Glenn Turner

A well-rounded batsman, adept at blending caution with aggression, Glenn Turner was one of the doyens of New Zealand cricket. The opener opened his Test career with a duck but later turned it on to achieve 7 centuries in 41 Tests, scoring 2991 runs to go with 1598 ODI runs. For someone, who began as a natural stroke-maker, Turner's ability to build or rebuild an innings marked him as a cut above the rest. The crowning glory of his career arrived when he struck as many as four double centuries in West Indies in 1971-72.

Arguably, Turner was more free flowing in limited overs cricket, claiming a best score of 171 - a sparkling knock, which stood as the highest individual ODI score by a Kiwi batsman until Lou Vincent cracked 172 versus Zimbabwe in 2005. A few years later, Martin Guptill, another opening batsman, snatched the honour from Vincent.

Turner's captaincy tenure though was short-lived. It lasted only 10 Tests before his run-ins with the administrators swelled to a crescendo.

Tuner had honed his skills in England, throwing himself into county cricket. A prolific run-scorer in the truest sense of the word, Turner was one of the select few to have pulled off a 'century of centuries' in first-class cricket among an army of other records.

Post retirement, Turner served as a manager for the New Zealand team before landing a coaching position with Otago.

Interesting Facts:

1. Glenn Turner was the first New Zealander to hit twin tons in the same Test.

2. He became the first batsman since the second World War to score 1000 first-class runs in England before the onset of May, a milestone he scripted in 1973.

By Deivarayan Muthu