Obituary: Frank Mooney

By D.J. CAMERON

New Zealand cricketer. Died aged 82.

Fourteen tests between 1949 and 1954, batting average of 17.15, and 30 dismissals as a wicketkeeper. On these facts Francis Leopold Hugh Mooney, who died at 82 this week, might not appear to have lived with the cricketing gods.

Yet as an outrageously unbelievable character, to whom the impossible was merely a challenge, Mooney would out-rank all his team-mates of Wellington and New Zealand.

For cricket, and life, was a constant challenge for Mooney. He moved among men who liked a drink, and a bet.

In the 1950s Mooney accepted a bet for a large sum - five figures, in pounds - that he could drive from Auckland to Wellington in under seven hours, in days before motorways and other high-speed aids.

Mooney worked hard on his bets. He had the motor of a Jaguar super-charged. He arranged for en route petrol stations to be open at certain early-morning times, and sworn to secrecy.

Mooney covered the 420 miles (675.9km) in six and a half hours, without being sighted or delayed by the Traffic Department. News of the escapade leaked and Government and civic leaders railed at the Traffic Department for allowing this unknown dare-devil to escape.

Mooney owned up, paid a modest fine, and another chapter of the Mooney legend was written.

Then there was the time when Peter Snell and Murray Halberg were running miles under four minutes. So what, said Mooney, he could run a mile in under five minutes. The bets poured in and Mooney would win a large sum if he could run a mile under five minutes.

Again Mooney, in his 40s, took pains. He insisted on a time to prepare. He trained hard each day for a month. He finished well under the five-minute target.

According to The Complete Who's Who of Test Cricketers Mooney concentrated so hard when on the field, whether batting or wicketkeeping, that he rarely spoke or smiled. In the evening his energetic socialising and dancing helped to earn him the nickname "Starlight." He was not given to early bed-times.

Mooney had only a short time at the top. Warmly respected by his team-mates, he was a fine and fluent wicketkeeper, a solid, courageous batsmen with occasional flashes of brilliance. And first choice as the team's entertainments officer. His team-mates never found life dull when "Starlight" was a-twinkle.

He did lose one bet. Travelling with the New Zealanders in the Caribbean in 1972 Mooney saw Lawrence Rowe score a double century and then a single century in the first test.

He regarded Rowe as his own "discovery", and bet that Rowe would score more runs in the test series than any one of the New Zealanders.

Glenn Turner out-scored Rowe, and Mooney was minus a bottle of his favourite tipple, Chivas Regal. Mooney is survived by his wife, Veronica, and children.