Brian Hastings

Brian Frederick Hastings (23 March 1940 – 7 October 2024) was a New Zealand cricketer. A middle-order batsman, he played 31 Test matches between 1969 and 1976, scoring four centuries. He played first-class cricket for Wellington, Central Districts and Canterbury between 1958 and 1977.

Cricket career

Early career Born on 23 March 1940 He made his first-class debut for Wellington at the age of 17 in the final match of the Plunket Shield in 1957–58, scoring 27 and 22 in a low-scoring match that Wellington won. He was immediately selected to play in one of the trial matches to help the selectors choose the team to tour England in 1958, but he was not successful. In 1961 he transferred in his work with Shell Oil New Zealand from Blenheim to Christchurch, to commence work at The Press and in the 1961–62 season he played his first match for Canterbury in the final match of the Plunket Shield, scoring 149 and "batting beautifully".

Hastings struggled in subsequent seasons until 1964–65, when he made 629 runs for Canterbury at an average of 62.90, characterised by firm driving and crisp square-cutting. He was considered unlucky not to be selected for New Zealand's tour of India, Pakistan and England in 1965. His next three seasons were moderate, but his performances in 1968–69 "finally convinced everyone that Hastings was of international class". Selected for the Test team for the first time, he scored 21 and 31 in the First Test. In the Second Test, New Zealand needed 164 to win, and were 40 for 3 at the end of the fourth day, but Hastings scored 62 not out, playing "handsome strokes to take New Zealand to their fifth victory in Test cricket". In the Third Test, after New Zealand followed on 200 behind, he played a "great, match-saving innings" of 117 not out. His aggregate for the New Zealand first-class season, 872 runs, was at the time the second-highest ever made by a New Zealand batsman. He scored 105 in the Third Test in the West Indies in 1971–72, adding 175 for the fourth wicket with Bevan Congdon; New Zealand went on to a 289-run first-innings lead, but were unable to convert it into victory.

In the Third Test against Pakistan in 1972–73, when New Zealand were struggling at 251 for 9 in reply to Pakistan's first innings of 402, Hastings made 110 and added a world Test record tenth-wicket partnership of 151 in 155 minutes with Richard Collinge to level the scores. In the Second Test in Sydney in 1973–74 he made a punishing 83 to set New Zealand up for a likely victory, only for the last day to be rained out. A few weeks later, in the Second Test at Christchurch, he made 46, adding 115 for the fourth wicket with Glenn Turner, as New Zealand pushed on to their first Test victory over Australia. Ken Wadsworth hit the winning runs and a spectator picked up the ball and ran off; Australian player Ian Redpath chased him down, retrieved the ball, and presented it to Hastings. This ball was presented by the Hastings family to Hagley Oval during the 2024 50th reunion. Hastings' last seven Test innings produced only 23 runs, bringing his overall average down from about 35 to 30. He also served as president of Canterbury Cricket,

Hastings died at Parklands Retirement Village in the Christchurch suburb of Papanui, on 7 October 2024, at the age of 84.