Full name Mark Hunter Richardson Spouse Mary Richardson Batting style Left-handed | Name Mark Richardson Role Cricketer | |
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Bowling style Left-arm orthodox spin | ||
Mark Hunter Richardson (born 11 June, 1971) is a former New Zealand cricketer. He was a left-handed opening batsman. He represented New Zealand in 38 Tests from 2000 to 2004. During his cricketing career he played for Auckland, Buckinghamshire and Otago.
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His nickname, "Rigor", is short for Rigor mortis, given to him because he moved like a dead man.
Richardson also played for Dunedin Metropolitan in the Hawke Cup.
International career
Richardson began his career as a left-arm spinner, batting at number 10. As his bowling ability declined, he worked on developing his batting, to the point where he was selected as an opening batsman for New Zealand, at age 29. His dour (he described the range of shots he played as "the straight drive, the forward defensive and 27 variations on the leave") approach to batting provided vital stability to New Zealand's batting order, at a time when they were notorious for collapses.
Richardson scored 2776 Test runs at an average of 44.77, including four centuries and 19 fifties. His sole Test wicket came in a match against Pakistan in 2001, dismissing Mohammad Yousuf, then known as Yousuf Youhana, caught and bowled for 203.
He is also not known as a good fielder for ODI's. In addition to his slow running, Richardson was also noted for developing (in conjunction with the Beige Brigade) a tradition to challenge the slowest runner of the opposing side to a running race at the conclusion of each tour. In his first race he beat Australia's Darren Lehmann. He has since raced Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, South Africa's Neil McKenzie and England's Ashley Giles, only beating Kaneria. The Beige Brigade also supplied Richardson with a long-sleeved and hooded running suit in the New Zealand teams 1980s beige and brown colours.
Richardson was the fieldsman who caught Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne on 99, the closest the Australian came to a century in test cricket.
He retired from all forms of cricket in December 2004, saying he could not sustain the intensity needed to compete at international level. He noted that he finished with "a Test bowling average that is better than Sir Richard Hadlee's (22.29), and a 50-50 record in the end-of-series running race." He scored 9,994 first-class runs during his career, which he noted was "only different from Donald Bradman's Test batting average by a decimal point" (Bradman finished his career with an average of 99.94).
After cricket
Richardson has been a cricket commentator for SKY Sports since 2006. He co-hosted Prime show The Crowd Goes Wild with Andrew Mulligan from February 2006 to December 2016. He has hosted The Block NZ since 2012, and is the sports reporter for The AM Show. Previously, he has been a breakfast radio announcer for The Sound and Radio Sport (with a radio based show of The Crowd Goes Wild.)