Les Groves

Les Groves
Personal information
Full name
Leslie Joseph Groves
Born(1911-06-09)9 June 1911
Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand
Died4 September 1990(1990-09-04) (aged 79)
Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm leg break
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1929/30–1949/50Otago
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 13 May 2016
Les Groves
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Invercargill HSOB
International career
1933 New Zealand 2 (0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Leslie Joseph Groves (9 June 1911 – 4 September 1990) was a New Zealand sportsman. In association football he represented New Zealand in two matches at international level. In cricket, he played 16 first-class matches for Otago between the 1929–30 and 1949–50 seasons.[1]

Groves was born at Dunedin in 1911 and educated there at Otago Boys' High School. He worked as a manager. Groves played association football for Otago and represented the New Zealand national football team. He played two official A-international matches for the All Whites in 1933 against trans-Tasman neighbours Australia as part of a 13 match tour,[2] the first a 2–4 loss on 5 June 1933, his second another 2–4 loss on 24 June.[3]

Groves played cricket sporadically for Otago in a career of 16 first-class matches spread over 20 years. A leg-spin bowler, he took his best figures of 6 for 88 and 3 for 46 against the touring Fijian team in 1947–48, helping Otago to victory by 47 runs.[4]

Groves served with the New Zealand Army in Italy in the Second World War as a private.[5][6] Following his death in 1990 obituaries were published in the 1991 New Zealand Cricket Almanack and the 1991 Wisden.[7]

References

  1. ^ "Leslie Groves". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  2. ^ "New Zealand International Matches 1904-2006". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 15 February 2010. Retrieved 18 June 2009.
  3. ^ "A-International Lineups". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Retrieved 18 June 2009.
  4. ^ "Otago v Fiji 1947-48". CricketArchive. Retrieved 25 March 2026.
  5. ^ "Leslie Joseph Groves". Online Cenotaph. Retrieved 25 March 2026.
  6. ^ "Les. Groves 'Not Out'". Evening Star: 3. 23 May 1945.
  7. ^ McCarron A (2010) New Zealand Cricketers 1863/64–2010, p. 60. Cardiff: The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. ISBN 978 1 905138 98 2