Gary Bartlett

Last updated

Gary Bartlett
Personal information
Full name
Gary Alex Bartlett
Born (1941-02-03) 3 February 1941 (age 83)
Blenheim, Marlborough
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm fast
International information
National side
Test debut(cap  88)8 December 1961 v  South Africa
Last Test7 March 1968 v  India
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class
Matches1061
Runs scored2631,504
Batting average 15.4716.71
100s/50s0/00/4
Top score4099*
Balls bowled1,76810,151
Wickets 24150
Bowling average 33.0028.32
5 wickets in innings 13
10 wickets in match00
Best bowling6/386/38
Catches/stumpings 8/–39/–
Source: Cricinfo, 1 April 2017

Gary Alex Bartlett (born 3 February 1941) is a former New Zealand cricketer. He played 10 Test matches for New Zealand in the 1960s as a fast bowler.

Contents

Domestic career

Bartlett was born in Blenheim, and grew up across the road from the town's main cricket ground, Horton Park. [1] He made his first-class debut for Central Districts in the 1958–59 season aged only 17, and played all four matches for New Zealand in the non-Test series against an Australian XI in the following season. Wisden described him as "the real discovery of the season". [2] The Australian captain, Ian Craig, described facing him in the first match of the series in Wellington: "I saw Bartlett let go of the ball, but the first I knew of where it had gone was the sound of it hitting the gloves yards behind me. I think it was the quickest bowling I faced." [3]

Bartlett moved to Canterbury for the 1963–64 season where he was a member of the West Christchurch University club team. He was one of the leading players in the Plunket Shield in 1965–66, scoring 228 runs at an average of 32.57 and taking 20 wickets at 19.65. [4] He returned to Central Districts in 1966–67, and played his last first-class matches in the 1969–70 season.

Bartlett also had a successful career for Marlborough in the Hawke Cup between 1958 and 1970. In his first match, against Waikato in 1957–58, aged 16, he took 6 for 37 and 2 for 11 and hit the match top score of 52 not out. [5] In 1967–68 he captained Marlborough when they won the title for the first time, scoring 80 in the first innings (the highest score on either side in the match) and taking four wickets in each innings in the victory over Hutt Valley. [6]

International career

Bartlett toured South Africa in 1961–62, making his Test debut and playing all five Tests. He took only eight wickets but made useful runs (215 at 23.88) batting at eight or nine. [7] He made only occasional Test appearances thereafter, all in New Zealand. Dissatisfied with his fitness, he made himself unavailable for New Zealand's tour of India, Pakistan and England in 1965, although the selectors wanted him to tour. [8] His outstanding Test moment came in the Second Test against India in Christchurch in 1967–68, when he took 6 for 38 – at the time the best figures in Tests by a New Zealand bowler – in the second innings to help New Zealand to its first victory over India. [9] [10]

The New Zealand cricket historian Don Neely described Bartlett as "New Zealand's first bowler of devastating pace". [11] Unfortunately his successes, and much of his career, were overshadowed by doubts about the legitimacy of his bowling action. [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [11] During the Christchurch Test in 1968 the Indian bowler Syed Abid Ali protested against Bartlett's action by blatantly throwing the ball himself. [17] Bartlett missed the next Test, but when he was selected for the Fourth Test, the Indian manager, Ghulam Ahmed, protested. According to the Indian captain, the Nawab of Pataudi, "All the Indian players, including myself, considered Bartlett's action to be suspect." [18] Despite the doubts and accusations, Bartlett was never no-balled for throwing.

Later life

Bartlett worked as a professional hunter, shooting feral animals, mostly rabbits. He was also a cricket coach. [1]

A housing development in Blenheim was named "Bartlett's Green" in his honour in 2023. [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Cave</span> New Zealand cricketer

Henry Butler Cave was a New Zealand cricketer who captained New Zealand in nine of his 19 Test matches. His Test career extended from 1949 to 1958, and he played first-class cricket from 1945 to 1959.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Motz</span> New Zealand cricketer

Richard Charles Motz was a New Zealand cricketer. A right-arm fast bowler and hard-hitting lower order batsman, Motz played 32 Test matches for the New Zealand national cricket team between 1961 and 1969. He was the first bowler for New Zealand to take 100 wickets in Test cricket.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guy Overton</span> New Zealand cricketer

Guy William Fitzroy Overton was a New Zealand international cricketer who played three Test matches in 1953–54. In domestic cricket he represented Otago from 1945–46 to 1955–56.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ted Badcock</span> New Zealand cricketer

Frederick Theodore Badcock was a New Zealand first-class and Test cricketer. Perhaps the best all-rounder in New Zealand in the inter-war period, he played seven Test matches for New Zealand between 1930 and 1933, including New Zealand's inaugural Test in 1930. He was the first players capped by New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Murray (cricketer)</span> New Zealand cricketer, teacher and historian (1940–2023)

Bruce Alexander Grenfell Murray was a Test cricketer for New Zealand who played 13 Tests as a right-handed opening batsman between 1968 and 1971. He was a school principal in the Wellington area from 1981 to 2002, and the author of several geography textbooks. After retiring from teaching, he was a cricket administrator in Wellington and a historian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordon Leggat</span> New Zealand cricketer

