Ken Wadsworth - Test Career

Test Career

He was subsequently selected for the 1969 tour to England and made his Test debut in the first Test at Lord's. He was selected ahread of incumbent keeper Barry Milburn, who had been first choice during the earlier home Test series against the West Indies, due to his superior batting potential. In the early days of his Test career Wadsworth's wicketkeeping seemed to weigh heavily on his batting and, after as many as 11 Tests, his batting average was no more than 7.00. By the time the New Zealanders got to the Caribbean for their 1971/72 series there must have been some doubt as to whether he would in fact take his place in the Test side for a series which the cricket world unanimously expected New Zealand to lose heavily. In the event New Zealand cricket came of age that season. The 5 Tests all failed to produce a definite result, and the visitors exhibited a degree of talent and determination that no one had imagined they had. In the first Test at Kingston, Jamaica, he joined Glen Turner at 108 - 5 and together they put on 220 for the 6th wicket which remained the highest New Zealand partnership for that wicket for 15 years. His highest Test innings was 80 against Australia at Melbourne in 1974 and in the same season he made a century against them in a One Day International at Christchurch. Thereafter he never looked back and averaged 26.62 over the next 17 Tests. In 1974 he struck the winning runs in New Zealand's first Test victory over Australia.