Chris Harris (cricketer)

Chris Zinzan Harris (born 20 November 1969 in Christchurch, New Zealand) is a former New Zealand cricketer who had become, over the course of the 1990s, a folk-hero in New Zealand cricket.

A fine left-handed middle-order batsman and deliverer of right-arm slow-medium deliveries, Harris has rescued the New Zealand team's batting on numerous occasions, and his deceptive looping bowling has often restricted the run rates of opposition batting line-ups.

In first-class cricket Harris has played 128 matches and scored over 7000 runs at an average of over 45, including 13 centuries with a highest score of 251*. He has taken over 120 wickets at an average of 38, with best figures of 4/22. He has never been able to successfully make the step up to Test cricket, however, and has been limited to just 23 Tests, where his average with the bat was only around 20, and he has only taken 16 wickets at 73 runs apiece.

Harris's biggest contribution to the game, however, is in the One Day International arena. In 2004, Harris became the first New Zealand player to have played 250 ODIs, in a season in which he was also the first New Zealander to take 200 wickets, at an average of 37 and an economy rate of just 4.28. In these matches he also scored over 4300 runs at an average of 29 and has over 90 catches in the field. Harris also has a reputation for his abilities as a close fielder, achieving many run-outs with accurate throwing from positions such as square leg.

Harris had been a genuine pace bowler – albeit a wayward one – as a junior cricketer, but decided, under the watchful eye of mentor John Bracewell, to sacrifice a few yards of pace for accuracy. His gentle looping swing bowling makes the batsman work hard, as the ball is less likely to speed to the boundary, and the deceptiveness of the ball's speed often leaves them attempting to play the ball too early.

Harris currently shares with Muttiah Muralitharan the world record for the most caught and bowled dismissals in ODIs with 29.

Unfortunately, Harris's performance in his 250th match was curtailed by a serious shoulder injury, and for some time the future of his career was in doubt. In his early post-shoulder injury games, he was forced to remove the medium slow from his repertoire, and was decidedly less effective. Performances for the New Zealand A side in September 2005 were more promising, however, with several very economical performances against Sri Lanka A.

In 2007 Harris played for Bacup in the Lancashire League and finished the season as the League's highest wicket-taker with 82 at 13.08.^[2] Harris was the captain of the Indian Cricket League's Hyderabad Heroes.

Harris is also a sensation at the indoor version of the game and represented Canterbury and New Zealand at will and is also involved in the coaching of Canterbury youth indoor cricket teams.

Harris has recently become one of many high-profile international cricketers to move to Zimbabwe to be involved in the country's cricket, and will now be in charge of the national U-19 side.

Harris's father Zin Harris was also a New Zealand international player, and his brother Ben Harris has played at first-class level. All three of these player share the family traditional name of "Zinzan", also shared by a distant relation, former All Black Zinzan Brooke.

During the 2012–13 season, Harris is playing club cricket as a player/coach for Papatoetoe Cricket Club, Auckland, New Zealand.

Currently he is in talks with Cricket Association of Nepal for the position of batting coach for Nepal National Team.

References

1. ↑ Cricinfo profile
2. ↑ Lancashire League 2007 – Most wickets, CricketArchive, Retrieved 13 October 2007

External links

• Player profile: Chris Harris from ESPNcricinfo
• Rattue, Chris (4 Dec 2009). "My life in sport: Chris Harris". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 15 November 2012. 

v t e New Zealand squad – 1992 Cricket World Cup Semi-Finalists 1 Crowe (c) 2 Cairns 3 Greatbatch 4 Harris 5 Jones 6 Larsen 7 Latham 8 Morrison 9 Patel 10 Rutherford 11 Smith (wk) 12 Su'a 13 Watson 14 Wright

v t e New Zealand squad – 1996 Cricket World Cup 1 Germon (c/wk) 2 Astle 3 Cairns 4 Fleming 5 Harris 6 Kennedy 7 Larsen 8 Morrison 9 Nash 10 Parore 11 Patel 12 Spearman 13 Thomson 14 Twose

v t e New Zealand squad – 1999 Cricket World Cup Semi-Finalists 1 Fleming 2 Allott 3 Astle 4 Bulfin 5 Cairns 6 Doull 7 Harris 8 Hart 9 Horne 10 Larsen 11 McMillan 12 Nash 13 Parore 14 Twose 15 Vettori Coach: Rixon

v t e New Zealand squad – 2003 Cricket World Cup 5 Harris 6 Cairns 7 Fleming (c) 8 Vincent 9 Astle 10 McMillan 11 Vettori 14 Tuffey 18 Sinclair 20 Mills 24 Oram 27 Bond 41 Adams 42 McCullum 56 Styris Coach: Aberhart