Geoff Howarth


Geoffrey Philip Howarth is a former New Zealand cricketer and former captain, who remains the only New Zealand captain to have positive win-loss records in both Test cricket and ODI cricket.

Domestic career

His highest first-class score was 183, for Surrey against Hampshire at The Oval in 1979, "a cultured innings lasting four hours" which helped Surrey to an eight-wicket victory. A specialist batsman, he was occasionally employed as a spin bowler; his best bowling figures were 5 for 32 for Auckland against Central Districts at Auckland in 1973-74.
Howarth played 188 matches for Surrey County Cricket Club in England between 1971 and 1985, and was the first overseas player to captain the club, which he did in 1984–85.

International career

Howarth played some Test cricket with his elder brother Hedley, but most of his 47-Test career did not overlap with Hedley's. He played most of his career as a specialist batsman, captaining the team for 30 of those 47 Tests, and although his batting average of only 32 was not stunning, he did make six Test centuries. Four of those came while he was not captaining the side.
In his debut series as captain, he led the side to their first Test series victory over the West Indies in 1980, when New Zealand won the first Test chasing 104 after being 73 for 8, then drew the second Test thanks to 147 from Howarth, and also survived an evenly fought third Test.

After cricket

He also became coach for the New Zealand team in the early 1990s and was coach of the ill-fated tour of South Africa in 1994. Now residing in England, Howarth returned to Wellington in 2012 as ambassador for the World Vintage Cricket Carnival; at that time he was coaching cricket at Haileybury School in Hertfordshire and continued to do so in 2017.

Legacy

Howarth was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to cricket in the 1981 Queen's Birthday Honours. In the 1984 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was promoted to Officer of the Order of the British Empire.