Rona Una McKenzie (20 August 1922 – 24 July 1999) was a New Zealand

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er, and was the first Maori to captain the

New Zealand women's cricket team The New Zealand women's national cricket team, nicknamed the White Ferns, represents New Zealand in international women's cricket. One of eight teams competing in the ICC Women's Championship (the highest level of international women's cricke ...

. She played as an

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 ...

, batting right-handed and

bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

right-arm

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. She appeared in seven

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...

for New Zealand between 1954 and 1961, captaining in them all. McKenzie's highest score was 61 as she scored 295 runs at an average of 22.69, and she took 8 wickets at 26.75, with a best bowling of 4 for 18. She played domestic cricket for

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

. Her first Test series was on the 1954 tour of

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. She played in all three Tests, losing the series one-nil. 1956–57 saw a tour to

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 ...

, and one Test, which was lost. England toured New Zealand in 1957–58 playing two drawn Tests, and Australia visited in 1960–61, when one drawn Test was played. 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 ...

, McKenzie 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 women's cricket.

References

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* * 1922 births 1999 deaths People from Takapau New Zealand women cricketers New Zealand women Test cricketers New Zealand women cricket captains New Zealand women's Test captains Auckland Hearts cricketers New Zealand Members of the Order of the British Empire Cricketers from Hawke's Bay 20th-century New Zealand sportswomen {{NewZealand-cricket-bio-1920s-stub