Born on 25th December 1959 in Christchurch, Canterbury, former Test and ODI player for New Zealand, Nichola Joan Turner.
A right hand batter and right-arm slow bowler, Nicki made her first class debut for Canterbury four days after her eighteenth birthday and celebrated by scoring a duck in the first innings. The captain of her team was Lesley Murdoch, with whom she would open the batting in her ODI debut in none other than a World Cup.
The “Hansells Vita Fresh Women’s World Cup” was held in New Zealand in 1981/82, Nicki scoring just 1 run in her debut, but the match, played over 60 overs was a tie, both sides making 147. Representing the White Ferns in 28 ODIs over her career which included two World Cups, Nicki scored 624 runs at the top of the order for the White Ferns with a top score of 114 against the Netherlands at the World Cup in 1988.
A Test debut came in 1984 against England at Headingley, the first of six Test matches. In her second Test, at Worcester, Nicki scored a half century in the second innings after scoring 45 in the first. In 1990 against Australia at Wellington, batting down the order, Nicki scored 65 not out, her highest score in Tests. The next Test, at home on Hagley Oval, would be her last.
Moving into coaching post career and achieved the highest coaching qualification (MCC) a controversy erupted when Nicki applied for the role of coach of the Auckland men’s team, with the successful applicant being John Bracewell, former Black Cap. Both had the same qualification, but the idea of a woman coaching a men’s team was a bridge too far at the time.