Former Auckland and NZ Test batsman Bill Playle passed away in New South Wales, Australia at the age of 80. Born on 1 December 1938 in New Zealand, the right handed batsman made his cricket debut for New Zealand against England in June 1958.
Playle played 85 First Class games and 8 Tests in which he aggregated 2888 and 151 runs respectively. The eight Tests Playle played were all against England, before he moved to Perth in the mid-1960s, where he represented Western Australia for three seasons.
Playle made a comeback into the national side against England in the 1962-63 season for three more Test after being out of the team for a few years.
He then managed to score his only half-century for New Zealand, in which he scored a total of 65 runs at Wellington.