Gordon Leggat
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John Gordon Leggat (27 May 1926 – 9 March 1973) played nine Tests for New Zealand in the 1950s as an opening batsman.
Gordon Leggat was born in Wellington, went to Christchurch Boys' High School, and became a lawyer.[1] He played for Canterbury from 1944-45 to 1955-56. He toured Australia in 1953-54 with the New Zealand team, and India and Pakistan in 1955-56.
Dick Brittenden said Leggat "brought to the task of opening an innings extraordinary powers of concentration, tremendous endurance, and a highly-developed cricket sense", pointing out that Leggat had batted fourteen and a half hours in scoring 290 runs (110, 14 and 166) for Canterbury in the first three innings of the 1952-53 season.[2]
Leggat failed to score in his first Test innings, against the touring West Indies team in 1951-52, but the next season he resisted the South African bowlers for several hours to score 22 and 47 (the top score, made in 190 minutes) in the First Test in Wellington.[3] He was not selected for the tour to South Africa in 1953-54, one of several players at the time who "paid the ultimate price for being overweight".[4] But brought in to reinforce the New Zealand batting when they played three matches in Australia on their way home from South Africa, he made 45, 67, 61, 121 not out (to take New Zealand to victory against South Australia when they needed 226 runs in two and a half hours), 11 and 34 against the state teams.[5]
He was third in both aggregates and averages on the tour of India and Pakistan in 1955-56, scoring 652 runs at 34.31. He played four Tests on the tour, making 37 and 50 not out in New Delhi, and 31 and 61 (his highest Test score) in Madras.[6] He played his last Test against the touring West Indies in Dunedin later that season, making 3 and 17, and putting on 61 for the first wicket with Bert Sutcliffe in the second innings.[7] It was also his last first-class match.
He was a national selector from 1959 to 1965, and chairman of the Board of Control of the New Zealand Cricket Council from 1966 until he died suddenly in Christchurch in 1973, aged 46. He managed the tour to South Africa in 1961-62, on which New Zealand won its first Test victories outside New Zealand.[8]
His cousin Ian Leggat also played Test cricket for New Zealand.
References
- ↑ R.T. Brittenden, New Zealand Cricketers, A.W. & A.H. Reed, Wellington, 1961, p. 100.
- ↑ R.T. Brittenden, New Zealand Cricketers, A.W. & A.H. Reed, Wellington, 1961, p. 99.
- ↑ New Zealand v South Africa, Wellington 1952-53
- ↑ Richard Boock, The Last Everyday Hero, Longacre, Auckland, 2010, p. 100.
- ↑ Wisden 1955, pp. 808-11.
- ↑ Wisden 1957, pp. 814-28.
- ↑ New Zealand v West Indies, Dunedin 1955-56
- ↑ The Cricketer obituary
