Full name John Geoffrey Wright
Born July 5, 1954, Darfield, Canterbury
Current age 55 years 128 days
Major teams New Zealand, Auckland, Canterbury, Derbyshire, Northern Districts
Batting style Left-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium
Other Coach
Relation Father - GT Wright
| Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | BF | SR | 100 | 50 | 6s | Ct | St | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tests | 82 | 148 | 7 | 5334 | 185 | 37.82 | 12 | 23 | 10 | 38 | 0 | ||
| ODIs | 149 | 148 | 1 | 3891 | 101 | 26.46 | 6804 | 57.18 | 1 | 24 | 51 | 0 | |
| First-class | 366 | 636 | 44 | 25073 | 192 | 42.35 | 59 | 126 | 192 | 0 | |||
| List A | 349 | 345 | 13 | 10240 | 108 | 30.84 | 6 | 68 | 108 | 0 |
| Mat | Inns | Balls | Runs | Wkts | BBI | BBM | Ave | Econ | SR | 4w | 5w | 10 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tests | 82 | 3 | 30 | 5 | 0 | - | - | - | 1.00 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ODIs | 149 | 3 | 24 | 8 | 0 | - | - | - | 2.00 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| First-class | 366 | 370 | 339 | 2 | 1/4 | 169.50 | 5.49 | 185.0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| List A | 349 | 42 | 18 | 1 | 1/8 | 1/8 | 18.00 | 2.57 | 42.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Test debut | New Zealand v England at Wellington, Feb 10-15, 1978 scorecard |
| Last Test | New Zealand v Australia at Auckland, Mar 12-16, 1993 scorecard |
| Test statistics | |
| ODI debut | England v New Zealand at Scarborough, Jul 15, 1978 scorecard |
| Last ODI | Sri Lanka v New Zealand at Colombo (PSS), Dec 12, 1992 scorecard |
| ODI statistics | |
| First-class span | 1975/76 - 1992/93 |
| List A span | 1976/77 - 1992/93 |
Even before he embarked on the second leg of his career, as a hard-driven and hugely respected coach of India, John Wright was already renowned for his fighting qualities, allied to no little skill, that had enabled him to become the first Kiwi batsman to pass 4000 Test runs. A left-handed opening batsman with a sound defensive technique and a full array of strokes, Wright was an integral member of the 1980s New Zealand team that achieved notable overseas successes against England and Australia, and his century against Sri Lanka in 1990-91 meant that he scored a hundred against all six of his then-Test opponents (South Africa, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh later returned or joined the fold). It was the one that got away that was perhaps the most memorable, however. At Christchurch in 1991-92, he was one away from what should have been a matchsaving century, when he charged down the pitch at Phil Tufnell, and was stumped. Tufnell proceeded to scythe through the lower order, and England won by an innings and four runs with just minutes of the match to spare.
Andrew Miller (November 2004)
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