10 Facts about Ken Rutherford – The former New Zealand Captain

10 Facts about Ken Rutherford – The former New Zealand Captain: Ken Rutherford, the right-handed Kiwi batsman played over 50 Tests and 100 ODIs for his country. He was part of the team that reached the semi-finals of the 1992 World Cup. He had a successful First-class career playing in New Zealand and then in South Africa.

1. Birth:

Ken Rutherford was born on 26^th Oct 1965 in Dunedin, New Zealand.

2. Early Impressions:

He made his first-class debut for Otago at the age of 17 against Auckland at Dunedin in 1982-83, scoring 17 and 13 and picking up a wicket with his military medium-paced bowling. The next season he scored his maiden First-class hundred against the same opposition scoring 130 opening the innings. He scored 442 runs at an average of 44.2 in this season and was selected by New Zealand to tour West Indies.

3. An Inauspicious Start:

He began his Test career in horrific fashion with scores of 0, 0, 4, 0, 2, 1 and 5 in the West Indies in 1984-85 and was subsequently dropped from the team.

4. The Comeback:

After scoring runs in domestic cricket he was recalled for the Trans-Tasman series at home and scored a 131-ball 65 against Australia. He made 107 not out against England at Wellington in 1987-88 and continued his decent run. Against Sri Lanka in the drawn Test Rutherford played a crucial role scoring 105 not out and 53.

5. Captaincy:

With Crowe out with a finger injury and Wright dropped, Rutherford was asked to lead New Zealand in the one-off Test against Pakistan at Hamilton. He captained New Zealand’s team for three years, with only two Test wins in 18 attempts in what was a difficult tenure.

6. Test Career:

He played 56 Tests scoring 2465 runs at an average of 27.08 scoring 18 fifties and 3 hundreds. The stats prove that he wasn’t able to do justice to his potential.

7. ODI Career:

He has a more successful career in ODIs compared to Test cricket. He played 121 matches scoring 3143 runs at an average of 29.65 with 18 fifties and 2 centuries. While the numbers may be very impressive, his made important contributions to his team’s cause in many matches.

8. Memorable Performances:

On the Australian tour on which he inherited the captaincy from an injured Martin Crowe he made 86 in Brisbane. He captained New Zealand in England in 1994 and in South Africa in 1994-95, making two Test half-centuries. Rutherford played in two World Cups. In 1987 he scored 75 against India in Bangalore and in 1992 he made 65 not out against Sri Lanka in Hamilton and 50 in the semi-final lost to eventual winners Pakistan.

9. First-Class career:

He made a career-best 317 for the New Zealanders in a match against Brian Close’s XI at Scarborough in 1986. He played 220 matches scoring 13974 runs at an average of 39.92. He scored 67 fifties and 35 tons. Rutherford moved to South Africa and had a successful career there for Transvaal. He scored 532 runs at 48.36 in the 1997-98 season. The next season he hammered 810 runs at 62.30 with 3 hundreds. In 1999-2000, he scored 818 at 51.12 with 3 more hundreds. He scored 79 and 23 in the last match of the season which was to be his last First-class match too at the age of 34.

10. Post Retirement:

Rutherford was the coach of Ireland for 2 years. He co-authored ‘Ken Rutherford’s Book of Cricket’ and then wrote his autobiography ‘A Hell of a Way to Make Living’. His had interests in horse racing and worked as a head bookmaker for the New Zealand TAB, a statutory body for New Zealand sports betting, including betting on horse racing and greyhound racing. He is also a cricket commentator for Sky Network Television.