A burly right-arm fast-medium bowler, Derek Stirling started his first-class career brightly. Aged just 19, he took 6 for 75 against Northern Districts in January 1982, figures he never bettered. He became one of the many New Zealanders under shadow of Richard Hadlee for the rest of the decade.

He made his one-day international debut in Sri Lanka at the end of 1983-84, oddly before his selection for a Young New Zealand tour of Zimbabwe. Stirling then played all three Tests in Pakistan in 1984-85, acqutting himself well on what were trying pitches, including 4 for 88 in the third Test at Karachi.

But he fell out of favour just before New Zealand's momentous back-to-back series wins against Australia in 1985-86. Stirling responded with 26 domestic first-class wickets and toured England in 1986, where his second-innings dismissal of Derek Pringle at Nottingham helped open the door to a victory that could have slipped away. But at The Oval, in his final Test appearance, he bowled too short on a fast track, and in one over was carted by Ian Botham - returning from a ban - for 24. He played league cricket in Scotland in 1984.
Debashish Biswas