| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | John Trevor Sparling | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1938-07-24)24 July 1938 (age 86) Mount Eden,Auckland, New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm off-spin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side |
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| Test debut (cap 84) | 3 July 1958 v England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 28 February 1964 v South Africa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1956/57–1970/71 | Auckland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source:Cricinfo,1 April 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
John Trevor Sparling (born 24 July 1938) is a former New Zealandcricketer who played in 11Test matches between 1958 and 1964.
A stocky, fair-haired, off-spinning all-rounder, Sparling was educated atAuckland Grammar School. Coached in Auckland byJim Laker, he broke into theAuckland team at the age of 18. He continued to play for Auckland until 1970–71. He captained Auckland through most of the 1960s, leading the team to twoPlunket Shield titles.[1]
His most successful season with the bat was 1959–60, when he made 705 runs at an average of 37.10.[2] In the Plunket Shield match againstCanterbury that season he scored 105 and 51 and took 7 for 98 and 2 for 13.[3]
His most successful season with the ball was 1964–65, when he took 38 wickets at an average of 15.50.[4] His career-best figures that year, 7 for 49 for Auckland againstOtago, took Auckland to a narrow victory.[5]
Sparling was the youngest member of theNew Zealand cricket team that toured England in 1958. On a tour where New Zealand were badly outclassed and in a summer where the weather was almost uniformly dismal, Sparling was one of the few players to emerge with an enhanced reputation.Wisden called him the player with "undoubtedly most promise" and wrote: "A natural cricketer, he should come to the fore with so many years ahead of him."[6]
In fact, Sparling's figures for the tour were fairly modest: 513 runs at an average of less than 18 runs per innings and 38 wickets at just over 20 runs a wicket. He played in the last three of the five Tests and his 50 atOld Trafford on his 20th birthday was one of only three 50s scored by the Test side all summer. His stand of 61 for the seventh wicket withEric Petrie in this match was the highest stand for New Zealand in the whole series.[7]
Predictions of an illustrious Test career were, however, wide of the mark. Sparling played twice against the touring English side in 1958–59, three times on the New Zealand tour of South Africa in 1961–62, once against England in New Zealand in 1962–63 and twice in the home series againstSouth Africa in 1963–64. In none of these matches did Sparling reach 50 as a batsman and in none of them did he take more than one wicket in an innings. He played in all four of the matches New Zealand played against the visitingAustralian team in 1959–60, scoring two fifties and taking six wickets, but they were not Test matches.[8] Sparling was unavailable for the tour of India, Pakistan and England in 1965, and the selectors turned to the younger spin-bowling all-roundersBryan Yuile,Vic Pollard andRoss Morgan.[9]
At Auckland in the New Zealand v England Test match in February 1963, Sparling bowled an 11-ball over when the umpire,Dick Shortt, lost count of the number of balls Sparling had bowled.[10]