Remembering a cricket legend – RIP Ali Jordan

Obituary – Alistar Bruce Jordan (Ali)

5 September 1949 – 23 November 2025. (76 years)

THE Taranaki cricket legend has left us.

Ali passed away at his home in the presence of his family. A tough, long battle with cancer is finally over. His passing leaves a huge hole in Taranaki cricket but a mountain of memories.

Those of us who were fortunate enough to be involved with him in cricket and in friendship, feel very lucky.

Ali is the person you wanted holding on to you if you were hanging over a cliff. He was never going to let you go no matter the difficulty or the pain. He might even start a discussion on why Taranaki players never get selected for CD.

He was loyal, reliable, fiercely competitive, determined, enduring, physically powerful and mentally strong. All these aspects rolled into one, produced a cricket colossus and a true friend.

If he was in your team you backed yourself to win, and it was always with a smile that you would watch the opposition team try to deal with what Ali had in store.

It wasn’t going to be easy for them. Sometimes it was downright brutal, especially if Ali sensed they had no respect for his pace by standing out of their crease, or they were smiling at him in his follow through.

There was even an occasion when a batsman didn’t wear batting gloves – the first ball smacked into his fingers. Ali was accurate as well as fast.

No other player I have played with has performed with such an aggressive and bulletproof approach. Playing against him was no real fun though as he seemed to forget who you were.

His friendship was honest and trusting. He was a man you believed in both on and off the field.

Statistically he is a cricket giant.

Selected for Taranaki at age 16 he would play for 25 seasons, turn out 104 times and take 375 wickets, over 100 more wickets than the player in second place.

His exploits for Taranaki in the early ’70s Hawke Cup era were so outstanding he was named in the NZ Hawke Cup team of the Century in 2011.

During his playing career he would also run cricket for the local primary school for 10 seasons, lay an artificial pitch at the school, umpire on Saturday mornings and make sure coaching was available for every child who wanted it.

Following the 25 years of playing there were 22 years of coaching and selecting, where once again he was successful in lifting the Hawke Cup with his Taranaki team.

There were five very successful seasons coaching the NPBHS 1st XI, there were eight seasons of coaching Taranaki age grade teams from under 12’s to under 19’s, there was the NPOB committee work to be done where Ali was instrumental in starting ‘coaching in schools’, the Sunday League for senior teams, and the development of a practice wicket and clubrooms at Western Park.

He liked to keep busy. So much so in fact he laid a practice wicket at his Maude Road farm and carried out coaching for young cricketers. Gary Robertson, Ross Ormiston and Kate Broadmore were three very successful players who came off Ali’s farm, but there were many more.

He also fitted in games for NPBHS teams where his son Kent was playing.

Ali’s stature in Taranaki saw him awarded with Taranaki Cricket Life Membership; he is an inductee into the Taranaki Sports Hall of Fame, an ambassador of the Taranaki Events Centre Trust, and has received a Citizens Award from the NP District Council.

There was plenty more.

At 18 years of age, he played his first of 67 games for Central Districts where he would take 174 wickets over 11 consecutive seasons.

During that time, he was the spearhead of the CD attack and was relentless as he raced in over after over, bowling as quickly as he could. There were two Plunket Shield Championships along the way, and a beaten finalist spot when he captained the team in his last season.

In 1973 he was rewarded with selection in the NZ cricket team which toured Australia.

He also had a stint with Cambridgeshire in England.

Sixty years of involvement in cricket is a really, really good innings, but the true love and support in Ali’s life is the family. All the traits that made him a great person have emanated from a tight family group that has grown up and spread out along Maude Road.

Ali left school as soon as he was able, to help his father on the farm. That same farm is where Ali and his wife Dianne worked hard and brought up their three children Amanda, Kate and Kent.

They provided the cornerstone for a successful and happy family life.

Today ‘the farm’ has become ‘farms’, with Kent and wife Kim, and Amanda and partner Greg in charge of their own large parcels of the family farm, whilst schoolteacher Kate and husband Ross, own and live on a block adjacent to the farms.

Amanda and Greg have children Blake and Emily. Kate and Ross are parents to Xavier and Olivia. Kent and Kim have three girls Melah, Evie and Thea.

Ali loved his children and the grandkids, and was fond of every one of them. He spoke with a warmth and a smile when they were in the conversation and the same feelings were reciprocated from a proud close-knit family.

They had a special father and papa, and he will be sorely missed.

RIP Ali.

By Ian Snook.