Kevin John Wright (born 27 December 1953) is an Australian former

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 ...

er. Wright played as a

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. ...

, making 10 Test and five One Day International appearances for Australia in 1979 during the

World Series Cricket World Series Cricket (WSC) was a commercial professional cricket competition staged between 1977 and 1979 which was organised by Kerry Packer and his Australian television network, Nine Network. WSC ran in commercial competition to establish ...

era. He replaced John Maclean after the Fourth Test in the 1978–79 Ashes series, and played the last two Tests of that series, both Tests against

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

in Australia shortly afterwards, and all six Tests in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in late 1979, playing all his 10 Tests inside 10 months. After World Series Cricket ended, he lost his place in the Australian and

Western Australian Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

teams to

Rod Marsh Rodney William Marsh (4 November 1947 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian professional cricketer who played as a wicketkeeper for the Australian national team. Marsh had a Test career spanning from the 1970–71 to the 1983–84 Australian ...

. He moved to

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

to continue his first-class career. When Wayne Phillips became South Australia's wicket-keeper in 1984, Wright retired from first-class cricket and moved to Sydney, taking up the position of Eagle Insurance's life division manager for

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. In his last match for South Australia he captained them to victory in the McDonald's Cup

limited-overs cricket Limited overs cricket, also known as one-day cricket or white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed in one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty ...

final in 1983–84.

Career

Wright grew up in West Australia where

was the established keeper. He made his first class debut in 1974/75 against the touring English side. He also managed to play several games for WA during the 1976/77 season when Marsh was touring New Zealand for Australia. When Rod Marsh joined World Series Cricket, he was banned from playing first class cricket in Australia. Wright got the chance to establish himself as West Australia's regular keeper in the 1977/78 season. It was a successful one for WA, as they won the Sheffield Shield. Wright scored 211 runs at an average of 35 with a top score of 59.

Test Debut against England

Steve Rixon Stephen John Rixon (born 25 February 1954) is an Australian cricket coach and former international cricketer. He played in 13 Test matches and six One Day Internationals between 1977 and 1985. He has coached the New Zealand cricket team, New S ...

was Australia's wicketkeeper during the 1977–78 season against India and on the tour of the West Indies. In 1978-79 he was replaced by John Maclean. After four tests, Maclean fell injured and Wright was picked to take his place for the 5th test. At that stage he had made 83 dismissals. Wright scored 29 (Australia's second highest score in the first innings) and 0. Wright kept his spot for the two on day games against England which followed (which Australia won), and sixth test, scoring 3 and 5 in another Australian defeat.

Tests vs Pakistan

He was kept as keeper for the next two tests against Pakistan. In the first, Wright took seven dismissals and scored 9 and 1 with the bat. In the second, he took seven dismissals and scored 16 in a then-rare Australian victory. Wright scored 300 first class runs that summer at an average of 17 but he took 57 dismissals (53 caught, 4 stumping).

1979 World Cup and Tour of India

Wright kept his spot for the 1979 tours of England for the World Cup, and the six-test series in India. In the World Cup Wright scored 6 against England, 23 against Pakistan and did not bat against Canada. In India he scored 52 in an opening tour game. He made 20 and 5 in the first test, disappointing captain Kim Hughes. He made a fighting 16 in the second test, 6 and 11 in the third, a much-praised double of 55 and 15 in the fourth, 0 and 12 in the fifth and 11 and 5 in the 6th.

Post WSC

On Wright's return to Australia, the World Series players had been re-incorporated with the establishment. Wright lost his spot in the West Australian and Australian teams to Rod Marsh. Marsh's absence on international duty however meant he still played eight first class games scoring 322 runs at 35 (top score 88) and taking 34 dismissals. He won a man of the match award for A Shield game against Tasmania taking seven dismissals and scoring 55. The Australian selectors however named Victoria Richie Robinson as the back up keeper for Marsh on the 1980 tour of Pakistan. In 1980-81 Wright moved to South Australia. He scored 399 runs at 28 including his first first-class century, 105, and took 27 dismissals. However, on the 1981 Ashes he was overlooked for selection as the second keeper in favour of

. Wright won a Sheffield Shield with South Australia in 1981–82. He had a great season, his best with the bat (392 runs at 39.2 including a top score of 104 not out, 32 dismissals) and stayed with them for two more seasons. In 1982-83 he made 455 runs at 30.33 and the following season 164 runs at 16.40. He also captained the side in the absence of

David Hookes David William Hookes (3 May 1955 – 19 January 2004) grew up in Torrensville and was a South Australian and Australian cricketer, broadcaster and coach of the Victorian cricket team. An aggressive left-handed batsman, Hookes usually batted in ...

. South Australia had a disappointing Shield season in 1983-84 but Wright led the team to victory in the McDonalds Cup. In 1983-84 South Australian batsman Wayne Phillips was made wicketkeeper for South Australia in some one day games. In early 1984 Phillips became Australia's test wicketkeeper during the tour of the West Indies. Initially South Australia said that Wright would be keeper and vice captain the state side during the 1984–85 season, prompting Phillips to consider a move to WA. However, in September Wright retired from first class cricket.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Kevin 1953 births Living people Australia Test cricketers Australia One Day International cricketers South Australia cricketers Western Australia cricketers Kensington cricketers Cricketers from Fremantle Australian cricketers Wicket-keepers