Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Chris Zinzan Harris | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born |
Christchurch, Canterbury |
20 November 1969 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batting style | Left-hand bat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bowling style | Right-arm medium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Role | All-rounder | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Relations |
PGZ Harris (father) BZ Harris (brother) |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Test debut (cap 181) | 27 Nov 1992 v Sri Lanka | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last Test | 28 June 2002 v West Indies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ODI debut (cap 72) | 29 Nov 1990 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last ODI | 8 Dec 2004 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ODI shirt no. | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1989/90-2009/10 | Canterbury | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2003 | Gloucestershire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2003 | Derbyshire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: CricketArchive |
Chris Zinzan Harris (born 20 November 1969 in Christchurch, New Zealand) is a former New Zealand cricketer who had become, over the course of the 1990s, a folk-hero in New Zealand cricket.
A fine left-handed middle-order batsman and deliverer of right-arm slow-medium deliveries, Harris rescued the New Zealand team's batting on numerous occasions and his deceptive looping bowling often restricted the run rates of opposition batting line-ups.
In first-class cricket Harris has played 128 matches and scored over 7000 runs at an average of over 45, including 13 centuries with a highest score of 251*. He has taken over 120 wickets at an average of 38, with best figures of 4/22. However, his test career was limited to just 23 Tests, where his average with the bat was only around 20, and he took only 16 wickets at 73 runs apiece.
Harris's biggest contribution to the game, however, is in the One Day International arena In 2004, Harris became the first New Zealand player to have played 250 ODIs, in a season in which he was also the first New Zealander to take 200 wickets, at an average of 37 and an economy rate of just 4.28. In these matches he also scored over 4300 runs at an average of 29 and has over 90 catches in the field. Harris also has a reputation for his abilities as a close fielder, achieving many run-outs with accurate throwing from positions such as square leg.
Harris had been a genuine pace bowler – albeit a wayward one – as a junior cricketer, but decided, under the watchful eye of mentor John Bracewell, to sacrifice a few yards of pace for accuracy. His gentle looping swing bowling makes the batsman work hard, as the ball is less likely to speed to the boundary, and the deceptiveness of the ball's speed often leaves them attempting to play the ball too early.
Harris currently shares with Muttiah Muralitharan the world record for the most caught and bowled dismissals in ODIs with 29.
Unfortunately, Harris's performance in his 250th match was curtailed by a serious shoulder injury, and for some time the future of his career was in doubt. In his early post-shoulder injury games, he was forced to remove the medium slow from his repertoire, and was decidedly less effective. Performances for the New Zealand A side in September 2005 were more promising, however, with several very economical performances against Sri Lanka A.