New Zealand cricketer John Reid passes away

Auckland: John Reid, the oldest surviving New Zealand cricketer, has died here, New Zealand Cricket confirmed on Wednesday. Reid was considered one of the best all-rounders in the world in the 1950s and early 1960s. He was a hard-hitting right-handed batsman and a seam bowler who played 58 Test matches, scoring 3428 runs at 33.28. […]

Auckland: John Reid, the oldest surviving New Zealand cricketer, has died here, New Zealand Cricket confirmed on Wednesday.

Reid was considered one of the best all-rounders in the world in the 1950s and early 1960s.

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He was a hard-hitting right-handed batsman and a seam bowler who played 58 Test matches, scoring 3428 runs at 33.28. He took 85 wickets at 33.35. Of his six Test centuries, the highest – 142 – came against South Africa in 1961 during the Boxing Day Test at Johannesburg.

Reid played 246 first-class games, scoring 16,128 runs at 41.35, including 39 centuries. He took 466 wickets at 22.60.

He led his country in 34 Tests including in New Zealand’s first three victories, the first of which, against 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.

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 wickets in the fourth and final Test, during which he scored 93 in his team’s second innings.

Reid retired after the 1965 tour of England, 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 a New Zealand selector, manager, and an ICC match referee.

A private family service will be held for Reid, and a memorial service at the Basin Reserve in Wellington is being planned