Robert Anderson

Robert Wickham Anderson (2 October 1948 – 1 June 2025) was a New Zealand cricketer who played nine Test matches and two One Day Internationals for the New Zealand national cricket team between 1976 and 1978. Anderson was born in Christchurch in 1948.

Domestic career Anderson played mainly as a top-order batsman. He began his first-class cricket career in 1967–68 for Canterbury, playing in three Plunket Shield matches for the side during the season. He played for Northern Districts during the 1969–1970 season, including against the touring Australian side before moving to Otago ahead of the 1970–71 season. Anderson played in 35 first-class and 9 List A matches for Otago and was selected for New Zealand whilst at the side. He moved to play for Central Districts in 1977, playing a further 30 first-class and 9 List A matches for the side before retiring after the 1981–82 season. His highest score was 155 for the New Zealand touring team against Scotland in 1978.

Anderson also played Hawke Cup cricket for Southland, Northland and Manawatu between 1970 and 1980. When Southland successfully defended the title against four challenges in 1973–74 he scored 561 runs at an average of 93.50 with three centuries. In the 16 Hawke Cup challenge matches he played, he scored 1,773 runs at an average of 70.92. His 255 against Ashburton County in February 1977 is still the highest score for Southland. He was named in the Hawke Cup Team of the Century in 2011.

International career Anderson toured England with New Zealand in 1973 but did not play in any of the international matches on the tour. but did not retain his place for the tour of India which followed.

Anderson played in all three home Tests against England in 1977–78. In the First Test, New Zealand's first-ever Test victory over England, he scored 28 and 26 (New Zealand's top score in the second innings) in the low-scoring match. He also played in all three Tests on New Zealand's tour to England in 1978 as well as one of the two ODIs on the tour,

Personal life and death Anderson's father, Mac Anderson, played one Test match for New Zealand in 1946. Robert's son Tim played for Central Districts as a leg-spinner from 1997–98 to 2002–03.

Anderson died in Christchurch on 1 June 2025, at the age of 76.