Photo Credit: New Zealand Cricket
John R Reid – New Zealand cricketing great and the country’s oldest surviving Test player, has died in Auckland, aged 92.
Reid, regarded as one of the world’s best allrounders during his heyday in the fifties and early sixties, captained his country in 34 Tests including, most notably, New Zealand’s first three victories.
The first, against the West Indies at Auckland in 1956, broke a winless streak of 26 years for the New Zealand team. The second and third both came during New Zealand’s drawn series in South Africa in 1961-62.
Reid was a hard-hitting right batsman and a brisk seam bowler who played 58 tests, scoring 3428 runs at 33.28, while taking 85 wickets at 33.35. Of his six Test centuries, the highest was 142 against South Africa at Johannesburg, in the Boxing Day Test of 1961.
As a 19-year-old, Reid made his Test debut at Manchester on the 1949 tour of England, scoring 50 and 25; before standing in to keep wicket in the fourth and final Test, during which he scored 93 in his team’s second innings.
He was the only surviving member of the famous 49ers.
Following the 1965 tour of England Reid retired, but returned to the United Kingdom only a few weeks later to captain the Rest of the World in two matches against England at Scarborough and Lord’s.
He was later president of NZCC, a New Zealand selector, manager, and an ICC match referee.
Born in Auckland, and educated at Hutt Valley High School in Wellington, he played 246 first-class games, scoring 16128 runs at 41.35, including 39 centuries, while taking 466 wickets at 22.60.
New Zealand Cricket chief executive David White hailed Reid as a colossus of New Zealand cricket in the post-war era, a player who led from the front in all three disciplines, and carried the hopes of his team, more or less, on his own broad shoulders.
“John R Reid was New Zealand cricket’s Colin Meads,” he said. “He was, and will remain, a household name in this country, having helped pave the way for everything that has come in his wake.
“Our thoughts and respect are with his family at this time: wife Norli; children Alison, Richard and Ann, and all his grand-children.
“NZC will acknowledge and mark John’s wonderful life and career an appropriate time.”
A private family service will be held for Reid, and a memorial service at the Basin Reserve in Wellington is being planned.
The New Zealand national cricket team, known as the Black Caps, made their Test debut in 1930 against England in Christchurch, becoming the fifth nation to play Test cricket. After waiting 26 years for their first Test win against the West Indies in 1956, they also played their first ODI in 1972–73 against Pakistan. New Zealand are the inaugural World Test Championship champions (2021) and have won the ICC Champions Trophy (2000). They have reached the Cricket World Cup final twice and the T20 World Cup final once.
