Bevan Ernest Congdon (11 February 1938 – 10 February 2018) was a New Zealand cricket

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...

who played 61 Test matches and 11

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s from 1965 to 1978, which included a two-year spell as captain.

Captaincy

Congdon was captain of the New Zealand Test and ODI team from 1972 to 1974, and was the first New Zealand captain to record a victory over

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Congdon was principally a batsman but also became a useful medium-pace bowler midway through his career. The Test captaincy brought out his best cricket: before becoming captain he had played 31 Tests and scored 1,569 runs at an average of 26.59 and had taken 12 wickets, but during his 17 Tests as captain he scored 1,067 runs at 41.03 and took 33 wickets. Congdon's finest moments in Tests included the tour of England in 1973 when he scored 176 at

Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test cricket, Test, One-day cricket, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nott ...

and 175 at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

in successive Tests, and the determined foray by the Kiwis to the West Indies in 1972, when he took over the captaincy from Graham Dowling. In the Trent Bridge match, New Zealand chased 479 in the final innings, falling short by only 38 runs. At the time, this was a Test record for a highest score in the fourth innings to lose a match. The innings at Lord's contributed to New Zealand making 551, their highest score in Tests at the time. In 1975, Congdon became the first New Zealand batsman to score an ODI century at

Basin Reserve The Basin Reserve, also known as the Cello Basin Reserve for sponsorship reasons, and commonly referred to as the Basin, is a cricket ground in Wellington, New Zealand. It is used for Test cricket, Test matches, and is the main home ground of t ...

. The second one was scored by

Kane Williamson Kane Stuart Williamson (born 8 August 1990) is a New Zealand international cricketer and a former captain of the New Zealand national team. On 27 February 2023, Williamson became the all-time leading run-scorer for New Zealand in Test cricket. ...

, 43 years later, on 6 January 2018 against Pakistan. Asked afterwards how he prepared for Test cricket in his remote, intemperate

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

hometown, he replied that net pitches in Motueka prepared one for anything.

Honours

In the

1975 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1975 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 1 January 1975 to celebr ...

, Congdon was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, for services to cricket.

References

External links

*
"Vale Bevan Congdon"
from the New Zealand Cricket Museum {{DEFAULTSORT:Congdon, Bevan 1938 births 2018 deaths Canterbury cricketers Central Districts cricketers Cricketers from Motueka International Cavaliers cricketers New Zealand cricketers New Zealand Officers of the Order of the British Empire New Zealand One Day International captains New Zealand One Day International cricketers New Zealand Test cricket captains New Zealand Test cricketers Otago cricketers South Island cricketers Wellington cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year