5 Kiwi cricketers who had forgettable debuts but went on to have high-flying careers

According to the latest World Happiness Report, published by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) wing of the United Nations, New Zealand happens to be the eighth happiest country in the world. This makes NZ the happiest cricket playing nation (neighbour Australia is a close second at the 9^th).

Over the years, cricket fraternity has been a witness to New Zealanders’ display of happy spirit on the field too. Kiwi cricketers often come across as a gentle and calm bunch of individuals playing the game minus any sign of anger.

Probably, it is the ability to remain happy in all life conditions that has helped some of the most famous Kiwis from the world of cricket to make a mark despite having a not-so-happy start to their career.

Let us take a sneak peek into the life and times of five such Kiwi stalwarts who had a moderate debut, but went on to have a high-flying career in the longer version of the gentleman’s game.

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#1 Glenn Turner

The first batsman of world repute from New Zealand, Glenn Turner, had a nightmarish debut against a powerful West Indian side at the Eden Park in Auckland on February 27, 1969. Opening the batting, Tuner fell to pacer Wes Hall for a duck.

This forgettable baptism by fire, though, did little to stop him from becoming one of the revered batsmen of his generation. He finished his career with 2991 runs from 41 Tests at an average of 44.64. He could have played more matches, but his confrontations with NZ cricket administrators cut short his international career.

Glenn was a craftsman who believed in building innings steadily. Of his seven centuries, two were a double ton. He scored both of his double centuries in the West Indies in 1972.

Turner scored prolifically in the first class cricket, piling on 34,346 runs from 455 matches at 49.70. His tally of 103 first class centuries makes him only the fourth non-English player (the others are- Don Bradman, Zaheer Abbas and Viv Richards) to have scored a ‘century of centuries.’

Turner excelled in ODIs too, scoring 1500 runs at 47 from 41 matches, including three centuries. His off-field life makes for a cross-border romantic hit as his wife, Sukhi Turner, is a Sikh from Ludhiana, India.

#2 Martin Crowe

The late Martin Crowe, who lost his life to cancer last year at the age of 53, is widely regarded as New Zealand’s greatest-ever batsman. An elegant stroke-player, Crowe finished his career with 5444 runs from 77 Tests at 45.36.

His tally of 17 hundreds is still the most by a Kiwi batsman. For years, his 299 stood as the highest individual score by a New Zealand batsman before Brendon McCullum surpassed it with an epic 302 against India in Wellington in 2014.

These big numbers, though, don’t define Martin’s career. A real hallmark of his greatness was the poise with which he batted. Peter Roebuck once described his vigil in the middle eagle like. He inspired young New Zealand boys to take to the art of willow wielding. Ross Taylor and Martin Guptill have publicly acknowledged Crowe’s influence in shaping up their careers.

Considering the soaring heights this great Kiwi touched during his career, it would sound surprising that his Test debut yielded him only nine runs against Australia in Wellington in 1982. Crowe’s life, though, was all about leaving the disappointment of the past behind and showing a fighting spirit to succeed in life.

He even managed to cure himself of cancer after being diagnosed with it in 2012. The deadly disease did claim his life in the end, but he fought till the last breath keeping his spirit as high as his career numbers.

#3 Chris Cairns

Tall, well-built and muscular, Chris Cairns was one of the best all-rounders to have played the game of cricket. Son of former Kiwi all-rounder Lance Cairns, Chris was known for smashing towering sixes. His tally of 3,320 runs at 33.33 and 218 wickets at 29.40 from 62 Tests makes him one of only eight players to have claimed the double of 3000 runs and 200 wickets in Test history.

At one stage of his career, he also held the Test record for hitting the maximum number of sixes (87) before losing it to Adam Gilchrist.

The burly Kiwi’s career, though, had started on a disappointing note. Playing against trans-Tasman rivals Australia on a bouncy pitch of Perth in 1989, Cairns recorded scores of 1 and 28 in his debut Test, besides sending down 12 wicketless overs for 60 runs.

However, as he gained experience, his game flourished too. In the Wellington Test of 2000, he took Aussie spin wizard Shane Warne to cleaners smashing him out of the Basin Reserve Oval a number of times. But for recurring injuries that marred his career and forced him to retire at the age of 34 in 2004, Cairns would have gone on to play at least 100 Tests.

#4 Daniel Vettori

If women of this planet were asked to vote for their favourite cricketer, Daniel Luca Vettori would emerge as the winner nine out of ten times. Such was the following Vettori had among females during his playing days. But being popular with the fair sex was not the only quality this bespectacled cricketer from Auckland possessed.

He was equally famous for making batsmen dance on his slow left arm magic. In a career spanning 17 years (1997-2014) and 113 Tests, Dan scalped 362 victims at an average of 34.36. He finished second on the list of most number of wickets for New Zealand behind the great Sir Richard Hadlee.

Dan was only 18 when he made his Test debut against England in Wellington on February 6, 1997. In a Test that the visitors won by an innings and 68 runs, Vettori returned unimpressive figures of 2/98 from 34.3 overs.

However, the early failure only strengthened the youngster’s resolve as he went on to establish himself as one of world’s premier left-arm tweakers of all time. In the later stage of his career, Vettori turned into a more than handy lower-order batsman. In fact, there was a stage when he batted as high as at number six in Tests. He signed off his career with 4531 Test runs at 30, including six centuries.

#5 Nathan Astle

Nathan Astle is best remembered as the man who holds the Test record for the fastest double hundred. Astle had plundered a 168-ball 222 in his side’s 98-run defeat at the hands of England in the Christchurch Test played from March 13 to 16, 2002.

Set a massive 550 to win, New Zealand were staring down the barrel at 119/3 when Astle walked out to bat. With nothing to lose, he went hammer and tongs, hitting the ball in all corners of the park. His double century came off 153 balls and featured 11 monstrous hits over the fence.

His opening salvo in red ball cricket, though, had no imprint of destruction. He scored only 18 and 32 in his Debut Test against Zimbabwe in January 1996. At that time nobody would have predicted that he would go on to play as many as 81 Tests and amass 4702 runs and 11 centuries.