John Richard Reid

Reid was born in Auckland in 1928. Reid was also a strong and aggressive bowler who, in his early days, was an authentic 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.[1] "The figures mislead," confirmed 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 side with Richard Hadlee and Martin Crowe."[2]

Reid never featured in an England-beating New Zealand Test side, but his men secured a narrow first-innings lead against Dexter's eleven in the Third Test in Christchurch. 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.[3]

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.[4] The match ended when Reid hit a six and the ball was unable to be found in the snow of the outfield.[5] It has been noted that every shot he played, no matter where he hit it, travelled north.[6] His son Richard played nine one-day internationals for New Zealand. On the death of Trevor Barber on 7 August 2015 Reid became the oldest surviving New Zealand Test cricketer.[7][8]

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.[9] He was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, also for services to cricket, in the 2014 New Year Honours.[10]

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.[11]

• Media related to John Richard Reid at Wikimedia Commons
• Martin-Jenkins, C. (1983) The Cricketer Book of Cricket Disasters and Bizarre Records, Century Publishing: London. ISBN 07126 0191 0.
• John Richard Reid at ESPNcricinfo
• "The Final Test" – a 22-minute film of John Reid's last series in 1965 on YouTube