Vernon Leader Explained

Vernon Leader
Country:New Zealand
Fullname:John Vernon Leader
Birth Date:14 May 1908
Birth Place:Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
Death Place:Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand
Batting:Left-handed
Bowling:Right-arm medium
Club1:Otago
Columns:1
Column1:First-class
Matches1:11
Runs1:292
Bat Avg1:17.17
100S/50S1:0/1
Top Score1:58
Deliveries1:1315
Wickets1:18
Bowl Avg1:26.38
Fivefor1:1
Tenfor1:0
Best Bowling1:6/44
Catches/Stumpings1:2/–
Date:7 February
Year:2024
Source:http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/37645.html ESPNcricinfo

John Vernon Leader (14 May 1908 – 22 March 1995) was a New Zealand cricketer and mountaineer.[1] [2] He played eleven first-class matches for Otago between the 1928–29 and 1940–41 seasons.[3]

Leader was born at Christchurch in 1908 but was educated at Otago Boys' High School in Dunedin.[4] He played schools representative cricket for Otago.[5]

Leader made his senior representative debut during the 1928–29 season in a Plunket Shield match against Auckland at Carisbrook, scoring seven runs and not taking a wicket. He played irregularly for the provincial side―his next two first-class appearances were during Otago's Plunket Shield winning campaign of 1932–33. In a total of 11 first-class matches he scored 292 runs and took 18 wickets, making his last first-class appearances during the 1940–41 season.[1] [6] His best performance came in the 1938–39 Plunket Shield, when he took 6 for 44 and 3 for 58 against Auckland.[7] In the 1950s he was one of the selectors for Otago.[8]

Leader was a notable mountain climber. In 1935 he became the first person to climb West Peak on Mount Earnslaw alone.[2] In 1972, aged 64, he became the oldest person to make the "grand traverse" of Mount Cook's three peaks.[9]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Vernon Leader . New Zealand Cricket . 1 September 2021.
  2. Web site: Mountain magic: Mountaineering in North-West Otago, 1882–1940 . Environmental History . 1 September 2021.
  3. Web site: John Leader . 15 May 2016 . ESPNCricinfo.
  4. McCarron A (2010) New Zealand Cricketers 1863/64–2010, p. 79. Cardiff: The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. (Available online at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 5 June 2023.)
  5. Personalities in Sport, The Evening Star, issue 21303, 6 January 1933, p. 4. (Available online at Papers Past. Retrieved 30 April 2022.)
  6. Leader, John Vernon, Obituaries in 1995, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1996. (Available online at CricInfo. Retrieved 10 November 2023.)
  7. Web site: Otago v Auckland 1938-39 . Cricinfo . 15 November 2024.
  8. People in the Play . Press . 22 October 1955 . 3 .
  9. Oldest to make traverse . Press . 11 December 1972 . 2 .