and Jumbo Anderson – it seemed Southland were teed up nicely for a long tenure.
So it proved. Jack was part of nine successful defences through to 1974/75 when he stepped aside aged 44. It would be another two years before Southand lost the Cup, when Wairarapa pulled off a Southland-esque second innings spin-to-win recovery to claim the spoils.
It seemed Jack rarely had a bad spell through those years, and in tandem with Gren it was almost playing with a cheat code. Some visitors to Queen’s Park might make comments about home umpires or pitches, but those advantages were the case for all holders in those years. Despite that, very rarely did teams achieve what Southland did from 1973 to 1977.
Jack Alabaster left behind a legacy at each level of the game he played. For New Zealand, he held aloft a leg-spinning torch too easily extinguished on these shores. For Otago, unmitigated success where his level of craft and control were most clearly demonstrated.
For Southland he helped to create, and hold onto, history. During their 1970s tenure, they defended successfully 14 times, but that doesn’t include the times sides defaulted. For some, the costs of travelling to Invercargill were not worth the inevitable walloping they were in for – perhaps the clearest demonstration of their dominance.
Alabaster played a long innings, and in later years retained his involvement in Hawke Cup cricket including coaching the Central Otago side that won in 1996. A firm but well-liked character, Alabaster was married to fellow schoolteacher Shirley.
In interviews, Alabaster noted that he was happy he played when it was still possible to have a career outside of sport. While opportunities to play professionally emerged, Alabaster turned those advances down. Perhaps it was just as well – in different circumstances, would he have had such a wonderful late bloom for Southland?
Our condolences go out to the entire Alabaster family, particularly to Shirley. Rest in peace, Jack.
JOHN CHALONER (JACK) ALABASTER (11.07.1930-09.04.2024)
TEST: 49 wickets, average 38.02
FIRST CLASS: 500 wickets, average 25.37.
HAWKE CUP CHALLENGE: 92 wickets, average 13.29.
Note: Our thanks to Glenn Turner for sharing his memories of his Otago and New Zealand teammate.
