A native of Lancashire, his family emigrated to New Zealand in 1952. He was educated at Palmerston North Boys High School and Dux Ladorum but retained dual British and New Zealand nationality. A natural athlete he excelled at both cricket and football.

He made his domestic debut for Central Districts Under 23 team at Wallara in the Rothman's Under 23 Tournament in January 1964 aged 18. He played alongside Ken Wadsworth who was also making his debut and they would later be teammates in both the New Zealand Test and Central Districts sides. He subsequently made his first class debut for the senior provincial side against Wellington in December 1964 at the age of 19.

He was fast tracked into the New Zealand Test side after only 6 first class matches for the arduous tour of India and Pakistan in 1965. Making his debut in the first Test against India in Chennai he dismissed the Indian opening batsman, Dilip Sardesai, when he clean bowled him for 22 in his very first bowling spell. He went on to take 3 - 90 and a catch in the Indian first innings plus a wicket in their second innings. He played in all 4 Tests v India and 3 Test v Pakistan, scoring 168 runs at 15.27 and taking 10 wickets at 60.50. Less than a month later he arrived in England for a 10-week tour, including 3 Tests, where he topped the New Zealand batting with 281 runs at 56.20.

His maiden first class century came in his 50th match on a tour to Australia in December 1967, 3 years after his debut, when he scored 125 in a drawn match against Queensland. His best first class bowling performance was 7 - 65 (match analysis 11 - 91) against an Australian touring side in March 1967 at New Plymouth. Appointed captain of Central Districts in 1967 when he was just 22, he led them to two Plunket Shield championships in two out of the next three seasons before moving to Canterbury in order to pursue his college teaching studies. He initially captained the Canterbury side until he missed a number of matches over the following two seasons due to his reluctance to play on a Sunday. He would never play on Sundays because he was a lay preacher and this conflicted with his religious beliefs. This self-imposed restriction led him to forfeit any chance of the Test captaincy after he dropped out of the team to tour the West Indies in 1972 because several of the matches included Sunday play.