Richard Trevor Brittenden (22 September 1919 – 10 June 2002) was from the 1950s to the 1980s New Zealand's most prominent cricket writer.

Early life, family and career

Brittenden was born at

Rakaia Rakaia is a town sited on the southern banks of the Rakaia River on the Canterbury Plains in New Zealand's South Island, approximately 57 km south of Christchurch on State Highway 1 and the Main South Line. Immediately north of the townsh ...

on 22 September 1919, and was educated at

Christchurch Boys' High School Christchurch Boys' High School, often referred to as CBHS, is a single sex state secondary school in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is situated on a site between the suburbs of Riccarton, New Zealand, Riccarton and Fendalton, to the west of ce ...

from 1933 to 1937. In October 1940 he married Joy Mantell, and the couple went on to have five children. His grandson, Nick Perry, is a journalist with the

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. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Brittenden served in the

Royal New Zealand Air Force The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF; ) is the aerial warfare, aerial military service, service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed initially in 1923 as a branch of the New Zealand Army, being known as the New Zealand Perm ...

in Britain and the Bahamas. He joined the Christchurch ''

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'' in 1938 and became its sports editor in 1955, staying in that position until he retired in 1984.''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

'' 2003, p. 1616.

Cricket books

Brittenden reported on New Zealand's tour of South Africa in 1953-54, and wrote his first book about the tour, ''Silver Fern on the Veld'' (1954). ''Great Days in New Zealand Cricket'' followed in 1958: 26 chapters, each one describing a significant match in New Zealand cricket history. Fittingly, the longest chapter is the last one, on New Zealand's first, and at that stage only,

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

victory, in Auckland in 1956. In 1961 he wrote ''New Zealand Cricketers'', 50 chapters, each one on a prominent New Zealand player, past or present. An extra chapter at the beginning is about Lord Cobham, New Zealand's cricket-playing Governor-General, who had just played his last first-class game at the age of 51, while a postscript is dedicated to "the below average cricketer", the dedicated but ungifted club player: "Without him, the game would not survive, because it would be meaningless." Having attended first-class cricket matches in New Zealand since 1928, Brittenden had watched and in most cases known personally all 50 subjects, except for the Wellington batsman

Syd Hiddleston John Sydney Hiddleston (10 December 1890 – 30 October 1940) was a cricketer who played for Otago, Wellington and New Zealand, from 1909–10 to 1928–29, in the years before New Zealand played Test cricket. He was born at Invercargill in So ...

, "and I have found many cricketers of mature years eager and willing to talk about him". Reviewing the book in the Christchurch ''

'',

Iain Gallaway Iain Watson Gallaway (26 December 192218 April 2021) was a New Zealand broadcaster, lawyer and cricketer. He was a commentator on the radio station Radio Sport, and a first-class cricketer. Between January 2021 and his death, Gallaway was New Z ...

wrote of Brittenden:

He has described with his customary apt use of metaphors and similes each one's peculiar gifts, attributes and failings (the chapter devoted to S. N. McGregor is a particularly brilliant illustration of this) analysing in a manner which confirms his profound knowledge of the game, and describing in a manner which I have always felt likens him so much to that most gifted English journalist,
Denzil Batchelor Denzil Stanley Batchelor (23 February 1906 – 6 September 1969) was a British people, British journalist, writer, poet, playwright, wine expert and a radio and television broadcaster. Life and career Denzil Batchelor was born in Mumbai, Bomba ...
.

Brittenden covered the tour to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

in 1965 (''Red Leather, Silver Fern''), and the West Indies tour to New Zealand in 1968-69 and subsequent New Zealand tour to England,

and

in 1969-70 (''Scoreboard '69''). In 1977 Brittenden wrote ''The Finest Years: Twenty Years of New Zealand Cricket'', covering 17 significant Test Matches beginning with the victory at Auckland in 1956 and ending with the victory over India in Wellington in 1976; 22 profiles of leading players of the period follow. Of New Zealand Test cricket he writes, "It will always be a matter of ups and downs, with such a relatively small cricket population. The fact that there are ups is sufficient encouragement." More books followed: ''100 Years of Cricket: A History of the Canterbury Cricket Association, 1877-1977'' (1977); ''Hadlee'' (with

Richard Hadlee Sir Richard John Hadlee (born 3 July 1951) is a New Zealand former cricketer. Hadlee is widely regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders in cricket history, and amongst the very finest fast bowlers. Hadlee was appointed an MBE in the 1 ...

) (1981); ''A Cricket Century: The First 100 Years of the Lancaster Park Cricket Club Inc.'' (1981); ''Test Series '82: The Australian Cricket Tour of New Zealand'' (with Don Cameron and chapters by

Greg Chappell Gregory Stephen Chappell (born 7 August 1948) is a former cricketer who represented Australia at international level in both Tests and One-Day Internationals (ODI). The second of three brothers to play Test cricket, Chappell was the pre-eminent ...

and

Geoff Howarth Geoffrey Philip Howarth (born 29 March 1951) is a former New Zealand cricketer and former captain, who remains the only New Zealand captain to have positive win–loss records in both Test cricket and ODI cricket. He was the third most success ...

) (1982); ''Big Names in New Zealand Cricket: Fifty Profiles'' (1983); ''The New Zealand Cricketers' Who's Who'' (with Richard Hadlee and Francis Payne) (1985); ''England Skittled: New Zealand v. England, Wellington, 10–15 February 1978'' (2000).

Other works

Brittenden also wrote ''Give 'em the Axe: The First Hundred Years of the Christchurch Football Club'' (1963), and

ghost-wrote A ghostwriter is a person hired to write literature, literary or journalism, journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and pol ...

Bert Sutcliffe Bert Sutcliffe (17 November 1923 – 20 April 2001) was a New Zealand Test cricketer. Sutcliffe was a successful left-hand batsman. His batting achievements on tour in England in 1949, which included four fifties and a century in the Tests, e ...

's memoirs, ''Between Overs'' (1963). He was managing editor of the ''New Zealand Cricketer'' from its inception in 1967 to 1973, and also edited its successor, the ''Cricket Player''. In the 1985 Queen's Birthday Honours, Brittenden was appointed a

Member 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 sporting journalism. The press box at

Lancaster Park Lancaster Park, also known as Jade Stadium and AMI Stadium for sponsorship reasons, was a sports stadium in Waltham, a suburb of Christchurch in New Zealand. The stadium closed permanently due to damage sustained in the February 2011 earthqu ...

in Christchurch was named after him.

Death

Brittenden died in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

on 10 June 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brittenden, Dick 1919 births 2002 deaths People from Rakaia Cricket writers New Zealand sports historians New Zealand military personnel of World War II New Zealand sportswriters New Zealand Members of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Christchurch Boys' High School