Ian Leggat

Early life

Leggat was born in Invercargill, New Zealand. He attended Nelson College from 1944 to 1948, where he was a prefect and played for the school's 1st XI cricket and 1st XV rugby teams.

Cricket career

He played first-class cricket for Central Districts from 1950-51 to 1961-62. In 1952-53 he and Harry Cave added 239 for the ninth wicket for Central Districts against Otago at Dunedin. Leggat scored 142 not out batting at number 10. It was his first fifty in first-class cricket; he did not score another until 1958-59. This innings helped him to score 212 runs at 53.00 in 1952-53; he also took 7 wickets at 40.14.

He was a surprise selection for the tour of South Africa in 1953-54. In eight first-class games on the tour he made 138 runs at 12.54 and took 5 wickets at 33.60. He played in the Third Test, making a duck and taking no wickets in three overs, and taking two catches.

He scored one more century, 115 against Canterbury in 1959-60, and took his best bowling figures, 5 for 60, against Canterbury in 1961-62. He played in the trial match in 1958-59 and took 4 for 21 and 3 for 27 for South Island against North Island, but was not selected for the subsequent Tests against England.

He also played for Nelson in the Hawke Cup from 1947 to 1969. He holds the record for the number of runs in the competition, 2336, and is third in the bowling, with 166 wickets. When a Hawke Cup "team of the century" was selected to mark the centenary of the competition in 2011, he was one of the 11 players chosen.