Former New Zealand test cricket captain Barry Sinclair dies, aged 85 – Stuff

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Barry Sinclair, right, with another former Wellington and New Zealand batter, Richard Jones, in 2003.

Former New Zealand cricket captain Barry Sinclair has died, aged 85.

Sinclair made his test debut in 1963 against England at Eden Park and captained the side in three of the 21 tests he played until 1968.

He was the third New Zealander, after Bert Sutcliffe and John R Reid, to score 1000 runs in test cricket. He also made more than 6000 first-class runs for Wellington, for whom he debuted as an 18-year-old.

Former broadcaster Bill Francis literally wrote the book on Sinclair. As a small boy, Francis followed Sinclairs cricketing exploits and during the writing of In Pursuit of Excellence: The Barry Sinclair Story, got to know Sinclair well.

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He was this very diminutive player, probably the smallest player playing first-class cricket in the world, Francis said.

In the field he was absolutely dynamic ... sprinted from cover to cover and had a great arm. He was such a plucky and inspirational batsman as well.

Francis said of Sinclairs era, there were not many New Zealand players who scored test hundreds. He said Sinclair became great mates with fellow captain John Reid.

Reid relied a lot on Sinclair as a pivotal number three or four to come in to be solid and score runs, he said.

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Former test cricket captain Barry Sinclair, left, and author Bill Francis.

For him to get to 1000 [test runs] was a great achievement.

Sinclair played his early cricket in Kilbirnie and would often be spotted down at the park throwing a few balls around with childhood friend Don Neely, who recently died, aged 86.

Neely described Sinclair in his book 100 Summers as a brilliant runner between wickets ... [who] took most delight in playing the latest of late cuts ... [and] through hours of practice he made himself one of the most brilliant cover fielders ever to bestride the Basin Reserve.

Both of them were mad-keen trainers, which was unusual for those times. They were physically fit, and they spent hours and hours practising, Francis said.

They were a couple of remarkable guys and it was great much of their cricketing lives paralleled each other.

Sinclair played in the era of amateurism within mens cricket. He had to balance family and work (in the export and import sector in the wider Pacific) with cricket commitments. By the time he was 33, he had to choose and so came the end of his international cricket career.

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Barry Sinclair, right, was inducted as a sports legend of Wellington in 2015 alongside Shirley Durry on behalf of deceased husband John, Maureen Jacobsen and Murray Mexted.

He gave the captaincy away. It was quite a burden on his work life and family life to be able to continue to do that. That was some of the impacts the amateur era had on those players at that time, Francis said.

The lives these people had to leave outside their cricket had a terrible impact on how they existed as people and their vulnerabilities often came to the fore.

At the time of Sinclairs move away from the captaincy he told reporters: I feel completely saturated with cricket. I love the game and want to carry on with it. I feel that if I dont have a break from cricket now I may feel like giving the game away completely and I dont want to do that. Perhaps I have tried to do too much and I feel I must have a break if I am to carry on.

As a person, Sinclair called a spade a spade, Francis said.

Barry and I got on like a house of fire. He was an interesting personality, he said.

He was supportive of other young cricketers coming up and did a bit of coaching.

In John Reids book A Million Miles of Cricket he named Sinclair at number three in his all-time best New Zealand test team, commenting: He is a batsman of great natural talents and he displayed them frequently in England last year [1965] and during his fine century against England at Auckland.

In 2008/09 Sinclair became the inaugural patron of the New Zealand Cricket Players Association (NZCPA).

NZCPA chief executive Heath Mills said it was sad to hear of Sinclairs passing.

We have been blessed to have him involved with the NZCPA for so many years.

Barry was one of the first past players to sign up to our organisation, and loved being involved and helping the current players achieve a better environment in the game.

We are going to miss him greatly.

In the 2016 Queens Birthday Honours, Sinclair was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit and was inducted as a Sports Legend of Wellington in 2015.

A service commemorating his life is due to be held next week in Auckland.

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Former New Zealand test cricket captain Barry Sinclair dies, aged 85 - Stuff