Martin Horton will be missed
New Zealand cricket will be the poorer for the loss of the national coach, Martin Horton, who will relinquish his post daring the coming season.
Horton will return to England and Worcester. He came to New Zealand 17 years ago as the first to control a nation-wide coaching scheme. A test player for England in 1959, Horton had high credentials for the task. With a deep knowledge of the game and a most amiable manner, went a highly successful career in county cricket. In his first full season for Worcestershire, in 1955, he achieved the double — 1296 runs and 103 wickets. In championship matches for Worcestershire, he batted almost 600 times, making almost 16,000 runs at 28.4, and with his off-breaks captured 667 wickets at 27.1
When he began in New Zealand, there was no national coaching, but he has developed a strong system, in which coaching the coaches is of particular importance. When he leaves New Zealand this modest men should feel some satisfaction that he has contributed substantially to New
Zealand’s emergence as a cricket nation of some strength.
One of New Zealand’s great test players, Bert Sutcliffe, worked with Horton for many years in the Rothmans Foundation. He has paid this tribute to the Worcester man: “New Zealand will lose one of its greatest and most enthusiastic servants when Martin Horton returns to the U.K. In all situations he pressed on regardless, always with the idea of improving the coaching services already in existence and with the welfare of the players and administrators at heart. “I don’t know how he maintained his enthusiasm all those years. He always gave 100 per cent attention and application to whatever he was doing, and I doubt, whether the Council could find another of his ilk if it intends to continue with a national coaching scheme.” If this is a glowing tribute, it is thoroughly deserved. Wherever he went, Martin Horton made a lasting impression with his good humour and his sincerity. He will be missed.
R. T. BRITTENDEN
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Press, 23 September 1983, Page 13
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343Martin Horton will be missed Press, 23 September 1983, Page 13
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