Bruce Murray - a man of principle
Key contributor to NZ cricket growth
Bruce Murray, who died in Wellington on January 10, aged 82, was part of a decisive era in New Zealand cricket, a time when the game moved from weekend cricketers to more hardened performers who lifted the country's results and performances.
Yet, that change denied Murray a longer Test career.
One of the features was the introduction of regular Sunday play, and Murray and international teammates Vic Pollard and Bryan Yuile opted out of being available on Sundays.
But there was no denying his contribution to the game on the field, and latterly, in selection and administration, serving as a Wellington selector, then as president of the Wellington Cricket Association from 2004-2008. Wellington Cricket's creation of the Bruce Murray Medal, awarded annually for displays of sportsmanship in Wellington cricket, reflected Murray's approach to the game.
Known by everyone as 'Bags', a natural enough nickname given his Christian names of Bruce Alexander Grenfell, his story was an inspiration. He once related what cricket meant to him as a young player from a family of 'limited means'.
It was cricket that provided him with his first aeroplane flight, a DC3 from Wellington to New Plymouth, his first stay in a hotel, his first visits to Dunedin and Invercargill in New Zealand's south, his first meeting with a politician, the future Prime Minister, Jack Marshall and his first meeting with a Governor-General Lord Cobham.
A product of Hutt Valley High School, a nursery of the game in the region in that era, he first made his mark when selected for the New Zealand Brabin XI in 1958. That preceded his selection in the Wellington Plunket Shield side in the same season.
He toured Australia with the New Zealand Colts in 1959/60 and hit the first of his six first-class centuries, 133 against Central Districts, in the summer of 1961/62.
International selection came in 1967-68 when fellow opener Graham Dowling was unavailable to tour Australia. He topped the tour aggregate with 351 runs and held his place in the side for the home series against India.
In the second Test, he shared New Zealand's fourth Test victory when beating India at Lancaster Park. He and Dowling shared an opening stand of 126 runs in New Zealand's first innings, with Dowling going on to score a double century and achieve the highest Test score by a New Zealander of 213 runs.
Glenn Turner's emergence reduced Murray's opportunities. But his form in domestic cricket in 1968/69, when he achieved his highest first-class score of 213 against Otago, saw him included in the New Zealand team to England, India and Pakistan in 1969.
Murray topped the batting aggregate in England. Touring was something he relished, as he explained in The First Fifty.
"I found that once I got into form on a tour I didn't get out of it and I scored just over 1400 runs on that tour in 1969 (1441 at 38.9 – the best aggregate on the tour). It had first started when I toured with the New Zealand Colts team. It happened on the tour of Australia, and it did again in 1969. Once I got in the groove I just seemed to stay there."
The 1969 tour, while not securing a Test win in England, did produce encouraging results on the sub-Continent.
Taking one more player than usual on tour was a factor. That allowed the faster bowlers the chance to rotate and keep fresh. It was also a tour that introduced left-arm spinner Hedley Howarth to the international stage. The side also caught well, especially behind the wickets.
"[Glenn] Turner was a first slip, I was at second, [Bevan] Congdon was at third slip, [Victor] Pollard was in the gully or prowling in the covers, and there was [Mark] Burgess as well. But anything that went in the air we caught. We took absolutely anything that was going. It didn't matter how difficult it was, and it didn't seem to matter what you did, the catches stuck."
There was also the field placement of skipper Dowling.
"I remember one incident in the second Test in India. Rusi Surti had just come in to fact Hedley and he was a good player. But Dowls [Dowling] looked at him at the crease, then came up to me where I was fielding, tucked in on the leg side, not quite at silly mid-on, and said: 'I want you to take a pace to your left.' It was quite astonishing, because two balls later Surti turned one straight to me for the catch. It was amazing because had I not moved, the catch would have been very difficult to make."
A tour highlight was a Test and series win over Pakistan, achieved in the second Test played at Lahore. New Zealand dismissed Pakistan for 114, Howarth taking 3-35 and Pollard 3-27.
Murray then produced what he said was the best innings he ever played.
"It was worth twice the score of 90 that I got," he said.
"It was very difficult to score, and we had to put our heads down. Dowls got out to one that stayed very low, and then Congo and I got through to 61. Brian [Hastings] and I added 101, and I had just said to him, 'We'll play sensibly now until we've both got our hundreds,' and I got a scunger of a ball that moved across me to gully from Pervez [Sajjad], that's how much it was turning.
"Pervez was pretty devastating, and we really struggled against him, but we just had to do the best we could. We were 163-3 when I got out, but then we lost four in the 180s. Brian was not out 80 by the end of the innings, and we had a lead of 130.
"We knew we were in with a chance. Shafqat [Rana] got 95 after we had them 85-5 at one stage. They got to 208, and we were left with 82 to win. Dowls and I got to 20, and then both got out. Pervez got us both, and things started to go berserk for a while, but Mark Burgess came in and whacked the ball to the middle of nowhere. Both he and Brian Hastings got stuck in, and when Hasto got out, Bryan Yuile went in and helped finish it off.
"It was a tough, tough game."
After New Zealand held on to draw the third Test to secure a series win, their first, Murray said his immediate thought was for Bert Sutcliffe.
"He had never played in a winning Test. I only played 13 Tests and we won four of them. It was a marvellous feeling."
Murray retired from cricket after the 1972-73 season. He embarked on a successful teaching career that saw him appointed principal of Naenae College in 1981 before being appointed principal at Tawa College, where he retired in 2002.
The same year he was awarded a Queen's Service Order for public services.
He is survived by his wife, Shona, three daughters, and a son. Two of his granddaughters, Amelia and Jess Kerr, are New Zealand White Ferns cricket team members.
Bruce Murray played 13 Tests and scored 598 runs at 23.92, with a highest score of 90 against Pakistan in 1969. He played 102 first-class games and scored 6257 runs at 35.55. His highest score for New Zealand was 157 against the President's XI in 1969. He took 30 first-class wickets with his leg breaks at 28.93.