Ryan first played at the age of five in Kiwi Cricket for East Shirley until he was nine. He then played for Cathedral Grammar School before entering St Andrew’s College for his secondary school education.

Ryan was of slim build and it was at this formative age that he honed his left arm slow medium bowling: nagging accuracy with a little swing movement became his hallmark. It was at St Andrew’s that he came under the coaching of Mike (Scrump) Johnston and it was here that he teamed up with some exceptionally good schoolboy cricketers that were to influence his adult playing days: Marty Kain, Andrew Duncan, Shaun Coffey, Ben McCord, Mitchell Shaw among others. He was in the 1st XI for three years before, sensibly, heading to Canterbury University to study a double degree in law and commerce. While naturally talented, cricket was not the chosen path at this stage with academia being his primary focus.

During this period Ryan (Raz) played for Canterbury Under 17 and Under 19, both teams, of which, won the National Tournament in Napier and Lincoln respectively. On leaving school he took his cricketing skills with his 1^st XI mates to the Lancaster Park Woolston Cricket Club where he came under the coaching influence of Gary MacDonald.

This was a young but highly promising club team lead by Andrew Ellis and supported by Keryn Ambler and Brandon Hiini. It was to win in these early years, the local Two-day competition and the One-day competition which saw the team at the One-day National Club Tournament which they won in 2009.

After a fine 2007 season which included Park’s Bowler of the Year award, Raz was selected for the wider Canterbury squad. This was the catalyst that provided him with a desire to pursue a sporting and academic career.

Raz debuted for Canterbury in 2009 against Otago. And what a debut!

Entering the faltering Canterbury innings at 107/7 just after lunch, Raz held up his end with his first 50 in about 150 balls before hitting a blistering final 40 runs off 30 balls to reach 102 and seeing Canterbury through to in excess of 330 runs. All this before he had scored a club fifty!

In some ways this innings epitomised the player who was to base his career on a solid work ethic, a steely determination, and a supreme fitness.

Selection at the first-class level did not come easily for Raz was in competition as a youngster with players such as Shane Bond and Chris Martin who were leading the New Zealand attack and it took him three or four seasons to establish himself.

He never had it easy and this made him the more resilient. Raz counts to more than 15 times that he was passed over or dropped from the Canterbury team. His determination and work ethic told him to move on and to focus on his game. He thrived on training and spent many hours with Marty Kain as a training buddy. Bob Carter, too, was influential in honing his skills in a professional environment.

His relationship with his fellow players was always a positive one for this popular player with a glass half-full approach to team culture. He established solid friendships with the core of the team in Andrew Ellis, Todd Astle, Hamish Bennett, Logan van Beek, George Worker and Matt Henry.

Raz became the “go-to-guy” who could bowl at either end, bowl maidens yet take wickets.

It’s worth noting that Raz was advancing his academic qualifications with his law degree completed in 2010 and his commerce degree completed in 2014, all the time maintain his professional cricket career. He tells of the time when, on completing his law degree, the very next day he played a Plunket Shield match against Auckland at QE11 and claimed a “five for”; that’s professionalism!

Eventually Raz and Jen, his wife, moved to Auckland for her business career; at about this time a new generation of young bowling tyros emerged on Canterbury’s horizon in the form of Kyle Jamieson, Ed Nuttall, and Henry Shipley. As he wasn’t always the first selected, Raz looked elsewhere to where his skills and experience could be better utilised. Compounding this were injuries: he had suffered a broken hand and stress fractures over a period of two or three years.

Fellow Canterbury bowlers in Hamish Bennet and Logan van Beek were soon to follow (to Wellington).

After discussions with Central Districts, he pulled on the green and gold colours and based his cricketing home in Napier for the 2016-17 season.

This was a young side; this was a strong side; and this was a new challenge for Raz. He embraced the move and had a satisfying first season and loved the relaxed attitude that this team brought to its game. He enjoyed the company of Marty Kain and George Worker, formerly Christchurch club players. Success followed with consecutive Plunket Shield-winning seasons in 2017-18 and 2018-19. Raz formed a formidable combination with Rance, Bracewell, Tickner, Wheeler and Milne. There was a nice irony that Richard Hayward, former Central Districts captain and Canterbury High Performance Manager, should present Raz Stags cap.

Reflections

Raz loved his time with both Canterbury and Central Districts. He enjoyed both cultures; he was popular; he made friends easily.

His individual stats and team stats are outstanding.

He was involved in five successful Plunket Shield campaigns; has this been done before?

He played 53 first-class matches taking 139 wickets with 5-46 his best haul. He scored one century and two fifties. He played 40 List A matches taking 55 wickets with 6-19 his best bowling stat. He played 30 Twenty20 matches taking 21 wickets. He was selected in the New Zealand A team to play England in 2013 and he captained a New Zealand XI against Sri Lanka A.

And what of the future after a successful and satisfying playing career?

Clearly the careful planning in gaining two university degrees is to stand Raz in good stead. He has a job in an international firm as an environmental planner and there will be no doubt that he will make a successful fist of this next part of his life. And just maybe a future in cricket administration could be on the horizon?

Article added: Wednesday 15 May 2019