Lee Germon

Lee Kenneth Germon (born 4 November 1968) is a sporting body administrator and former New Zealand cricketer, wicket-keeper and former captain.

He played for the provinces of Canterbury and Otago and is the most successful Canterbury cricket captain of the modern era.

He was made captain of the New Zealand Cricket team on his Test match debut.

He holds the unofficial record for the most runs (70), from a single over in first-class cricket.

Germon made his first class debut as a 19-year-old, playing for Canterbury against Auckland at Lancaster Park on 5 January 1988.

He became captain of an underperforming Canterbury side, succeeding Rod Latham on 31 December 1990.

In the early 1990s Germon was continually overlooked for the New Zealand side despite his wicket keeping and captaincy abilities.

Under Germon's leadership Canterbury won in the New Zealand one day game, winning the Shell Cup 50 over competition in 1991/92, 1992/93 & 1993/94, two further wins followed in 1995/96 & 1996/97.

Canterbury also won the New Zealand first class competition, the Shell Trophy, under his captaincy in 1993/94, and 1997/98, (while Canterbury also won the Shell Trophy during the 1996/97 season, Germon did not actually captain the Canterbury team in the Shell Trophy this year), Canterbury also won the one off New Zealand Action cricket trophy in 1992 (Action cricket was a forerunner to Twenty20 and Cricket Max).

At the time of his retirement from the Canterbury Team, Germon held records for dismissals for Canterbury, with 238 in 76 first class matches.

As a batsman he had scored 2336 first class runs at an average of 30.74.

During season 1993/94 Germon led Canterbury to victory in both one day and four day competitions and scored a 100 not out playing for a New Zealand XI against the visiting Pakistan side in January 1994.

After this season Germon entered the New Zealand side.

Germon was not selected for New Zealand's 1994 winter tour to England, but was included in the 1994/95 tour to South Africa when he was taken as cover for wicketkeeper/batsman Adam Parore.

On this tour Germon made his ODI debut for New Zealand on 8 December against Sri Lanka in a rain affected match at Goodyear Park, Bloemfontein; he kept wicket while Parore played as a specialist batsman.

Germon played very little cricket on the tour.

1994/95 was New Zealand's cricket's centenary season, and it proved a disaster for the New Zealand cricket team.

At its conclusion New Zealand broadcaster Murray Deaker commented that the only good thing you could say about it from the New Zealand cricket point of view was that it only came once every hundred years.

While New Zealand did not have significant success under his leadership, a steady improvement was made on the performances of the 1994/95 season.

Marred by substandard performances, disciplinary problems and a cannabis smoking scandal, the season proved a watershed in New Zealand cricket and Glenn Turner was introduced as new coach in 1995, as New Zealand cricket sought about changing the culture within the New Zealand cricket team.

Turner, upon deciding that Ken Rutherford would be replaced as captain, appointed Germon, recognising that he had the best captaincy record in New Zealand domestic cricket at the time.

Prior to making Germon captain and wicketkeeper, Turner assessed Germon's wicket keeping abilities consulting with former New Zealand wicketkeepers Barry Milburn and Ian Smith, who both considered Germon to be the best wicketkeeper in New Zealand at that time.

Former New Zealand captain and then senior squad member Martin Crowe also stated to Turner that he thought Germon as better at wicket-keeping than incumbent wicketkeeper Adam Parore.

Germon played 12 Test matches and 37 ODIs for New Zealand.

Germon's captaincy career lasted less than 2 years.

His first test was against India in October 1995, a match which New Zealand lost by 8 wickets.

Germon distinguished himself in the match, top scoring for New Zealand in both innings, making 48 and 41 runs respectively.

There were also series draws against Pakistan in New Zealand 1995/1996 (two all) and England in New Zealand in 1997 (two all).

Germon's only Test win as captain came in November 1996 when he captained New Zealand to its first Test victory over Pakistan in 26 years, in Pakistan.

ESPN cricinfo rates Germon's one day cricket captaincy success rate at 44.44%; this is below his successor Stephen Fleming's 48.04% success rate, but represented an improvement on Ken Rutherford's 30% success rate.

Germon's New Zealand side won only one ODI series, against Zimbabwe, however they won 15 games and drew two.

Germon's first one-day series in charge was against India, in India, and it resulted in a closely contested series win to India, three games to two.

He captained New Zealand to its first ever one day victories in the West Indies in 1996, in a closely fought one day series which NZ lost three games to two.

He led New Zealand to the final of the 1996 Sharjah Cup competition, defeating competition from new world champions Sri Lanka.

New Zealand lost in the final to Pakistan.

He led New Zealand to the quarter-final of the 1996 World Cup, where despite scoring their highest ever total against Australia (to that point) with 286, they lost.

Germon scored his highest ODI score of 89 in that match and finished the 1996 World Cup with a batting average of 63.66, the highest of any New Zealander and any wicketkeeper in the tournament.

Germon's final match for Canterbury was the 1997/98 Shell Cup final which Canterbury won against Northern Districts.

In this match, Germon shared in a record breaking batting partnership, when he added 160 runs with Warren Wisneski for a tenth wicket, setting the New Zealand first-class record for a tenth wicket partnership, Germon made 80 runs in his final innings.

He retired from cricket after the match, aged 29.