Richard Owen Collinge (born 2 April 1946) is a former New Zealand
cricketer
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
, who played 35 Tests and 15 ODIs. He was New Zealand Cricket Almanack Player of the Year in 1971.
Domestic career
He played domestic cricket for three different sides. He made his first class debut for Central Districts in 1963/64 and played for them until 1969/70 before moving to Wellington from 1967/68 to 1974/75 and finally Northern Districts till 1977/78. In 163 first class matches he took 524 wickets, with a best of 8-64, at an average of 24.41.
International career
A tall, strongly-built man, Collinge bowled left arm fast medium, ending his long run with both arms stretching upwards before delivering the ball.
He pitched the ball up and relied on late movement. He was a good foil for the often wild express pace of the young
Richard Hadlee and was instrumental in helping Hadlee bring
New Zealand's first
Test victory over
England in
1977-8, with figures of 3-42 and 3-45. The fast
inswinger with which he bowled
Geoff Boycott at
Wellington began England's collapse to 64 all out and brought the crowd to fever pitch.
He made his Test debut in 1965 and played his last match at
Lord's
Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...
in 1978.
His best Test and
One Day International
A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...
bowling figures were both against
India in 1975–76, with 6 for 63 and 5 for 23 respectively. At the time of his retirement, he was
New Zealand's greatest wicket-taker, with 116 wickets at 29.25 each, despite missing many matches during his 13-year test career.
He could also be a useful batsman. At
Auckland in 1972–73, Collinge scored 68
not out for New Zealand against
Pakistan; this was the highest score ever made by a
number 11 in a Test match at the time. That innings also formed part of the
record last-wicket stand in Tests: 151 put on with
Brian Hastings in 155 minutes.
['' Wisden'' 1974, p. 942.]
Notes
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Collinge, Richard
1946 births
Living people
Central Districts cricketers
New Zealand One Day International cricketers
New Zealand Test cricketers
New Zealand cricketers
Northern Districts cricketers
Wellington cricketers
Cricketers at the 1975 Cricket World Cup
North Island cricketers