Where are they now? Former Black Cap Tony Blain on history-making England series, chirpy Aussies, and his greatest knock

Sunday, 24 May 2026

Tony Blain would have surely gained more appearances for New Zealand in another era.

The wicketkeeper-batter had the misfortune of playing at the same time as established No 1 Ian Smith before young gun Adam Parore then emerged once Smith retired in 1992.

Blain played 38 ODIs and 11 tests between 1986-94, being part of New Zealand’s first test series win in England on his first international tour in 1986.

A dependable gloveman for Central Districts, Blain featured in 83 first-class matches, the ninth most in Stags history, scoring 4547 runs with seven centuries.

These days, the 64-year-old is a PE teacher at Auckland’s Mt Albert Grammar School and is a black belt in Seido Karate.

Blain speaks to Brendon Egan in this week’s ‘Where are they now?’.

What do you enjoy most about teaching PE at Mt Albert Grammar?

There’s 3,700 kids. It’s one of the biggest schools in New Zealand. It’s a happy staff, happy kids. I’ve been there two and a half years and I haven’t seen a fight yet, that’s how smoothly everything runs.

I love it. You’re always on the go and on your feet and the day goes quickly and you’re having fun with the kids. You teach a bit of health and stuff from time to time, but mostly I’m on the go all day. I just love it. Plenty of fresh air and exercise and plenty of banter with the kids. It’s fantastic.

How’s the karate going these days?

I started when I finished with cricket in the late 90s and I sort of finished in the early 2000s after I got to black belt because I’d put a few things on hold going into my Shodan grading [first degree black belt]. I took a break and I never really went back and then went overseas and didn’t train overseas there. When I came back [to New Zealand] in 2024 I thought I want to see if I can give it another crack.

I’m in my 60s now. I have to take it a little bit steady and I’ve got a few injuries from time to time. I’m enjoying it again. After 22 years away I’d pretty much forgotten all my stuff, so I had to start from scratch again. I had 18 months of training as a beginner as a white belt again before they said you can have your black belt back. It’s good fun training. Good people, good fitness, and a good way to keep fit.

How did your ODI debut against Australia at Carisbrook in 1986 come about?

I never really suspected I’d be good enough to play for New Zealand at all. When I got the call up to the New Zealand team in the ‘86 season, no-one had even talked to me, no selectors. There’d been no wink, wink, nudge, nudge you’re in with a shout here. I just heard it on the radio. That’s the first inkling I had of it. It was all a bit amateur in those days. I heard it on the radio and was like ‘What the hell?’.

I had to buy my own ticket to get down from Palmerston North down to Dunedin for the game, which was happening in about 36 hours. I had to borrow the money off a club-mate to get that. I had no boots. Stephen Boock was 12th man. Luckily we had the same size feet, so I borrowed his boots. It was all very shabby. They didn’t have a track suit for me or a blazer. When I was travelling on the plane [to the next match] I was just wearing jeans and a leather jacket. Everyone else is in their blazer.

What do you remember most about your test debut against England at The Oval in 1986, which clinched a historic series win?

The game ended up being rained off. It rained pretty much all of the five days. We knew that too and we’d won the test before, so were 1-0 up in the series. Hurricane Charley was coming across the Atlantic and we knew the game was going to be rained out and there was only going to be two-three days of play. Right from the get-go we were playing for a draw and we were waiting for the weather to kill the game off, which is what happened, but we made heavy going of it.

I remember Paddles [Sir Richard Hadlee] bowled a bouncer to [Mike] Gatting, a high bouncer that got wided, but it went over Gatting and it was halfway to me, it just swung. In the end I just watched it and it went over second slip and it hit the third man boundary. That’s for a ball that started out over off stump. Once it cleared Gatting and got some breeze under it, it just took off and it went sideways. It was a phenomenal delivery.

Did you still get grief about dropping a skyer from Ian Botham in that match?

Looking back on it now, he could hit that same catch 100 times and I think I maybe would have caught it once. It was a leading edge. He teed off with the second new ball and it just went up. Apparently it was in the air for six seconds or something crazy. It landed exactly where I was standing. I didn’t move an inch, but it went so unbelievably high and it was very dark and started to swerve around in the wind.

I was running around in circles, running five yards to the left, five yards to the right, and did a couple of pirouettes. I think I dived full length in the end and it went behind me. I didn’t keep in another test match for another seven years [after that]. I had to wait seven years until [Australia’s] Justin Langer nicked it at the Basin and I had to go across low and take it.

What did it mean to be in the first New Zealand side to win a test series in England?

I think it was made a little bit sweeter because after the first match at Lord’s a reporter said to Graham Gooch, ‘You guys have struggled a bit more than you should have’ and he said, ‘Facing the New Zealand bowling attack with Hadlee and the rest is like having the World XI at one end and the Ilford second XI at the other’. A nominal club team. The difference between facing Hadlee and Chats [Ewen Chatfield] and Willie [Watson] and Derek Stirling and Jonny Bracewell. That really pissed us off. It was quite a dismissive thing to say. We said, ‘You might only consider us club cricketers mate, but we’re going to beat you’. We played in the next test, John Bracewell scored a great hundred [in Nottingham] and we clung on in the third test.

