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Full name Tony Elston Blain
Born February 17, 1962, Nelson, Nelson
Current age 46 years 239 days
Major teams New Zealand,Canterbury,Central Districts
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Legbreak
Fielding position Wicketkeeper
Other Coach, Commentator
Batting and fielding averages
Mat
Inns
NO
Runs
HS
Ave
BF
SR
100
50
4s
6s
Ct
St
Tests
11
20
3
456
78
26.82
1201
37.96
0
2
62
4
19
2
ODIs
38
38
11
442
49*
16.37
662
66.76
0
0
27
4
37
1
First-class
118
199
30
5749
161
34.01
8
32
210
26
List A
110
102
22
1726
70
21.57
0
6
108
16
Bowling averages
Mat
Inns
Balls
Runs
Wkts
BBI
BBM
Ave
Econ
SR
4w
5w
10
Tests
11
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
ODIs
38
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
First-class
118
174
128
2
1/12
64.00
4.41
87.0
0
0
List A
110
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Career statistics
Test debut
England v New Zealand at The Oval, Aug 21-26, 1986 scorecard
Last Test
New Zealand v Pakistan at Christchurch, Feb 24-28, 1994 scorecard
Test statistics
ODI debut
New Zealand v Australia at Dunedin, Mar 19, 1986 scorecard
Last ODI
New Zealand v Pakistan at Auckland, Mar 13, 1994 scorecard
ODI statistics
First-class span
1982/83 - 1994/95
List A span
1982/83 - 1994/95
Profile
A polished right-hand batsman and sound wicketkeeper, Tony Blain suffered from being an almost permanent understudy, first to Ian Smith and then Adam Parore. His opportunities were limited. He made his Test debut against England at The Oval in 1986 - Smith was injured - and scored a battling 37 but spilt a swirling skyer from Ian Botham. He next played twice against India in 1988-89, and had a final eight-match run in the side in 1992 with home and away matches against Australia and a tour to Pakistan. He also played 38 ODIs in two spells, the first between March 1986 and December 1988 and the second between March 1993 and March 1994. Initially at Central Districts, Blain was again blocked by Smith so he switched to Canterbury where he helped them win the Shell Trophy in 1983-84 . But he was again unable to command a place in the side and so returned to Central Districts, initially as a specialist batsman who stood in for Smith as and when he was on New Zealand duty, and then as first-choice keeper when Smith moved to Auckland at the end of the 1986-87 season. After retiring, Blain did some coaching as well as commentary work. Martin Williamson
