Merv Wallace

Merv Wallace

Personal information
Batting style	Right-hand bat
Bowling style	Right-arm offbreak
International information
National side	New Zealand
Career statistics
Competition	Tests	First-class
Matches	13	121
Runs scored	439	7757
Batting average	20.90	44.32
100s/50s	0/5	17/43
Top score	66	211
Balls bowled	6	34
Wickets	-	-
Bowling average	-	-
5 wickets in innings	-	-
10 wickets in match	-	-
Best bowling	-	-
Catches/stumpings	5/-	68/-
Source: Cricinfo,

British film actress Rona Anderson demonstrates here cricket skills to a players of the 1949 New Zealand cricket team touring England during a visit to Pinewood Studios. Left to right: Martin Donelly (kneeling), Geoff Rabone, Walter Hadlee (kneeling), Frank Mooney, Rona Anderson, Harry Cave, Merv Wallace, John R. Reid

Walter Mervyn ("Merv") Wallace (19 December 1916 – 21 March 2008) was a New Zealand cricketer and Test match captain. Former New Zealand captain John Reid called him "The most under-rated cricketer to have worn the silver fern."^[1] He was nicknamed "Flip" by his teammates, because that was the strongest expletive they heard him say.

Wallace was born in Grey Lynn, Auckland. He was coached at Eden Park by Ted Bowley and Jim Parks, but left school aged 13. He played cricket with his brother, George Wallace, with the Point Chevalier Cricket Club, and then the Auckland under-20 side. He played for Parnell cricket club from the age of 16, and made his debut for Auckland in the Plunket Shield in December 1933.[1]

He toured to England in 1937, in a team weakened by a policy of refusing to select professional cricketers. He scored two half-centuries (52 and 56) on his Test debut, at Lord's. He headed the tour batting averages, scoring 1,641 runs at a batting average of 41.02. After his first three Tests in England, the peak years of his cricketing career were lost to the Second World War, and he did not play Test cricket again until March 1946. He scored 211, his highest first-class score, against Canterbury in January 1940.[2] He joined the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, but was invalided out due to stomach muscle problems caused by an appendix operation.

He played in New Zealand's first Test against Australia, in Wellington in March 1946, which Australia won by an innings within two days. He also played against the English tourists in 1947. He joined the four-Test tour to England in 1949 as vice-captain to Walter Hadlee. He scored 1,722 first-class runs at an average of 49.20, including centuries against Yorkshire, Worcester, Leicester, Cambridge University and Glamorgan. He scored 910 runs before the end of May, narrowly failing to join Donald Bradman (twice) and Glenn Turner as the only touring batsman to pass 1,000 runs before the end of May). He made his Test best score of 66 against England at Christchurch in 1951, and played his last two Tests as captain against the touring South Africans in 1953. Short but quick, he was able to score all round the wicket, with a particularly notable cover drive. His Test batting average of 20.90 was widely considered to fail to reflect his batting abilities.

Following the end of his Test career, Wallace was appointed New Zealand coach for its 1955 tour to India and Pakistan. Wallace was also the successful coach of New Zealand's first victorious Test team, against the West Indies at Eden Park in 1956^[2]. Afterwards, however, his coaching prowess was overlooked by the New Zealand administrators. He ran a sports shop with tennis player Bill Webb from 1947 to 1982. He suffered from diabetes in later life, becoming blind and losing several toes.

Wallace died in Auckland on Good Friday in 2008. As a mark of respect, the New Zealand team playing England in the 3rd Test at McLean Park in Napier wore black armbands on Saturday 22 March. His brother, George Wallace, and son, Gregory Wallace, both played first-class cricket for Auckland.

Preceded by Bert Sutcliffe

New Zealand national cricket captain 1952/3

Succeeded by Geoff Rabone

References

1. ^ "Merv Wallace's legacy will live on", Cricinfo, 15 September 2000
2. ^ Former New Zealand cricket captain Merv Wallace dead at 91, Associated Press, 21 March 2008 http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/23750397/ Accessed 27 March 2008

• Cricinfo page on Merv Wallace
• CricketArchive page on Merv Wallace
• "Former New Zealand captain Wallace dies", Cricinfo, 22 March 2008
• "Former New Zealand cricket captain Merv Wallace dead at 91", International Herald Tribune, 22 March 2008
• The New Zealand Herald, 23 March 2008
• Obituary, The Daily Telegraph, 27 March 2008

Persondata
Name	Wallace, Merv
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	19 December 1916
Place of birth
Date of death	21 March 2008
Place of death