Not to be confused with John Fulton Reid or John R. Reed.
John Richard Reid
Birth date3 June 1928
Birth placeAuckland, New Zealand
Death date14 October 2020 (aged 92)
Death placeAuckland, New Zealand
Club 1Wellington
Year 11947/48–1954/54
Club 2Otago
Year 21956/57–1957/58
Club 3Wellington
Year 31958/59–1964/65
Internationaltrue
Internationalspan1949–1965
CountryNew Zealand
TestdebutagainstEngland
Testdebutdate23 July
Testdebutyear1949
Testcap49
Lasttestdate8 July
LasttestagainstEngland
Lasttestyear1965
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm off-break
Right-arm fast-medium
FamilyRichard Reid (son)
Columns2
Column 1Test
Matches 158
Runs 13,428
Bat avg 133.28
100s/50s 16/22
Top score 1142
Deliveries 17,725
Wickets 185
Bowl avg 133.35
Fivefor 11
Tenfor 10
Best bowling 16/60
Catches/stumpings 143/1
Column 2First-class
Matches 2246
Runs 216,128
Bat avg 241.35
100s/50s 239/83
Top score 2296
Deliveries 229,270
Wickets 2466
Bowl avg 222.60
Fivefor 215
Tenfor 21
Best bowling 27/20
Catches/stumpings 2240/7
Date1 April
Year2017
Sourcehttp://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/38248.html Cricinfo

John Richard Reid (3 June 1928 – 14 October 2020) was a New Zealand cricketer who captained New Zealand in 34 Test matches. He was New Zealand's eighth Test captain and the first to achieve victory, both at home, against the West Indies in 1956, and away, against South Africa in 1962.[1]

Early life

Reid was born in Auckland in 1928 to Iris and Norman Reid. His father, Norman, was a Scottish-born rugby league player, while his mother, Iris, was a music teacher. The family moved to Wellington when Reid was young. He studied at the Hutt Valley High School, where he started out as a rugby union player but later switched to cricket, stemming from heart problems and bouts of rheumatic fever.[2]

Playing career

Reid started out as a strong and aggressive bowler who, in his early days, was genuinely quick. He later turned to off-cutters and spin from a short run-up with a trademark side-step. Until a swollen knee slowed down his movements and checked his agility, he was a strong and multi-talented fieldsman at slip and in the covers. On the 1949 tour of England he was the reserve wicketkeeper, keeping wicket in several matches including the final Test.[3] "The figures mislead", said John Mehaffey, whose favourite Reid was. "Nobody who saw him at the crease would dispute his own assessment that he could have increased his batting average by half again if he had played in the 1980s team with Richard Hadlee and Martin Crowe."[4] Reid was one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year for 1959.[5]

Reid never featured in an England-beating New Zealand Test team, but his men secured a narrow first-innings lead against Dexter's eleven in the Third Test in Christchurch in 1963.[6] Unable to take advantage, they collapsed at the hands of Fred Trueman and Fred Titmus for 159 in their second innings, of which Reid hit exactly 100 before stumbling from the field in pallid enervation. The second-highest score was 22. This remains the lowest all-out Test match total to include a century.[7]

In 1965 he captained a Rest of the World XI in a match against England.[8] The match was drawn.[9]

Post playing-career

Post retirement, in 1969, Reid played in what is thought to be the first cricket match at the South Pole, with the striped barber's-type pole with a silver reflecting glass ball on top representing the actual Pole acting as the wicket.[10] The match ended when Reid hit a six and the ball was unable to be found in the snow of the outfield.[11] It has been noted that every shot he played, no matter where he hit it, travelled north.[12]

Reid was a mentor for many younger players after he retired, in particular Bevan Congdon and Richard Collinge.[8] He served New Zealand Cricket as a national selector from 1975 to 1978. In 1981, he moved to South Africa to be a coach. He had earlier noted that the sporting boycott of South Africa during its apartheid era was 'ill-conceived'.[2]

He served as an International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee from 1993 through 2002, serving 50 Tests and 98 One Day International matches.[2] As a match referee he was known for his tough actions. He had suspended Pakistan fast bowler, Waqar Younis, and had fined Azhar Mahmood for ball tampering. He had also acted on complaints on fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar's bowling action.[13]

In 2003, he was appointed as the president of New Zealand Cricket.[2] On the death of Trevor Barber on 7 August 2015, Reid became the oldest surviving New Zealand Test cricketer.[14][15]

Reid was also involved in popularising squash in New Zealand. He set up the John Reid Squash centre in Wellington, which was subsequently sold off to the New Zealand Squash Rackets Association.[2]

Personal life

Reid married Norli Le Fevre in 1951; he had met her earlier at age 18 while she was working as a nurse at the hospital where he was being treated for rheumatic fever. The couple had one son, Richard, and two daughters, Alison and Ann. Richard played nine one-day internationals for New Zealand.[14][2]

Reid died in Auckland on 14 October 2020, aged 92.[16]

Honours

In the 1962 Queen's Birthday Honours, Reid was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to sport, especially cricket.[17] He was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, also for services to cricket, in the 2014 New Year Honours.[18]

Publications

Reid wrote two books, Sword of Willow (1962) and A Million Miles of Cricket (1966). Joseph Romanos wrote the biography John Reid: A Cricketing Life in 2000. John Reid is a 55-minute DVD made by the Vid Pro Quo company in 2003 of interviews with Reid by Grahame Thorne and footage of matches he played in.[19]

Citations

  1. ^ "ICC condoles the passing of John Reid". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  2. ^ "John Reid obituary". the Guardian. 14 October 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  3. ^ Wisden 1950, p. 209.
  4. ^ Mehaffey, John (30 May 2008). "John Reid, Hit machine – A dashing, attacking batsman, he kept New Zealand cricket shining through its dark days". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  5. ^ Preston, Norman (1959). "John Reid". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. Retrieved 14 October 2020. – via ESPNcricinfo.
  6. ^ "Full Scorecard of New Zealand vs England 3rd Test 1963 - Score Report | ESPNcricinfo.com". www.espncricinfo.com. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  7. ^ "Test Lowest Innings Totals to Include a Century". Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  8. ^ Hadlee 2017, p. 442.
  9. ^ "England XI vs ROW XI, at Scarborough, Sep 08 1965 - Full Scorecard". Cricinfo. Retrieved 9 February 2026.
  10. ^ Martin-Jenkins, pp. 39–40.
  11. ^ Martin-Jenkins, p. 39.
  12. ^ Martin-Jenkins, p. 40.
  13. ^ "Match referee John Reid draws protest from Pakistan". ESPN. 21 August 2001. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  14. ^ "List of oldest living Test players". Stats.espncricinfo.com. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  15. ^ "Former New Zealand batsman Trevor Barber dies at 90". ESPNCricinfo. 10 August 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  16. ^ "Cricket: New Zealand great John R Reid dies at 92". New Zealand Herald. 14 October 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  17. ^ No. 42685. 2 June 1962. p. 4348.
  18. ^ "New Year honours list 2014". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  19. ^ John Reid DVD

References

  • Hadlee, Walter (2017). The Skipper's Diary : New Zealand's 1949 cricket tour of England 'The forty-niners'. Hadlee, Richard (ed.). West Pennant Hills, NSW: The Cricket Publishing Company. ISBN 9780957808980.