One of the most successful women in World Cup history, the first man to take 400 test wickets, the fastest test century ever, a hundred hundreds ... and a captain from start to finish.
Welcome to the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) Hall of Fame.
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Officially opened on Thursday night at the New Zealand Cricket Museum in Wellington by former White Fern and NZC president Lesley Murdoch, the inaugural NZC Hall of Fame class features the induction of 11 foundation members, whose playing careers span an era from 1947 to 2016.
The “First Eleven”: Bert Sutcliffe, John Reid, Jackie Lord, Trish McKelvey, Glenn Turner, Sir Richard Hadlee, Debbie Hockley, Martin Crowe, Emily Drumm, Daniel Vettori, and Brendon McCullum, have been honoured with an exhibit featuring near life-size portraits with video and biographical content displayed on a digital touchscreen.
An alliance between NZC, the New Zealand Cricket Players Association, and the New Zealand Cricket Museum, the Hall of Fame seeks to immortalise the country’s greatest cricketers, so that the players and fans of today can feel a sense of identity and a connection to those who have gone before them.
The rules require inductees to have played for New Zealand and to have been retired for at least five years, with criteria weighted in favour of performance, leadership and influence. A softer guideline was that players recognised should be of world-class stature in their prime, good enough to be picked in a theoretical World XI.
A shortlist was researched and compiled by cricket historian, statistician and author Francis Payne, without peer in his discipline within New Zealand, and stress tested with New Zealand women's cricket historian and author, Trevor Auger, Murdoch, and the NZCPA.
Payne, the long-time co-author of the annual New Zealand Cricket Almanack, as well as various other publications including Men in White, said the beauty of the Hall of Fame concept was that it was a subjective exercise, calculated to cause discussion.
“The first intake is always the most straight-forward as it includes some players who essentially pick themselves, they stand out that much,” said Payne.
“However, even in this phase there’ll still be discussions and debates about who should or should not be there - and that’s almost the point of the exercise, to keep the stories of New Zealand’s greatest players alive.”
Payne, NZC’s official historian, said there were clearly other players, both men and women, who were worthy of membership and stressed there would be opportunities to add to the foundation members on an annual basis.
“This is very much a living tribute with new players being added each year.”
Murdoch, who played for New Zealand between 1979 and 1990 and is now a sports media host, said the Hall of Fame was an important part of NZC’s push to better recognise the sacrifice and heroics of its past players.
“Now we have the project off the ground and underway, the plan is to incorporate a nominations panel and a voting academy, dominated by former players, who will vote to choose additional inductees on an annual basis,” she said.
“Doubtless, there’ll be plenty of discussions as we reminisce and explore our whakapapa, and that's what it's all about. To preserve the legacy of our cricketing family.”
The foundation inductees will be celebrated on the field during the lunch break on day one of the second test between the Black Caps and England at the Basin Reserve.
The New Zealand Cricket Museum, located in the ground's Old Pavilion Stand, will be open throughout the test.
NZC HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
Bert Sutcliffe
Sutcliffe cemented his reputation as a world-class batsman on the 1949 tour of England, totalling 2627 first-class runs, second only to Sir Donald Bradman in terms of most runs by a visiting player on a tour of England. Sutcliffe was a central figure in cricket’s most dramatic day at Ellis Park on Boxing Day, 1953. Pictures of him batting, his head swathed in bandages after he was hit in the head by Neil Adcock, are now part of New Zealand sporting folklore. His innings of 80 not out that day, after returning from hospital, included seven sixes. As seemed inevitable, Sutcliffe eventually registered New Zealand’s highest score in test cricket when he made an unbeaten 230 against India at Delhi in 1955. He returned to India on the 1965 tour as a 41-year-old and scored 151 not out at Kolkata.
John R Reid
When John Reid retired, he held the New Zealand test records for most matches, most matches as captain, most runs, most wickets and most catches (and also stood in as wicketkeeper). His 58 tests in succession was a world record at the time. Reid never missed a test in his 16-year career. An aggressive, hard-hitting middle-order batsman who was unafraid to hit the ball in the air, he was also a brilliant fielder at gully or cover and a pacey seam bowler, who later in his career turned to highly effective off-cutters. Reid captained New Zealand to its long-awaited maiden test win, in 1955-56 against the West Indies. One of Reid’s most famous innings was 296 against Northern Districts at the Basin Reserve in 1962-63, which included a world record (at the time) 15 sixes.
Jackie Lord
A leg-spinner, Lord was a member of the side which gained New Zealand’s historic first test win, against Australia at Melbourne in 1972, and played a significant role its first series win, against South Africa in the tour which followed. Lord made her New Zealand debut on the 1966 tour to England aged 18, playing in all three tests on that tour and in all three when England came to New Zealand in 1968-69. Her career total of 55 wickets in test matches is 20 more than the next best for New Zealand. She captured five or more wickets in an innings on four occasions (no one else has done it more than once) and is the only bowler to take 10 wickets in a test for New Zealand.
