Bevan Congdon

Bevan Ernest Congdon (11 February 1938 – 10 February 2018) was a New Zealand cricket all-rounder who played 61 Test matches and 11 One Day Internationals from 1965 to 1978, which included a two-year spell as captain.

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. 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 and 175 at Lord's 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 second one was scored by Kane Williamson, 43 years later, on 6 January 2018 against Pakistan.

Asked afterwards how he prepared for Test cricket in his remote, intemperate South Island hometown, he replied that net pitches in Motueka prepared one for anything.

In the 1975 New Year Honours, Congdon was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to cricket.