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While New Zealand's coming-of-age as a Test power was mostly due to the
all-round capabilities of Richard Hadlee, it was steered by the cunning
captaincy and laconic humour of Jeremy Coney, first as vice-captain and
then as captain. In the mid-1980s he won home and away series against
Australia and then in England in 1986. His laissez-fair attitude to life
made him a superb analyst of the game, and he admitted to a kind of
masochist enjoyment of the battering he took as he stood up to the fast
bowlers in the West Indies. He also transformed one-day internationals,
being the first to utilise the slow seam bowling christened
"dibbly-dobbly bowling" in the World Cup of 1979. Coney's career spanned
from 1973-74 to 1986-87, and often he had to play the backs-to-the-wall
innings in the middle order that gave his side respectability.
He broke
out of the shackles to score 174 not out against England in Wellington
in 1983-84 and 111 not out against Pakistan in Dunedin. In his great
series against Australia he made 101 not out in Wellington and 98 in
Christchurch. In England in 1983 he made 68 at Lord's and 68 more at
Trent Bridge. He made 73 in Guyana on his West Indies tour. He scored 80
against West Indies in Christchurch in the bad-tempered series of
1979-80 and 73 in Adelaide in 1982-83 when New Zealand beat Australia by
five wickets. He played in two World Cups. In 1983 he made 66 not out
against New Zealand at Edgbaston, before bowling 12 overs for just 27
runs. Against Pakistan at Trent Bridge he scored 51 and took 2-42. (Bob Harragan)
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