Wayne Blair (cricketer)
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Wayne Leslie Blair | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
11 May 1948 (age 68) Dunedin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting style | Left-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relations | Bruce Blair (brother) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1967-68 to 1990-91 | Otago | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source: Cricinfo, 19 September 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wayne Leslie Blair (born 11 May 1948 in Dunedin) is a former New Zealand cricketer who played first-class cricket for Otago from 1967 to 1991.
Blair made his first-class debut for Otago in 1967-68 as an opening batsman. He played all that season and all the next, reaching 50 only once, when he scored 83 in the last match of the 1968-69 season.[1] He moved down the order in 1969-70, keeping wicket in one match and winning selection in a New Zealand Under-23 team against the touring Australians, when he top-scored in the second innings with 40.[2] He returned to the opening position and produced a number of useful but not large scores up to the end of the 1973-74 season.
After a time out of first-class cricket he returned in 1977-78 and maintained his place. He made his first century in the match against Canterbury in 1980-81, batting at number four. After Canterbury declared at 409 for 5, Otago were dismissed for 224 (Blair top-scoring with 88) and, following on, 266 (Blair again top-scoring with 140).[3] His other century came the following season, when he scored 132 out of a total of 274 against Wellington.[4]
He left first-class cricket after the 1982-83 season, but was recalled in 1990-91 at the age of 42 as a middle-order batsman. He reached a score of at least 40 in each of the first three matches, but finished with 165 runs at an average of 18.33 in five matches.[5] That was his last season in first-class cricket.
In domestic List A cricket he won the man of the match award when he scored 102 against Wellington in 1979-80.[6]
His younger brother, Bruce, played one-day internationals for New Zealand in the 1980s.