Gary Bartlett

Gary Alex Bartlett (born 3 February 1941) is a former cricketer. He played 10 Test matches for New Zealand in the 1960s as a fast bowler.

Gary Alex Bartlett
Personal information
Full nameGary Alex Bartlett
Born (1941-02-03) 3 February 1941
Blenheim, Marlborough
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm fast
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 88)8 December 1961 v South Africa
Last Test7 March 1968 v India
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class
Matches 10 61
Runs scored 263 1,504
Batting average 15.47 16.71
100s/50s 0/0 0/4
Top score 40 99*
Balls bowled 1,768 10,151
Wickets 24 150
Bowling average 33.00 28.32
5 wickets in innings 1 3
10 wickets in match 0 0
Best bowling 6/38 6/38
Catches/stumpings 8/– 39/–
Source: Cricinfo, 1 April 2017

Domestic career

Bartlett made his first-class debut for Central Districts in the 1958-59 season aged only 17, and played all four matches for New Zealand in the non-Test series against an Australian XI in the following season. Wisden described him as "the real discovery of the season".[1] The Australian captain, Ian Craig, described facing him in the first match of the series in Wellington: "I saw Bartlett let go of the ball, but the first I knew of where it had gone was the sound of it hitting the gloves yards behind me. I think it was the quickest bowling I faced."[2]

Bartlett moved to Canterbury for the 1963–64 season where he was a member of the Burnside West Christchurch University Cricket Club. He was one of the leading players in the Plunket Shield in 1965-66, scoring 228 runs at an average of 32.57 and taking 20 wickets at 19.65.[3] He returned to Central Districts in 1966–67, and played his last first-class matches in the 1969–70 season.

Bartlett also had a successful career for Marlborough in the Hawke Cup between 1958 and 1970. In his first match, against Waikato in 1957–58, aged 16, he took 6 for 37 and 2 for 11 and hit the match top score of 52 not out.[4] In 1967-68 he captained Marlborough when they won the title for the first time, scoring 80 in the first innings (the highest score on either side in the match) and taking four wickets in each innings in the victory over Hutt Valley.[5]

International career

He toured South Africa in 1961-62, making his Test debut and playing all five Tests. He took only eight wickets but made useful runs (215 at 23.88) batting at eight or nine.[6] He made only occasional Test appearances thereafter, all in New Zealand. Dissatisfied with his fitness, he made himself unavailable for New Zealand's tour of India, Pakistan and England in 1965, although the selectors wanted him to tour.[7] His outstanding Test moment came in the Second Test against India in Christchurch in 1967–68, when he took 6 for 38 – at the time the best figures in Tests by a New Zealand bowler – in the second innings to help New Zealand to its first victory over India.[8][9]

Unfortunately this success, and much of his career, was overshadowed by doubts about the legitimacy of his bowling action.[10][11][12][13][14] During the Christchurch Test the Indian bowler Syed Abid Ali protested against Bartlett's action by blatantly throwing the ball himself.[15] Bartlett missed the next Test, but when he was selected for the Fourth Test, the Indian manager, Ghulam Ahmed, protested. According to the Indian captain, the Nawab of Pataudi, "All the Indian players, including myself, considered Bartlett's action to be suspect."[16] Despite the doubts and accusations, Bartlett was never no-balled for throwing.

References
  1. Wisden 1961, p. 847.
  2. Quoted in Gideon Haigh, The Summer Game, Text, Melbourne, 1997, p. 178.
  3. "Plunket Shield 1965/66". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  4. "Waikato v Marlborough 1957-58". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  5. "Hutt Valley v Marlborough 1967-68". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  6. Wisden 1963, pp. 900–1.
  7. R. T. Brittenden, Red Leather, Silver Fern, A. H. & A. W. Reed, Wellington, 1965, p. 25.
  8. Brittenden, The Finest Years, A. H. & A. W. Reed, Wellington, 1977, p. 37.
  9. "2nd Test, Christchurch, Feb 22 - Feb 27 1968, India tour of New Zealand". Cricinfo. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  10. Christopher Martin-Jenkins, The Complete Who's Who of Test Cricketers, Rigby, Adelaide, 1983, p. 376.
  11. Wisden 1969, p. 852.
  12. Peter Pollock, The Thirty Tests, Don Nelson, Cape Town, 1978, pp. 10, 65.
  13. Gideon Haigh, The Summer Game, Text, Melbourne, 1997, p. 178.
  14. Colin Bryden, All-Rounder: The Buster Farrer Story, Aloe Publishing, Kidd's Beach, 2013, pp. 54–55.
  15. "Turning the Tables". Retrieved 26 September 2012.
  16. Nawab of Pataudi, Tiger's Tale, Hind, Delhi, 1969, p.120.

Further reading
  • Meteor over Marlborough: The Gary Bartlett Story by John Alexander (2014)
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