Former Southland sportsperson of the year dies
Kevin Burns was an instrumental top-order batsman for both Southland and Otago throughout an impressive career that included him being named the 1988 Southland Sportsperson of the Year.
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One of Southland’s most notable cricketers - Kevin Burns - has died.
The 63-year-old died at his home in Queenstown on Monday night following a stoic battle with cancer.
Burns was an instrumental top-order batsman for both Southland and Otago throughout an impressive career that included him being named the 1988 Southland Sportsperson of the Year.
He played 34 Hawke Cup fixtures for Southland from 1977 through to 1992, in what was a golden cricketing era for the province.
It included captaining Southland during its Hawke Cup tenure which run from 1989 to 1992.
The left-handed batsman also played 57 first-class matches for Otago from 1980 to 1992 and a further 31 List A one-day matches.
He was part of the Otago team which won the national first-class competition in the 1985-1986 season and was also in the Otago team when it won both the Shell Cup and Shell Trophy in 1987-1988.
He also played a first-class fixture for a New Zealand XI team against the touring England team in 1988 - the same year he was named Southland Sportsperson of the Year.
Included in Burns’ many success stories on the cricket field was when he teamed up with fellow former Southland Boys’ High School pupil Richard Hoskin to put on a 235-run fourth wicket partnership for Otago against Northern Districts during the 1987-1988 season.
That same season he put on 254 runs with Ken Rutherford against Wellington for the second wicket.
Burns’ sporting deeds in Southland weren’t restricted to cricket given he was also a handy rugby player with the Pirates Rugby Club in Invercargill. He also spent some time playing for Drummond.
Murray Brown played with Burns for both Pirates in rugby and Georgetown in cricket over a number of seasons spending many days at Turnbull Thomson Park.
“We knew every blade of grass of Turnbull Thomson Park, Kevin and I, because we played both sports there,” Brown said, given the Pirates and Georgetown clubs at that time were both based at Turnbull Thomson Park.
Georgetown had a powerful team through that era given they had plenty of Southland representatives to call on through the likes of Burns, Richard Hoskin, Peter Skelt, and Peter Cowan.
Burns also become a notable businessperson, as an owner operator of Z Energy stations.
“I think people underestimate his achievements. The other side of it is how successful he and [wife] Lynne become in the business world, which was down to Kevin and Lynne’s sporting background and the way they dealt with people,” Brown said.
A service to celebrate Kevin Burns’ life will be held at the Lake Hayes Pavilion on Friday at 1pm.
Nice obit Logan, Burnsy was a huge presence on the Southland cricket scene. He and Richard Hoskin, John Wilson, John Lindsay, Robbie Hill and Peter Hills gave the province formidable representation in the Otago teams of the era. It was a reflection of a genuine effort to lift standards in the game in the province, notably through the ILT getting involved in coaching by appointing Billy Ibadulla. He was also a more than useful rugby player and provincial representation was probably only denied him by the quality of other players in his position. But he was a prolific points scorer for Pirates and a steady hand at fullback.
Very sad to read this. Kevin was a briliiant all rounder, in sport and beyond.