John Gordon Leggat was a New Zealand cricketer who played nine Test matches for New Zealand in the 1950s as an opening batsman. He was later a leading cricket administrator. His cousin Ian Leggat also played Test cricket for New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Merritt (cricketer)</span> New Zealand cricketer

William Edward Merritt was a New Zealand Test cricketer who played for Canterbury and Northamptonshire, and a rugby league footballer who played for Canterbury, Wigan and Halifax.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Alabaster</span> New Zealand cricketer (1930–2024)

John Chaloner Alabaster was a New Zealand cricketer who played 21 Test matches for the country's national team between 1955 and 1972. A leg-spin bowler, he was the only New Zealander to play in each of the country's first four Test victories. In domestic cricket, he was often partnered at the crease for his provincial side Otago by his younger brother Gren, who bowled off-spin. A schoolteacher, he later served as Rector of Southland Boys' High School in Invercargill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Cunis</span> New Zealand cricketer

Robert Smith Cunis played 20 Test matches for New Zealand as a pace bowler between 1964 and 1972, and was later coach of the New Zealand national team from 1987 to 1990. His son Stephen played cricket for Canterbury between 1998 and 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Moir</span> New Zealand cricketer

Alexander McKenzie Moir was a New Zealand cricketer. He played 17 Test matches for New Zealand in the 1950s as a leg-spinner and lower-order batsman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Poore</span> New Zealand cricketer (1930–2020)

Matt Beresford Poore was a New Zealand cricketer who played 14 Test matches for New Zealand in the 1950s. He was born in Christchurch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fen Cresswell</span> New Zealand cricketer

George Fenwick Cresswell was a cricketer who played three Test matches for New Zealand. Born in Wanganui, he was the older brother of Arthur Cresswell. He was the 50th Test cap for New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alby Roberts</span> New Zealand cricketer

Albert William Roberts was a New Zealand Test cricketer who played in five Test matches between 1930 and 1937.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herb McGirr</span> New Zealand cricketer

Herbert Mendelson McGirr was a New Zealand cricketer who played in two Test matches in 1930. He was born at Wellington in 1891.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Beard</span> New Zealand cricketer

Donald Derek Beard was a New Zealand cricketer who played in four Test matches from 1952 to 1956. He was a schoolteacher and school principal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Hastings</span> New Zealand cricketer (1940–2024)

Brian Frederick Hastings was a New Zealand cricketer. A middle-order batsman, he played 31 Test matches between 1969 and 1976, scoring four centuries. He played first-class cricket for Wellington, Central Districts and Canterbury between 1958 and 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron Talbot</span> New Zealand cricketer

Ronald Osmond Talbot, was a New Zealand sportsman who played first-class cricket between the 1922–23 and 1935–36 seasons, and toured England with the national team in 1931. He also played representative rugby union for Canterbury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reg Read</span> New Zealand cricketer

Reginald John Read was a New Zealand medium-pace bowler who played first-class cricket for Canterbury from 1904–05 to 1937–38.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Bennett (cricketer, born 1881)</span> New Zealand cricketer

Joseph Henry Bennett was a cricketer who played first-class cricket for Canterbury from 1898 to 1920, and played several times for New Zealand in the days before New Zealand played Test cricket.

The Marlborough cricket team represents the Marlborough Region of the South Island of New Zealand. It competes in the Hawke Cup. Its base is in Blenheim.

References

  1. 1 2 "A change of pace for Gary Bartlett". NZCPA. Retrieved 12 November 2024.
  2. Wisden 1961, p. 847.
  3. Quoted in Gideon Haigh, The Summer Game, Text, Melbourne, 1997, p. 178.
  4. "Plunket Shield 1965/66". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  5. "Waikato v Marlborough 1957–58". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  6. "Hutt Valley v Marlborough 1967–68". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  7. Wisden 1963, pp. 900–1.
  8. R. T. Brittenden, Red Leather, Silver Fern, A. H. & A. W. Reed, Wellington, 1965, p. 25.
  9. Brittenden, The Finest Years, A. H. & A. W. Reed, Wellington, 1977, p. 37.
  10. "2nd Test, Christchurch, Feb 22 – Feb 27 1968, India tour of New Zealand". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  11. 1 2 Don Neely & Richard Payne, Men in White: The History of New Zealand International Cricket, 1894–1985, Moa, Auckland, 1986, pp. 301–2.
  12. Christopher Martin-Jenkins, The Complete Who's Who of Test Cricketers, Rigby, Adelaide, 1983, p. 376.
  13. Wisden 1969, p. 852.
  14. Peter Pollock, The Thirty Tests, Don Nelson, Cape Town, 1978, pp. 10, 65.
  15. Gideon Haigh, The Summer Game, Text, Melbourne, 1997, p. 178.
  16. Colin Bryden, All-Rounder: The Buster Farrer Story, Aloe Publishing, Kidd's Beach, 2013, pp. 54–55.
  17. "Turning the Tables" . Retrieved 26 September 2012.
  18. Nawab of Pataudi, Tiger's Tale, Hind, Delhi, 1969, p.120.
  19. "'Bartletts Green' christened". Marlborough Weekly. 28 February 2023. Retrieved 12 November 2024.

Further reading