He was New Zealand's eighth Test captain and the first to achieve victory, both at home, against the West Indies in 1956, and away, against South Africa in 1962.

He studied at the Hutt Valley High School, where he started out as a rugby union player but later switched to cricket, stemming from heart problems and bouts of rheumatic fever.

Until a swollen knee slowed down his movements and checked his agility, he was a strong and multi-talented fieldsman at slip and in the covers.

"Nobody who saw him at the crease would dispute his own assessment that he could have increased his batting average by half again if he had played in the 1980s side with Richard Hadlee and Martin Crowe.

He had suspended Pakistan fast bowler, Waqar Younis, and had fined Azhar Mahmood for ball tampering.

[2] On the death of Trevor Barber on 7 August 2015, Reid became the oldest surviving New Zealand Test cricketer.

[2] Reid married Norli Le Fevre in 1951; he had met her earlier at age 18 while she was working as a nurse at the hospital where he was being treated for rheumatic fever.

[14] In the 1962 Queen's Birthday Honours, Reid was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to sport, especially cricket.