Robert James Nicol (born 28 May 1983 in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

) is a former New Zealand cricketer, who played all formats of the game. He is a right-handed opening batsman and bowled right arm off spin occasionally. Domestically, Nicol has played first-class,

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

and

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have ...

matches for

and

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

, and was the captain for Auckland. In June 2018, Nicol announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.

Domestic career

Rob Nicol started off playing for

and played for the Aces for 8 seasons his best spell in 2002–03 where he scored over 600 runs. He then moved to

in 2009, scoring over 500 runs in his first season. His performances for the Wizards brought him to the notice of the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

selectors, who selected him for the

squad. Previously played at

Hitchin Cricket Club Hitchin Cricket Club Ground is a cricket ground in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England. The first recorded match on the ground was in 1877, when Hertfordshire County Cricket Club, Hertfordshire played Essex County Cricket Club, Essex. Hertfordshir ...

in Hertfordshire as the overseas player in 2009 and 2010 before joining up with the Kiwis in West Indies. Broke the

Saracens upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...

Hertfordshire Division 1 total season runs and largest innings at 201 not out against Knebworth Park CC. Nicol enjoyed a spell in English county cricket playing for

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

in July 2012 as a replacement for fellow countryman

Kane Williamson Kane Stuart Williamson (born 8 August 1990) is a New Zealand cricketer who is currently the captain of the New Zealand national team in limited overs cricket. He is considered as New Zealand's greatest batsmen ever, as well as one of the best b ...

as part of the deal Gloucestershire coach

John Bracewell John Garry Bracewell (born 15 April 1958) is a former New Zealand cricketer who was most recently the coach of the Irish national team. He played 41 Test matches between 1980 and 1990, as well as 53 One Day Internationals. He was the second New ...

set up with the New Zealand Cricket Board where young Kiwi cricketers join Gloucs for experience.

International career

He made his debut in

one day internationals A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cup ...

in 2011, but failed to secure regular selection past the 2012/2013 season. Selectors rewarded him with a place in the test team in the home series against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

, but he found runs difficult to come by and has only played 2 Tests to date. He was also played as the opening partner of

Brendon McCullum Brendon Barrie McCullum (born 27 September 1981) is a cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer representing New Zealand, who played all formats, including as captain. McCullum was renowned for his quick scoring, notably recording the f ...

during

2012 ICC World Twenty20 The 2012 ICC World Twenty20 was the fourth ICC World Twenty20 competition, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament that took place in Sri Lanka from 18 September to 7 October 2012 which was won by the West Indies. The schedule has been po ...

held in Sri Lanka. Nicol had a wonderful ODI debut against

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

in 2011 at

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its ...

. Chasing 232 to win, the New Zealand openers Nicol and

Martin Guptill Martin James Guptill (born 30 September 1986) is a New Zealand international cricketer who plays as an opening batsman in limited overs formats of the game. Guptill is the first cricketer from New Zealand and the fifth overall to have scored a d ...

first sent the Black Caps to a flyer as they crossed 50 runs in just 6 overs. After that, he went on to score 108

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

, a brilliant century that included 11 fours. In the process, he became the seventh batsman ever and the second New Zealander (after his fellow opener in the match,

) to score a century on ODI debut. The previous batsmen to achieve this feat were

Dennis Amiss Dennis Leslie Amiss (born 7 April 1943) is a former English cricketer and cricket administrator. He played for both Warwickshire and England. A right-handed batsman, Amiss was a stroke maker particularly through extra cover and midwicket – his ...

Desmond Haynes Desmond Leo Haynes (born 15 February 1956) is a former Barbadian cricketer and cricket coach who played for the West Indies cricket team between 1978 and 1994. Haynes favoured a more measured approach to batting and scored 7,487 runs in 116 T ...

Andy Flower Andrew Flower (born 28 April 1968) is a Zimbabwean cricket coach and a former cricketer. As a cricketer, he captained the Zimbabwe national cricket team. He was Zimbabwe's wicket-keeper for more than 10 years and is, statistically, the greatest ...

, Saleem Elahi,

, and

Colin Ingram Colin Alexander Ingram (born 3 July 1985) is a South African cricketer who currently plays for Glamorgan. He represented South Africa in One Day (ODI) and Twenty20 Internationals (T20I) between 2010 and 2013, scoring a century on his ODI debut ...

.Records, One-Day Internationals, Batting records, Hundred on debut
Cricinfo. Retrieved 21 October 2011 He was acknowledged the man of the match for his debut century, thus becoming the 50th player to be named Man of the Match on ODI debut.

References

External links

Cricinfo profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicol, Rob 1983 births Living people New Zealand cricketers New Zealand Test cricketers New Zealand One Day International cricketers New Zealand Twenty20 International cricketers Auckland cricketers Canterbury cricketers Gloucestershire cricketers Mashonaland cricketers Otago cricketers Cricketers who made a century on One Day International debut

Domestic career

International career

See also

References

External links