Sport
10 November, 2025
Former Test Player Barry Knight Dies Aged 87
Legendary former Test cricketer Barry Knight has died aged 87 in Bundanoon today.
Legendary former Test cricketer Barry Knight has died aged 87 in Bundanoon.
Knight played 29 Test matches for England between 1961 and 1969, earning a reputation as one of the game’s most intelligent all-rounders. His first glimpse of Australian cricket came as a boy at Lord’s in 1948, watching Don Bradman’s Invincibles.
After his playing days, Knight made Australia his home in the 1970s, embarking on a highly influential coaching career that would shape generations of cricketers.
He coached a who’s who of Australian stars, including Steve Waugh, Mark Taylor, and Allan Border, and was the first coach in Australia to use video technology as a training tool. Across his Test career, Knight averaged 26 with the bat, scored two centuries, and claimed 70 wickets at an average of 30. In nearly 400 first-class matches, he amassed more than 13,000 runs and took over 1,000 wickets.
Knight’s coaching also reached beyond elite cricket. In one memorable anecdote from many years ago, shared with this correspondent in 2018, Kerry Packer asked Knight to coach his son, James Packer, and was told to “dial up” the bowling machine to its maximum speed. The result was not surprising; Packer junior didn’t pursue a cricket career, but more than 25 of Knight’s protégés went on to play Test cricket.
In the Southern Highlands, Knight is fondly remembered for his long-time presence in the cricket community. He owned and operated an indoor cricket centre on Kirkham Road, Bowral — now a popular dance studio — and continued to run school holiday coaching clinics in Bowral alongside Doug Walters and local cricket administrator Brian Martin well into his later years. Knight would always refer to Walters as "Sir Douglas", a tribute to another giant of the game.
Even while using a walking frame, Knight kept his signature camera/phone at the ready — reviewing players’ techniques frame by frame.
Those who trained under him recall a man who was calm, articulate, and quietly witty — an old-school gentleman who rewarded effort and character. “If you did a good job,” a former protege recalled, “Barry would tell you to head to the back of his car and grab a soft drink.”
The Bowral Blues Cricket Club, which Knight was affiliated with, expressed its “sincerest condolences to Barry’s family,” noting that his impact on the local cricket community “will be remembered for generations.”
Knight, a lifetime servant of the game, continued to mentor young players as recently as 2018/2019, aged 80. This correspondent had the privilege of spending many sessions with him, watching as he gently coached children as young as five — always patient, always precise.
He loved the game deeply. The game gave him everything, and in return, he gave it everything.
Barry Knight is a huge loss to cricket — and a huge loss to the Southern Highlands.
Rest in peace, Barry Knight.
Funeral details will be advised once released.
The Southern Wire has tonight spoken to several former Test and professional cricketers and we will be publishing a detailed tribute in coming days.
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Paddy Moylan is Chair of Southern Districts Cricket Zone.
Read More: Bowral, Bundanoon, Southern Highlands