Background
Meale was born in Papatoetoe, Auckland and died in Orewa, Auckland.
Meale was born in Papatoetoe, Auckland and died in Orewa, Auckland.
A left-handed opening batsman, Meale played several times for Wellington in Plunket Shield matches in the early 1950s, but his only centuries came in matches against touring teams. Against the West Indian cricket team in his debut season of 1951-1952, his unbeaten 112 saved the match for Wellington, while his 130 against Fiji in 1953-1954 was his last first-class innings for almost four years, and remained his highest score. He then moved to England to try to get into first-class cricket there, but was not successful.
Meale re-emerged in New Zealand in the trial games from which the 1958 New Zealand cricket team to England was picked, and was duly selected for the trip.
But on a disastrous tour in a very wet English summer, he was not a success: he scored just over 500 runs and averaged only 21 runs per innings. An undefeated 64 against Somerset saw him picked for the first Test: batting at Number 6, he scored 7 in the first innings and 10 in the second, with a four and a six.
He was dropped for the next three Tests, but reappeared in a rain-ruined final Test at The Oval, where he scored just 1 and 3. After the tour was over, he retired from first-class cricket.
He played several matches for Hutt Valley in the Hawke Cup between 1952-1953 and 1958-1959.