Trish McKelvey
McKelvey played in 15 test matches and 15 one-day internationals for New Zealand and was captain in every one of them. She led New Zealand to both its first test win (against Australia) and its first test series win (against South Africa). Having captained Wellington in the previous domestic season, McKelvey was not only selected for New Zealand’s tour of England in 1966 (her White Ferns debut) but was also made captain. She and New Zealand were up against a powerful England line-up, led by Rachael Heyhoe, but the new skipper left undefeated in the tests with all three games ending in draws. McKelvey became New Zealand’s first women’s test centurion when she made 155 not out against England at the Basin Reserve in the summer of 1968-69.
Glenn Turner
Turner’s name was synonymous with hundreds – 103 of them in first-class cricket, including seven at test level. Two of those test hundreds were double centuries in the West Indies. Turner was the first New Zealander to score a century in each innings of a test match, when New Zealand beat Australia for the first time, at Lancaster Park in 1974. In 1973, he became the first player in 35 years to score 1000 first-class runs in England before the end of May. Turner was no less adept at the one-day game, averaging 47 in one-day internationals and scoring more than 10,000 runs in the format. He was the first player to make a score of 150 in a one-day international.
Sir Richard Hadlee
Sir Richard Hadlee was one of the best fast bowlers in the world for much of his test career and the first man to take 400 wickets. He was a match-winner for New Zealand. Before he started playing the team had won just seven tests; when he retired, he’d played a role in 22 further victories. Sir Richard’s eventual career total of 431 test wickets (including a world-record 36 five-wicket bags) was strewn with outstanding performances, none more so than on the 1985-86 test tour of Australia, during which he took 33 wickets in three games, including a best-ever nine for 52 at Brisbane.
Debbie Hockley
In 19 tests, Hockley scored 1301 runs at 52.04, including four centuries, seven half-centuries and a top score of 126 not out against Australia, at Auckland. She was the New Zealand women’s team captain in six tests and 27 ODIs. Hockley played 118 ODIs, scoring 4064 runs at 41.89, including four centuries, 34 half-centuries and a top score of 117 against England – while also taking 54 wickets. She was the first woman to eclipse 4000 ODI runs, and also the first to play 100 ODIs. Remembered as one of the greatest players in World Cup history, Hockley scored 1501 runs in 45 games at 42.88, including back-to-back centuries against Sri Lanka and the West Indies in the 1997 tournament, in India – where she totalled a record 456 runs at 76.00.
Martin Crowe
In his pomp, Crowe had few peers, and certainly not in the history of New Zealand test cricket. His career-high 17 centuries towered over anyone else, and none was better than his 188 at Georgetown in 1985, against a West Indies attack containing some of the most fearsome fast bowlers in the history of the game. In 1991, at the Basin Reserve, Crowe was famously dismissed for 299 against Sri Lanka after sharing in a 467-run partnership for the third wicket with Andrew Jones – then the highest partnership in the history of test cricket. Crowe was just as effective in the 50-over game, steering New Zealand to the semifinals of the 1992 ICC World Cup with a combination of peerless batting and innovative captaincy.
Emily Drumm
Drumm became the first New Zealand cricketer to captain a World Cup winning side, after New Zealand’s memorable four run win against Australia at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval in 2000. Drum played in five tests and in the last two produced scores of 161 not out and 62 not out against Australia at Christchurch, and 62 and 112 not out against England at Guildford. Her unbeaten 161 against Australia was a New Zealand women’s test record at the time. She also played 100 ODIs for her country, reaching fifty on 21 occasions, and twice going on to make a century. Drumm closed her international career in a one-day series against India in March 2006. Her last three innings at the top-level were 94 not out, 83 and 67 not out.
Daniel Vettori
Daniel Vettori became New Zealand’s youngest test cricketer when he made his debut against England at the Basin Reserve in 1996-97 at the age of 18 years and 10 days. By the time he stepped away from the game, Vettori had taken 362 test wickets (at the time second only to Sir Richard Hadlee) and 305 ODI wickets. While Vettori’s bowling was impressive from the start, he soon showed his ability with the bat and rose to become an outstanding all-rounder on the world stage. His favourite spot appeared to be at number eight, from which he scored more runs than any other player in test history, including four of his six test hundreds.
Brendon McCullum
Brendon McCullum was the captain who led New Zealand out of the doldrums to establish itself, by the time he retired, as one of the best teams in the world. Along the way he starred in various roles, scoring New Zealand’s first triple century in tests at one point, and the fastest century in test history (off 54 balls) at another. Under McCullum’s leadership, New Zealand reached the World Cup final for the first time, in 2015, and went 13 consecutive home tests without a defeat. McCullum was the first cricketer to play in 100 consecutive tests from debut. Perhaps his greatest legacy was in the way he encouraged his team to respect themselves, the opposition and the game.