Bob Blair - cricketer

On Boxing Day 1953, Bob was set to open the bowling for New Zealand in the second test against South Africa at Ellis Park when he got the news that his fiancee Nerissa Love was among the 151 people killed in the terrible Tangiwai rail disaster on Christmas Eve that year. Distraught, Bob stayed in his hotel, listening on the radio as his team was torn apart by the South African bowling attack - the NZ batsmen were being injured and hospitalised. So he got in a taxi, went to the ground, and joined Bert Sutcliffe at the crease for a period of sporting greatness that 60 years later is still vividly recalled.