The funeral of former Press cricket writer R T 'Dick' Brittenden was held in Christchurch today with a large crowd over-flowing to outside the funeral home.

Brittenden, who was widely regarded as the finest cricket journalist New Zealand has produced, died earlier this week.

Cricket administrators, players and supporters were joined by family and members of the newspaper and golfing fraternity.

Brittenden had a long-standing love of golf and was a former member of the Waitikiri Golf Club where, it was humorously related during the service, part of the course was still named after him from the occasion of a hole-in-one he achieved.

Playing a shot on the club's 130-metre 17th hole, Brittenden hit a low shot which passed between two bunkers in front of the green, only six metres apart, rolled up the green, hit the pin and dropped into the hole.

The approach is commonly referred to still as the "Brittenden by-pass".

However, it was for his contribution to cricket in Christchurch, Canterbury and New Zealand that he was remembered and former New Zealand representative Brian Hastings spoke on behalf of cricketers when he said Brittenden would be remembered as a man of warmth, kindness and a lovely sense of humour who had great loyalty towards his staff.

"He was a good boss, kind and generous.

"He was a wonderful tourist and players had the utmost respect for him. He knew when to keep his distance and he was regarded as an unofficial team manager.

"He was an intergral part and most popular member of touring sides," he said.

Hastings related the incident at Hyderabad in 1969 when New Zealand was playing the third Test of a series against India. The team was staying at the ground and at the end of the first day New Zealand were 181/9.

On the second day it rained, and the third day was a rest day. During the rest day Brittenden happened to notice the groundsman going out to mow the pitch only to be stopped doing so by the umpires.

This concerned Brittenden who informed the New Zealand team management, and when the groundsman went out to mow the pitch on the fourth day, the New Zealanders complained to the umpires, because the laws stated that the pitch could only be mown on every other day and the rest day was to be included.

Under the laws, the pitch should have been mown on the rest day, and the New Zealanders said it should not be mown on the fourth day. The secretary of the Board of Control in India was drawn into the debate and he eventually ruled in New Zealand's favour.

And on that fourth day, India at one stage were 49/9, before the last pair added 40 more runs.

New Zealand then declared their second innings closed at 175/8, leaving India a target of 268 to win. When they were 76/7 it started to rain and despite the best efforts of the New Zealanders the game was abandoned.

But Hastings said New Zealand were provided with a chance of winning what would have been their first series by the eagle eye of Dick Brittenden.

Hastings also recalled that much later, when he was serving as president of Canterbury Cricket, he had the pleasure of making a presentation to Brittenden marking his 60 years of covering club cricket which Hastings described as a "remarkable achievement."

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