Career evolved from pitch to panel
FRANK Cameron suggested he owed it all to some bloke in a park who taught him how to grip the ball.
Journalist Lynn McConnell squeezed out that gem during an interview in 2003. Cameron had just received the Bert Sutcliffe Medal for services to New Zealand Cricket and told Mr McConnell he was an accidental cricketer in some ways.
‘‘I never played organised cricket until I was about 11 or 12. I went to Christian Brothers’ secondary school in Dunedin.
‘‘When I was 13, I seemed to keep bowling fellows out at practice, so they sent me to the Otago under14 trials and I got in the side.’’
He had had no formal coaching but possessed a natural outswinger which he discovered following a serendipitous meeting with a stranger.
‘‘Actually, an old fellow in the park showed me how to bowl the ball once.
‘‘I was just playing around with my friends at Tonga Park and he came over and showed me how to grip the ball, and I never held it any differently after that.’’
That old fellow is one on New Zealand’s unsung sporting heroes because Cameron went on to have a tremendous firstclass career for Otago.
He was arguably overlooked for international selection too long, but was eventually able to have an impact at the top level as well. His greatest contribution, though, came during a long stint as a New Zealand selector and he was a cunning one at that.
He also taught at Otago Boys’ High School for 34 years, where he got to shape young minds as well as young cricketers and was a wellrespected teacher.
Cameron died in Christchurch on January 2, aged 90.
He was born in Dunedin on June 1, 1932 and had six siblings — Rita, Ellen, John, Ewan, Margaret and Joan.
He grew up in Bradshaw St, just a short walk from Carisbrook, the stage of so many of his later glories.
He attended Christian Brothers’ and then teachers’ college. He also studied at the University of Otago parttime while teaching and completed a bachelor of arts degree in 1957.
Cameron was the sort of man who was always half a step ahead — literally and figuratively.
The rightarmer was fiercely competitive and if he thought it was a race, you can bet he would be doing all he could to win.
If it was a social event he was heading to, he would be in a hurry as well. He loved a beer or two.
Russell Hendry certainly felt Cameron ought to have been picked earlier in his career. The pair played together at the Dunedin club, where Cameron snaffled 1133 wickets at the implausible average 10.04 during an impossibly long career which stretched well past 20 years.
Their Otago careers also overlapped, so Hendry knew as well as anyone what Cameron was capable of.
Cameron took 258 wickets at an average of 20.17 in 68 games for his province.
‘‘He didn’t get into the New Zealand team when he should have got in,’’ Hendry said.
‘‘He played every game like it was a test match.’’
Hendry, while still at school, had seen Cameron playing for Dunedin against Kaikorai at Tonga Park and got an insight into just how competitive his future teammate could be.
Kaikorai needed a handful of runs to win with about 15 minutes remaining. But Cameron had the ball and he was not giving up.
‘‘He was bowling bouncers every delivery and he was undoing his shoe laces and doing them up again after every ball. He was timewasting like nobody’s business.’’
That ruthless streak served him well in the cauldron of international cricket.
He played 19 tests and took 62 wickets at 29.82 for his country.
Cameron was to the New Zealand team what Neil Wagner is to the Black Caps these days. He ran in hard, he was extremely fit, seldom injured, he enjoyed immense stamina and was happy to just keep bowling over after over. Whatever it took and whatever the team needed, Cameron would oblige.
He waited nine seasons following his first appearance for Otago before playing a test for New Zealand.
It was against South Africa in Durban in 1961 and Cameron acquitted himself well, with three wickets in each innings.
He bowled more than 700 overs on the tour and took 77 wickets at 22.09 which was a fine return. But he told Mr McConnell he thought it might be his first and last tour.
‘‘At the end of the tour we sat around talking about when the next tour was and someone said 1965 to England and I said, ‘That’s too far away for me’.’’ He was wrong about that.