Do you ever think about how your New Zealand career might have looked if Ian Smith wasn’t playing at the same time?

A lot of people forget just how good Ian Smith was. I played with and against Smithy for 12 or more years and I can remember him missing one chance in that time. That was a difficult stumping chance off Stu Duff [for CD] down in Ōamaru in the ‘85 season. A keeper is ultimately judged on their mistakes. You can’t make catches happen, so you were judged on your error rate. His error rate would be as low, if not the lowest, of any keeper ever. I really doubt any keeper could say they had a 98% success rate that Smithy would have had.

Looking back had New Zealand Cricket had a bit more of an expansive view they may have looked to use me more as a one-day keeper to keep him fresh in tests. That didn’t occur to me either. If I had been smart I should have said to CD, I’ll open the batting in one-day games and work at it there, but I didn’t think that far ahead.

What was the best keeping catch of your career?

Anything that stuck was a bonus. I was really pleased at the Basin because I had to wait seven years after that high catch from Botham, which was kind of regrettable really. When I got the call-up at the Basin [against Australia in 1993] I really wanted a nick to come my way. That first nick off Justin Langer, it was one of those ones that was falling short of slip and it was to my left. I was really pleased with that because not only was it a good catch to get rid of a pretty handy opener, I was now on the board as a bona fide test keeper. I’d had a couple of catches in the field. When I played as a batter on the India tour in ‘88 I got a couple of catches in Bombay. That was the one I remember [at the Basin].

You played against Australia a lot internationally in your career. How did you find it testing yourself against them?

I loved it. There was two things I loved playing against Australia in Australia, they were always at you the Aussies and always giving you heaps. I just loved it. They ended up buttoning off me because when they were giving me heaps, not only was I walking out to square leg so they couldn’t get at me. They realised I was actually giggling to myself because I was kind of enjoying it. They’re only sledging me because they want to get me out. If they didn’t rate me they wouldn’t have said anything. They started to give me the silent treatment because they realised I was enjoying it too much.

The other great thing was facing Shane Warne. He was such a great bowler, but I kind of had his number in terms of staying in against him. I didn’t score many runs against him, but he didn’t get me out much in the five tests I played against him. He only got me a couple of times and each time I scored runs. I could pick him. I could pick his flipper, which was his big wicket-taker and he knew I could pick his flipper too.

What Aussies gave you the most lip?

People used to think David Boon was a big sledger, but he wasn’t. He never said a word, old Boony. He’d just sit there. He was this squat wombat of a guy with this giant moustache poking out of his bloody helmet. He just used to watch it all happen. [Ian Healy] would be saying stuff, or the Waugh brothers would be saying stuff. Warney would be cracking on. [Allan] Border would chip in every so often. Boony would say nothing.

You faced up against the might of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis for Pakistan. Just how daunting was it batting against them from either end?

I didn’t have a problem with the pace. It was just the areas they bowled really. I faced various guys who were as quick. I don’t think Wasim and Waqar bowled full noise on that tour [in 1994]. They didn’t really have to. They made quick work of us without having to go full throttle. Wasim, particularly, could do all sorts with it. It wasn’t just the pace, it was the control and being able to move the ball around.

Waqar, I didn’t find too bad. He tended to bowl two lengths. He either bowled yorkers or bouncers. I tended to just stay very still and let the ball go. I preferred the ball coming at my head because I did quite a bit of boxing training in the winters, which was very good for facing fast bowling. It’s about keeping still and moving your head just enough to get out the way. They were just quality bowlers and too good for us really.

Most memorable innings of your New Zealand career?

My favourite innings was when me and Ken Rutherford put on 66 to win at Eden Park [chasing 201 to beat Australia in 1993]. It was the last time we beat Australia in New Zealand [in a test]. When I went in to bat it basically had to be me and Ruds to get the runs because if that partnership was broken with anything other than single figures to get we wouldn’t have got there I think.

We were chasing 200-odd [201] and we were going okay. We were 100 for two or three, then wickets started to fall. I think we needed 66 from memory, so it really had to be me and Ruds. We put on 33 through to stumps in an hour or so. The next morning Aussie came out and they were all wearing their baggy greens. Some guys would usually be in hats, some wouldn’t. Some would be in floppy hats, some would be in the baggy green. The whole XI had their baggy greens on and they’re standing there eyeballing us as we walked out. I remember thinking ‘They’re trying to make some kind of statement here’. They felt if they got Ruds particularly, or me, or both of us, they could still win.

What do you make of the domestic wicketkeeping stocks in the country?

We’re quite blessed in New Zealand with keepers. Every domestic keeper I’ve seen is a good quality gloveman, every one of them. You’ve had Dane Cleaver when he’s come in he’s done really well [in white ball cricket]. He’s got a fantastic record for CD over the years. You’ve got Mitch Hay, who’s done well. I like the look of [Ben] Pomare from ND. We’re spoiled for choice for keepers in New Zealand.