Donald Owen Neely MNZM MBE was born on December 21, 1935, and passed away on June 16, 2022. He was a New Zealand cricket historian, administrator, and player. He was the leader of New Zealand Cricket and helped write over 30 books about New Zealand cricket.

Early life

Neely was born in Wellington in 1935. He attended Rongotai College from 1947 to 1953, where he played 1st XI cricket. Later, he played senior grade cricket for Wellington's Kilbirnie Cricket Club. This club later merged with Midland St. Pat's to form the Eastern Suburbs Cricket Club. The Eastern Suburbs clubrooms in Kilbirnie Park now house the Kilbirnie honours boards, which record Neely's achievements with the club.

Playing career

Neely’s first-class career began in 1964 and ended in 1971. During this time, he played 34 matches across four seasons with Wellington (three as captain) and three seasons with Auckland. He was a right-handed middle-order batsman who scored one century and seven fifties in 1,301 runs. His career average was 28.91. In his first year as Wellington’s captain, he led the team to a Plunket Shield victory.

Neely’s first-class career started ten days after his 29th birthday, on December 31, 1964, when he played for Wellington against Canterbury in Christchurch. He played 21 first-class matches for Wellington (including 18 Plunket Shield matches), 16 as captain.

For the match against Canterbury, opening batsman Bruce Murray was not included in the team that had played Wellington’s first game of the season. Peter Truscott moved from number six to opener to make space in the middle order for Neely. On his debut, Neely scored 76 and 27. He played two other Plunket Shield matches that season and finished with 139 runs at an average of 27.8.

In his second season (1965/1966), Neely became Wellington’s captain and led the team through an unbeaten Plunket Shield season. Wellington defeated Otago, Northern Districts, and Auckland, and earned first-innings points from draws with Central Districts and Canterbury. These results secured Wellington’s victory in the competition. Neely’s batting was modest, with six innings totaling 128 runs at an average of 25.6. More than half of his season’s runs came in his first innings of 74 against Central Districts.

Neely remained captain for the next season, 1966/1967, which was less successful for Wellington. The round robin format included drawn matches against Central Districts and Otago, followed by losses to Canterbury and Auckland. Wellington’s only victory was over Northern Districts in the final round of the competition, finishing fourth on the points table. Neely batted eight times, scoring three fifties in 216 runs at an average of 27.0. These figures were slightly better than his return in the previous season.

Wellington finished fourth again in 1967/1968, despite it being Neely’s best season with the bat. His season began with his first and only first-class century, 132 in the first innings against Otago. With 43 in the second innings, this was Neely’s best batting performance in terms of runs scored. However, he failed to maintain this strong start. The 175 runs he scored against Otago were more than half his total for the season: in ten innings, he scored 317 runs at an average of 39.62. After the win over Otago, Neely did not score above 44 as Wellington lost to Central Districts and drew with Canterbury, Auckland, and Northern Districts.

His final match for Wellington took place on January 29, 1968, against Northern Districts. For the next three seasons, Neely played for Auckland.

Auckland were Plunket Shield champions in 1968/1969. In four innings over four matches, Neely averaged 14 with a high score of 22.

Neely played all five of Auckland’s Plunket Shield games in 1969/1970. With one loss and four draws, Auckland finished fifth. Neely’s personal season was successful, however. He batted eight times, scoring 276 runs at an average of 55.2. His three not-outs included his best innings (and only 50) of the season, 66* against Central Districts.

Neely’s final season as a player was 1970/1971. Auckland’s two wins, two draws, and one loss left them third in the Plunket Shield. Neely played in four of those matches, missing the fixture against Central Districts, and scored only 48 runs at an average of 12.0. His last first-class match took place from January 15 to 17, 1971, against Canterbury, the province he had debuted against six years earlier. At age 35, Neely scored 8 and 21.

Administration career

After retiring from playing cricket, Neely continued to support the sport in many ways.

In September 2006, Neely became the president of New Zealand Cricket during the organization’s Annual General Meeting in Wellington. He took over from John R. Reid, who had been the captain of Wellington when Neely first played for the province. Reid gave Neely the captaincy when he had to leave for international games. Neely held the position for three one-year terms, which was the maximum allowed by NZC rules. He was succeeded by Denis Currie in 2009.

Neely was a life member of NZC. He also served as a trustee and chairman of the New Zealand Cricket Museum until 2009, was president of Cricket Wellington, and was a member of the Basin Reserve Trust.

He worked as a New Zealand selector for 14 years, including seven years as the leader of the selection team.

On January 11, 2008, the new electronic scoreboard at the Basin Reserve was officially opened. It was named the Don Neely Scoreboard at the request of its main supporter, Ron Brierley.

Neely was honored as a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1995 New Year Honours and as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2011 New Year Honours for his contributions to cricket.

Historian and author

Neely was New Zealand's top expert on cricket history and wrote or co-wrote several books and cricket annuals. He was an important person interviewed in Jeremy Coney's television series The Mantis and the Cricket: Tales from the Tours, which used a lot of information from older players (and Neely) to share stories about early New Zealand cricket teams' trips overseas.

Personal life

Don Neely, often called "D.O.," was born in Miramar, Wellington. He played cricket on Miramar's Crawford Green park and was a member of the Kilbirnie Club. He met his wife, Paddianne, at Masterton Intermediate School in 1960. Paddianne, an archivist, helped with many of his books. She received the Queen's Service Medal in the 2015 New Year Honours for her work as an archivist. She comes from a cricketing family; her cousin, Dave Crowe, was the father of famous New Zealand cricketers Martin Crowe and Jeff Crowe.

Don Neely worked as the sales and marketing manager for Rembrandt Suits for many years. He always dressed very neatly. He died on 16 June 2022 at the age of 86. His funeral was held at the Basin Reserve. He is survived by Paddianne, their three children, and seven grandchildren.