Foley was born in Wellington, New Zealand. He attended Wellington College and later Victoria College, where he graduated with Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degrees. Foley's maiden first class game was for The Rest against a New Zealand side that had returned from England. Batting at No. 6, Foley made 66 not out and took the wicket of Stewie Dempster.

Foley followed that up with a good Plunket Shield for Wellington, where his 136 not out was the catalyst in their win against Otago. He was selected for both the matches against the visiting Australian team and he ended his initial first class season with an average of 52.66. However, things didn't go according to script as he played in New Zealand's first Test and scored only 2 and 2 in both the innings. He was replaced by Jackie Mills in the next game.

Foley was not keeping well and missed plenty of cricket due to that. He passed away at a very young age (42) at Brisbane, where he worked as an accountant for Commercial Bank of Australia.


By Akshay Maanay