Book Title: Brave Hearts
Author(s): Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: Eye Care Foundation

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Page 161
________________ The Brave Hearts came when he became the world champion in golf in the competitions organised for the physically challenged and disabled players. This feat he achieved with sheer effort and perseverance. This made him more determined and the passion to live and play got enkindled. Born in January 12, 1940 in Christchurch in New Zealand, Richard Charles Motz was known as a fast bowler who hit sixes. He was the captain of his Linwood High School team for two years and in four innings he scored three centuries and an unbeaten seventy six. He was only seventeen when he was selected for first class cricket tournament and playing for New Zealand, Motz bowled with ferocity in the scorching heat of Kolkata and bitter cold of Edgbaston. His outswingers baffled the batsmen as the ball would move off the pitch uncannily. His wife Loretta Todd was a fast right-arm bowler and hard-hitting batsman but illness cost her place in the New Zealand women's team. He was the first New Zealand bowler to capture a hundred wickets in test cricket. His body later became invalid as some illness struck his spinal cord and he could not bowl fast. This did not deter him and in the last eighteen months of his cricketing career, he captured 24 of the 100 wickets he had taken, notwithstanding the disability. 160

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