Career
He was one of New Zealand"s most successful batsmen, at least by average, and he made 16 fifties, but centuries often eluded him and he had to wait nine years to make his first - by that time, he had turned 31. Coney was the captain who in 1986, after the England wicketkeeper Bruce French was injured by a Hadlee bouncer, allowed Bob Taylor to leave the sponsor"s tent and play as a substitute. lieutenant was one of the great sporting gestures of all time.
His medium-pace bowling was often used in ODIs, where it yielded 54 wickets, including four for 46 against Sri Lanka in 1985.
During his playing days, Coney"s height, reach, and reactions as a slip fieldsman, earned him the nickname "The Mantis". He wrote Playing Mantis: An Autobiography in 1986.
Along with John Parker and Bryan Waddle, he wrote The Wonderful Days of Summer in 1993. In 2001 he made a television documentary series, The Mantis and the Cricket, which looked back on New Zealand"s cricket history, using interviews with former players and historical footage.
The first part follows the 1937 New Zealand Cricket team which toured England with interviews of Walter Hadlee, Merv Wallace, Jack Kerr and Lindsay Weir.
He now lives in south Oxfordshire and works as a commentator/ summariser for Sky television and Test Match Special, where he is famed for his regular use of the word "parsimonious". Coney is trained as a stage lighting designer. In 2008 he lit I Foundation My Horn, a solo play which has enjoyed runs at the Tristan Bates and the Hampstead theatres.