[2] A left-handed batsman and a slow-medium bowler, Reese first represented his national team aged 19.

His early cricket was with the Midland club in Christchurch and his provincial team, Canterbury.

He left New Zealand to play for Melbourne Cricket Club from 1900 to 1903 before continuing to England.

His highest first-class score was 148, out of a team total of 274, for New Zealand against Lord Hawke's XI in 1902–03.

[2] When Tom Lowry was president of the New Zealand Cricket Council he made a speech in 1952 in which he declared that Reese was one of New Zealand's "five greatest cricketers", along with Syd Hiddleston, Martin Donnelly, Bert Sutcliffe and Jack Cowie.