Gordon Leggat

Who was Gordon Leggat?

John Gordon Leggat played nine Tests for New Zealand in the 1950s as an opening batsman.

Gordon Leggat was born in Wellington, went to Christchurch Boys' High School, and became a lawyer. He played for Canterbury from 1944-45 to 1955-56. He toured Australia in 1953-54 with the New Zealand team, and India and Pakistan in 1955-56.

Dick Brittenden said Leggat "brought to the task of opening an innings extraordinary powers of concentration, tremendous endurance, and a highly-developed cricket sense", pointing out that Leggat had batted fourteen and a half hours in scoring 290 runs for Canterbury in the first three innings of the 1952-53 season.

Leggat failed to score in his first Test innings, against the touring West Indies team in 1951-52, but the next season he resisted the South African bowlers for several hours to score 22 and 47 in the First Test in Wellington. He was not selected for the tour to South Africa in 1953-54, one of several players at the time who "paid the ultimate price for being overweight". But brought in to reinforce the New Zealand batting when they played three matches in Australia on their way home from South Africa, he made 45, 67, 61, 121 not out, 11 and 34 against the state teams.