The tour, which included tests against India and Pakistan, was demanding and Cameron decided to finish up the following season with one last campaign with Otago in 196667.
He was not done with cricket, though. Two years later he joined the national selection panel and he was chairman from 1976 until 1986.
He proved to be one of the game’s deep thinkers and was awarded and MBE for services to cricket in the new year honours in 1987.
Former Otago Daily Times sports editor, the late Brent Edwards, opined in a 2011 article that Cameron was ‘‘one of New Zealand’s shrewdest cricketers and selectors and he was part of one of the game’s most successful eras’’.
‘‘It is doubtful if anyone has made a bigger contribution to New Zealand cricket as a player and selector.
‘‘Remarkably, he was part of all but two of New Zealand’s first 21 victories, either as a player or selector.’’
He also pulled off one of the greatest acts of deception.
‘‘Cameron was an astute thinker of the game and one of his behindthescenes ploys was a major factor in New Zealand’s dramatic onewicket win over the West Indies at Carisbrook in 1980,’’ Mr Edwards said.
‘‘Realising the Windies’ most potent weapon was their intimidatory fastbowling battery, Cameron called spinner John Bracewell into the squad at the last minute and made the public comment that he expected the pitch to turn.’’
It was all a ruse. Bracewell was never going to play but the West Indies fell for the bait and named offspinner Derick Parry in the side.
When Parry came on to bowl, Lance Cairns and Richard Hadlee launched an assault which ‘‘proved the difference in what was such a tight, lowscoring test’’.
‘‘That was Frank Cameron. Shrewd, a thinker who squeezed everything out of his own ability and later that of the players he selected.’’
Des Smith might have a few ideas about where Cameron developed his ability to mislead.
Cameron taught at Otago Boys’ from 1956 to 1989. He taught history, English and social studies and was a sports coach, a senior master and then deputy rector.
He taught alongside of Cameron for 22 years.
In an online tribute, Mr Smith described Cameron as ‘‘meticulous in everything he did’’.
‘‘[He] set a great example to the staff and the boys. His background work on school policy, and his planning for courses and timetables for teachers, meant that Otago Boys’ High School was both effective and efficient in the delivery of its curriculum.’’
But it was in the staff room where he perhaps honed those dark skills of deception in game of liar dice.
Cameron would set up camp and ‘‘in that alcove there was often Mag Sinclair, Bill Duncan, Tex Houston, Ferg McLean, Bill Trewern plus others, and we all played liar dice at morning tea and at lunchtime.
‘‘Frank was a shrewd liar dice player and would very seldom get caught.’’
Wife Lynne chuckled at the suggestion her late husband may have developed those tactics during a harmless game during the lunch break.
The pair met in 1996. Cameron shifted north to Christchurch a few years earlier and worked as a parttime and relief teacher at Christchurch Boys’ High School until he retired.
Cameron, who was previously married twice before, tied the knot with Lynne in 2003.
When they first met Lynne wondered as to how old Cameron might be. He had bundles of energy and that trademark stamina.
A friend suggested she go to the library and look up books on New Zealand cricket.
‘‘There was no Google then,’’ she joked.
‘‘So I went and asked to see such books and the librarian asked me if I want ancient or modern.
‘‘My friend said I should have replied, ‘That’s what I’ve come to find out’.’’
Following retirement at 75, Cameron could concentrate on his other passion — gardening.
He landscaped the couple’s home on Clifton Hill. He carried hundreds of rocks up narrow paths. It was another reminder of the incredible strength and endurance he enjoyed.
‘‘Our garden now is a real testament to Frank. We also had some marvellous overseas trips.’’
Last summer the couple holidayed near St Clair Beach — like they did often.
‘‘One of Frank’s favourite places as he has spent some much time there when he was younger.
‘‘We sometimes had to visit the local cricket ground while they were playing.’’
Cricket was never far from his thoughts.
Cameron is survived by his wife Lynne, sister Joan, and his four stepchildren. — Adrian Seconi