Truscott so close to making major tour

Peter Truscott was within one casting vote of advancing beyond this list.

Sunday, February 14, 1965 was the rest day during his test debut. New Zealand were 130 for seven in reply to Pakistan’s 206 after two days of the third test at Christchurch. Truscott had been adjudged lbw to pace bowler Asif Iqbal for three. His roommate John Reid took a phone call.

Reid, the New Zealand captain, was summoned to a selection meeting for the upcoming tour of India, Pakistan, Britain, the Netherlands, Bermuda and the United States.

In Reid’s absence, Truscott picked up the Wisden sitting on the table between their beds.

“There were three sheets of paper in it,” Truscott said. “So obviously you have a look. The first was a touring team list and I was in that. The second was another list and I was in it, but bracketed with Terry Jarvis. The third list just had Jarvis on it.

“It would’ve been a good trip to go on.”

The touring team was named between the first and second innings of the drawn test. Truscott wasn’t in it. Jarvis began the first of his 13 tests against India at Chennai on February 27.

Reid rated Truscott, but there had been a selection fiasco at the start of the Pakistan tour when Wellington protested his inclusion in a President’s XI because it coincided with a Plunket Shield match. However, when Truscott was released for provincial duty, he was made 12th man.

In his book A Million Miles of Cricket, Reid wrote: “Truscott was, and is, a potential New Zealand opener, and he was pushed into the third test with the Pakistanis.

“He did not do enough to warrant selection for the tour which began a fortnight later; but I cannot help wondering how different the story might have been had he been given his chance earlier, and in the match we wanted him to play in.” Truscott respected “Bogo” Reid. “He was a good friend of mine. He was a member of the Karori club, captain of Wellington at that stage, and a brilliant sportsman. He was good to room with, too.”

Truscott said his memory of the test is “a total haze”.