Considered one of the finest leg-spinners to come out of New Zealand, Alabaster played 21 Tests, taking 49 wickets between 1955 and 1972.

Alabaster was part of New Zealand’s first four Test wins. He toured India and Pakistan in 1955-56, England in 1958, South Africa in 1961-62 and West Indies in 1971-72.

He took 22 wickets in five Tests in South Africa, helping New Zealand draw the first series against them. He took seven wickets in the first match of the series as New Zealand were beaten by 30 runs, before being bowled out for 180 for 8 in New Zealand’s first Test win in a 1–1 draw in the third Test. come back .

Representing Otago in domestic cricket, he played a total of 143 first-class games and claimed 500 scalps.

He played the first two Tests on the tour of the West Indies in 1971–72, bowling Gary Sobers for his only wicket of the series, before an Achilles tendon injury cut his tour short. He then retired from first-class cricket, which meant that both his first and last first-class matches were for New Zealand.