Geoff Allott retires from all cricket

Geoff Allott retires from all cricket
New Zealand Cricket - 23 March 2001

New Zealand Cricket today announces the retirement of contracted player, Geoff Allott (Black Cap no.196), from all cricket.

Over his seven-year career Geoff Allott played ten Tests and 31 One Day Internationals.

He was particularly successful in the limited overs game taking 52 ODI wickets at an average of 23.21. In the Test arena he took 19 wickets at 58.47.

Allott's first class career spanned 31 matches and he recorded the figures of 102 wickets at an average of 30.36.

He also played 26 Shell Cup games for Canterbury, including four matches this season. In the Shell Cup he took 35 wickets at 20.54. His Shell Cup career-best figures came this summer when he claimed 4-23 for Canterbury against Wellington.

Geoff Allott debuted for Canterbury as a 23-year-old medium-fast strike bowler in 1994/95. Until he was 17 years of age Allott was a spin-bowler. He has often credited his Second XI coach at Christchurch Boys' High School for encouraging his transformation to pace bowling in his second last year at school. In his final year he was selected in the Boys' High First XI and he has since played his entire career for the High School Old Boys' Cricket Club in Christchurch.

It was a belated but meteoric rise for Allott who forced his way into the New Zealand side after only two games for Canterbury and two games for a New Zealand Selection XI. His debut was the first Test played between New Zealand and Zimbabwe in New Zealand, and took place in January 1996. His final Test was New Zealand's historic first-ever victory over England at the Lord's Ground in July 1999. In the deciding final innings he took a crucial 3-36. New Zealand went on to win the Series 2-1.

Allott's first One Day International was against England in February 1997. Most recently Allott toured Zimbabwe and South Africa during the winter playing in the one-day series against both of those nations. He was a member of the side which won the ICC Knockout Trophy in Kenya - New Zealand's first ever tournament win. During the tournament he became the fastest New Zealander to reach 50 One Day International wickets. The milestone was reached in his 28th game, beating the previous mark of 33 games by Chris Pringle.

The highpoint of Geoff Allott's career was undoubtedly his world record performance at the ICC Cricket World Cup in England during May and June 1999.

With 20 wickets in nine matches he equalled the record for most wickets taken at a World Cup, each wicket costing just 16.25 runs (Shane Warne also took 20 wickets at the same tournament).

Gaining prodigious movement in the air and off the pitch, the left-armer deceived some of the world's best batsmen and made a huge contribution towards New Zealand's semi-final finish. The performance earned him the 1999/00 Walter Hadlee Trophy for ODI Bowling. It was the second consecutive year he had earned the award.

Geoff Allott also holds a further three World records - but these came through his contribution with bat rather than ball. In the drawn first Test between New Zealand and South Africa at Eden Park in March 1999, Allott batted for 101 minutes without scoring. He was eventually caught out for 0 but, for an hour and a half, he had successfully fed the strike to his partner Chris Harris who ended on 68 not out. Harris had batted for five hours and along with Allott, the pair effectively denied South Africa the likelihood of winning.

The records held are:

the longest time on 0 in Test history, 101 minutes, surpassing Godfrey Evans 97 minutes (England v Australia 1946-47);
the longest time without scoring a run, eclipsing another New Zealander, Martin Snedden, scoreless for 94 minutes against Australia in Wellington in 1990;
the longest duck in a first-class game, outlasting Vincent Hogg of Rhodesia, who laboured 87 minutes in a Currie Cup match in 1978-79.

Geoff Allott's retirement from all cricket has resulted from a stress fracture to his lower back which has refused to heal sufficiently for him to continue bowling.

Geoff has had a history of lower back stress fractures over the past five years. He was forced to entirely rebuild his bowling action in 1998 spending time at the New Zealand Cricket Academy with Dayle Hadlee and other experts, completely remodelling his action so that he was delivering more front-on and therefore putting less pressure on his back.

He fought his way back to fitness for a second time for the tour to Zimbabwe and South Africa last winter. His workload was managed through both of those one-day series but on his return to New Zealand he was again diagnosed with a stress fracture to the lower back. It was his sixth.

Chief Executive of New Zealand Cricket, Christopher Doig, said: "No player has worked harder to fight his way back to fitness than Geoff Allott. He has always been 100 percent committed to New Zealand cricket and to his career and it is a testament to his courage and determination that he has played as long as he has and achieved significant success."

Chief Executive of Canterbury Cricket, Tony Murdoch, said: "Canterbury Cricket is saddened by the loss of a player who by dint of injury and international commitments has never had a chance to settle into Canterbury teams. His contribution, particularly in one-day cricket, has been of the highest quality but of equal importance was his fierce pride in representing his province. It is disappointing that injury prevented him from continuing in his career which would surely have achieved many more milestones."

Captain of the CLEAR Black Caps Stephen Fleming said: "Geoff loved playing for New Zealand and always gave 100 percent for the cause. He is a great team man and has an excellent sense of humour. It is a great shame that his career was cut short prematurely."

Sir Richard Hadlee said: "Geoff Allott was a talented bowler. He was particularly dangerous in the one-day game. Being a left-armer gave him an advantage and he had an ability to move the ball away and across the right handed batsman, which he did with devastating effect in the World Cup taking 20 wickets. He was an asset with the new ball and also later in the innings when he had an ability to reverse swing the ball and take wickets."

Teams	New Zealand.
First Class Teams	Canterbury.