Astonishing figures for Glenn Turner

Press, 16 June 1979, Page 56

Astonishing figures for Glenn Turner

By

R. T. BRITTENDEN

New Zealand may not have high hopes of beating the West Indies in today’s World Cup match, but the team’s task is as nothing compared with that before Glenn Turner if he is to maintain his remarkable record in these games. Turner has had a long involvement with limited over cricket. Since he started with Worcestershire the Benson and Hedges and the John

Player League competitions have begun. The Gillette Cup was being played when his county career started. Turner has won a tremendous reputation for his performances in one-day games. In this type of cricket, in 1976, he scored almost 1000 runs at 45.1. He performed very well in 1977, and last year he was particularly successful for Worcestershire in its John Player League games at home. These matches, only 40 overs an innings, provide rather limited opportuni-

ties, but at Worcester Turner scored 393 runs at an average of 65.5. The first Prudential World Cup contest was in 1975. Turner started with 171 not out against East Africa — a record for the competition —• then made 12 against England, 114 not out against India and 36 against the West Indies. This time, his scores have been 83 not out against Sri Lanka and 43 not out against India. This gives him the astonishing figures, in World Cup matches, of 459 runs at an average of 229.5.