His uncle John Parker also played international cricket for New Zealand while another uncle, Ken Parker, played first-class cricket for Auckland.
Parker was educated at Timaru Boys' High School[2][3] before going on to the University of Otago, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1998, with a double major in marketing and management.
[2][5][6] After having played age-group and Second XI cricket for Canterbury and Hawke Cup cricket for South Canterbury in 1993–94, Parker made his played age-group matches for Otago whilst at university in the following two seasons.
[1] Parker had spent the 2002 English season playing club cricket in Hampshire.
This biographical article related to a New Zealand cricketer born in the 1970s is a stub.