Turner joins cricket immortals

Press, 31 May 1982, Page 28

Turner joins cricket immortals

By

R. T. BRITTENDEN

New Zealand’s best batsman, Glenn Turner, has taken the final step towards joining cricket’s immortals.

He rewrote the record books yesterday in a magnificent innings of 311 not out against Warwickshire to score his . hundredth firstclass century. His hundred came up before lunch — in 114 minutes — as he flayed the attack, but much more was to follow as Turner ground relentlessly onwards to complete, his tenth double century, then pass his best score in England (239 not out), his best personal score (259), and finally set a new highest score for Worcestershire, beating Fred Bowley’s 276 against Hampshire in 1914, the Press Association reports. He was unbeaten on 311 made in 342 minutes, which included 39 fours and 2 sixes, when Worcester declared at one for 501. Turner became the first batsman for 33 years to score more than 300 runs in a day in England, the last being Jack Robertson, of Middlesex, also at Worcester, in 1949. He had already done more than enough in his busy cricket career to mark him out as the most successful batsman to come from New Zealand. Now he has joined an elite group headed by Jack Hobbs, Patsy Hendren, Walter Hammond, Philip Mead and Herbert Sutcliffe. He is the nineteenth player to gain this distinction, and only the second who was not born in the United Kingdom. The other was Sir Don Bradman. Turner, only 17, and straight out of Otago Boys’ High School, played for Otago in 1964-65. He was a timid-looking batsman, hardly strong enough or willing to hit the ball much further than the edge of the pitch, but he was determined to succeed and went to England, with the enouragement of the former Warwickshire player, Billy Ibadulla. He spent the season of 1967 qualifying for Worcestershire and in 1968 was in the county first team. He scored an unbeaten century against Middlesex and was immedi-

ately awarded his county cap. ■ In 1970. he scored 10 centuries — a county record — and in 1973, when on tour with the New Zealand team for the first half of the season, he was the first batsman in 35 years to reach 1000 runs by the end of May. Only seven players had achieved that feat. . In the calendar year of 1974, Turner scored I’4 centuries, and he is the first batsman to score a century against each of the 17 counties. His favourite county must be Warwickshire. He has now scored 11 first-class centuries against this county, twice scoring two in the same match. Five of Turner’s centuries have been scored before lunch. Six times he has had two centuries in a match, sharing second place to Hammond (seven times), with Hobbs and Zaheer Abbas. Turner was 35 years of age on May 26, and is the thirdyoungest to reach a century of centuries. Ahead of him are Hammond and Denis Compton. He holds the world record for -contributing the highest percentage of runs to an innings. When he made 141 not out of a total of 169 against Glamorgan, at Swansea in 1977, he was responsible for 83.4 per cent'of the runs. His latest century brought his total for Worcestershire to 69, only one behind the county record, held by Don Kenyon. At the start of the season Turner had scored more than 21,000 runs for his county at an average of more than 47. Kenyon made 33,000 but his average was only 33. It was Sunday League cricket which developed Turner from a very skilful batsman with a very sound defence into a stroke-maker of the highest calibre. Already this season Turner has taken his Sunday League aggregate beyond 6000 — easily the record — and he has had success too in the other

limited-over, competitions in England. Turner has had only one season in New Zealand since 1976-77 and he played his last test for New Zealand in that season; but he has scored more than 2900 test runs, at the handsome average of 45.7 and he holds the New Zealand record with his 259 against the West Indies in 1971-72. In his 39 tests, this splendid slips fieldsman and expert cover — or anywhere else — has taken 40 catches, and he has had more than 400 catches in his career. So much for his figures. Turner himself? He has cut himself off from New Zealand cricket for several years because he is a man of firm ideas. He fell out with the New Zealand Cricket Council and of late any healing of the rift has not brought him back to New Zealand teams. He has felt that 12 months a year of cricket every year between 1967 and 1977 was enough, so he has opted to have a season off. This has allowed him to become a very erudite yet popular TV commentator on test matches in this country. Now, it seems, Turner may play in and for New Zealand again. If he does, he is an automatic choice for test teams, which he has served so well. Nothing perhaps will match his 101, and 110 not out at Lancaster Park in 1974, which brought New Zealand its first test win over Australia, or his patient century at Dacca in 1969, which contributed largely to New Zealand winning a test series for the first time. The feline grace of Turner, the clear thinking, wellequipped batsmen, will be welcomed. So too will his special skills at the limitedover game. He made a brief return to New Zealand teams in 1979 when he played in the Prudential Cup, scoring 176 runs at an average of 88. His presence in Australia next , January would strengthen New Zealand’s hand immensely.