Richard Collinge

He played domestic cricket for three different sides. He made his first class debut for Central Districts in 1963/64 and played for them until 1969/70 before moving to Wellington from 1967/68 to 1974/75 and finally Northern Districts till 1977/78. In 163 first class matches he took 524 wickets, with a best of 8-64, at an average of 24.41.

A tall, strongly-built man, Collinge bowled left arm fast medium, ending his long run with both arms stretching upwards before delivering the ball.^[1] He pitched the ball up and relied on late movement. He was a good foil for the often wild express pace of the young Richard Hadlee and was instrumental in helping Hadlee bring New Zealand's first Test victory over England in 1977-8, with figures of 3-42 and 3-45.^[2] The fast inswinger with which he bowled Geoff Boycott at Wellington began England's collapse to 64 all out and brought the crowd to fever pitch.^{[citation needed]}

He made his Test debut in 1965 and played his last match at Lord's in 1978.^{[3] [4]} His best Test and One Day International bowling figures were both against India in 1975–76, with 6 for 63 and 5 for 23 respectively. At the time of his retirement, he was New Zealand's greatest wicket-taker, with 116 wickets at 29.25 each, despite missing many matches during his 13-year test career.^{[citation needed]}

He could also be a useful batsman. At Auckland in 1972–73, Collinge scored 68 not out for New Zealand against Pakistan; this was the highest score ever made by a number 11 in a Test match at the time. That innings also formed part of the record last-wicket stand in Tests: 151 put on with Brian Hastings in 155 minutes.^[5]

A monograph titled Following in the Footsteps of 'Davo' written by Bill Francis was published in 2024.