Richard Charles Motz (12 January 1940 – 29 April 2007) was a New Zealand

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er. A right-arm fast bowler and hard-hitting lower order batsman, Motz played 32 Test matches for the

New Zealand cricket team The New Zealand national cricket team represents New Zealand in men's international cricket. Named the Black Caps, they played their first Test in 1930 against England in Christchurch, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. From 1930 ...

between 1961 and 1969. He was the first bowler for New Zealand to take 100 wickets in

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...

Early life

Motz was born in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

. He was educated at North New Brighton primary school and Linwood High School, excelling as an

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...

at both. He also played rugby, tennis, badminton and golf. He played as full-back for the New Brighton rugby team for two years after leaving school.

Domestic career

He played domestic cricket for

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

, making his debut in the

Plunket Shield New Zealand has had a domestic first-class cricket championship since the 1906–07 season. Since the 2009–10 season it has been known by its original name of the Plunket Shield. History The Plunket Shield competition was instigated in Octob ...

in 1957, while still a schoolboy, taking 4 for 40 at his first outing. He made his reputation as a hostile fast bowler, and a big-hitting lower order batsman. His best first-class performances were in New Zealand domestic cricket. He took 8 wickets for 61 runs against

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

in 1966–67, and scored 103 not out against Otago in 1967–68, making his only first-class century inside an hour. On tour to Australia in 1967–68, he scored 94 against

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, including 76 runs from boundaries (6 sixes and 10 fours).

International career

He was one of five New Zealand players and seven

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to make their Test debut in the 1st Test at

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

in December 1961. He took 81 wickets on the tour, at a bowling average of 19, including 19 wickets in the five Tests. He took five wickets in an innings five times in Tests, once in England and twice at home against each of India and West Indies. He was also a handy lower-order batsman, scoring three Test half-centuries, all at home against England. In 1968, he was the first bowler to be banned from bowling in a Test due to running on the

wicket In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. ...

. In his last Test, the third Test against

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in August 1969, Motz became the first New Zealand bowler to take 100

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s when he trapped Phil Sharpe

leg before wicket Leg before wicket (lbw) is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed in the sport of cricket. Following an appeal by the fielding side, the umpire may rule a batter out lbw if the ball would have struck the wicket but was instead in ...

(his only wicket of the match).Obituary
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', 7 May 2007 Motz was ''New Zealand Cricket Almanack'' Player of the Year in 1961, ''South African Cricket Annual'' Cricketer of the Year in 1962, and a

Wisden Cricketer of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

in 1966.

After cricket

Motz's playing career ended at the age of 29, after he was found to have a displaced

vertebra The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates, Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristi ...

– indeed, he had been playing with a bad back for over a year. After his retirement from cricket, he became a taxi driver. He also ran a sports business, and then ran a pub in

Timaru Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to ...

. In later years, he put on considerable weight, ending over 30 stone. He was inducted to the

New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame The New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame is an organisation commemorating New Zealand's greatest sporting triumphs. It was inaugurated as part of the New Zealand sesquicentenary celebrations in 1990. Some 160 members have been inducted into the Hall o ...

in 1997. He was married twice. His first marriage, to cricketer Loretta Todd, ended in divorce in 1987. They had a son and two daughters. His son, Wayne, was murdered in 1989. He remarried, to Josephine Cole. He died in

. Obituary
, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', 11 May 2007 He was found dead at his home by his former captain,

Graham Dowling Graham Thorne Dowling (born 4 March 1937) is a former New Zealand cricketer who played 39 Test matches and captained New Zealand in 19 of them. He led New Zealand to its first victory in a Test series, against Pakistan in November 1969. He wa ...

. He was survived by his two daughters from his first marriage.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Motz, Dick Canterbury cricketers New Zealand Test cricketers New Zealand cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year 1940 births 2007 deaths New Zealand rugby union players People educated at Linwood College D. H. Robins' XI cricketers South Island cricketers