Kenneth Robert Rutherford MNZM known as “Rudders” is a former New Zealand cricketer who enjoyed a ten-year career with the national team, and was captain for a period in the 1990s. A slim, balanced and attractive batsman, Ken Rutherford battled back from a dreadful start to his international career to become a regular in the New Zealand side. But there was always the feeling that he had not made the most of his considerable talent. Had the length of the nose been the parameter to gauge a batsman’s greatness, Kenneth Robert Rutherford would have been worshipped to the same extent as Don Bradman in the cricket fraternity. The very fact that the calibre of batsmen is judged by mundane attributes like batting averages has sent poor Rutherford sliding to the bottom of the pile of specialist batsmen.

Ken Rutherford played for Kings High School first XI in Dunedin. He made the team in his third form on the Monday before he officially started at school. He would open the batting with Glen Denham. He made his debut for Otago in 1982/83 at the age of 17, batting at number six. He then was granted a scholarship at Lords in 1984. Following this, Rutherford was selected for the Young New Zealand tour of Zimbabwe. Opening the batting for Otago in 1984/85 he scored 442 runs at 44.20, including his first century, 130 against Auckland, and he was asked to open the batting for New Zealand in the West Indies at a time when West Indies were at the height of their powers. Rutherford's highest score for Otago was 226 not out against India in the 1989/90 season.

Rutherford's highest first-class score of 317, scored playing for a New Zealand touring side against a D.B.Close XI at Scarborough in 1986, achieved several records for New Zealand cricket. It contained eight sixes and 45 boundary fours, crossing the boundary rope a record 53 times. The runs were scored in a day – the most runs scored in one day by a New Zealand batsman, and 199 of the runs were scored in one session between lunch and tea. The match was something of a festival occasion, with some elderly players in the fielding ranks, and Rutherford had not played with great distinction in the test matches. It is the highest innings in the history of the Scarborough Festival, as of 2015.

Making his debut during New Zealand's tour of the West Indies in 1984/85 at the age of 19, Rutherford played in all four Test matches. Facing the West Indian pace attack, he endured a difficult time, scoring 0, 0 (run out without facing a ball), 4 (an edge through the slips), 0, 2, 1 and 5 in the series. Rutherford described that by the time the fourth test arrived "I was devastated emotionally. I couldn't handle the bombardment on the field and felt shell shocked off it." To give you an idea of the fearsome attack that Ken had to face is that Courtney Walsh was the slowest of the fast bowlers at 140km/h. Curtly Ambrose and Michael Holding opened the attack and no sooner had they gone off than Courtney Walsh came on. Ken could well and truly believe that he had a baptism of fire.

He was not selected for the tour of Australia in 1985/86, but after scoring 638 runs at 53.16 with three centuries in the Shell Trophy he returned to the Test team when Australia toured New Zealand early in 1986, this time in the middle order, scoring two fifties in the three Tests. Rutherford was a steady feature of the side after his return. However he had a habit of not converting fifties into centuries in Test cricket though he clearly had the ability to do so, as shown by his 35 first-class centuries. He captained New Zealand's team for three years, with two Test wins in 18 attempts in what was a difficult tenure as New Zealand struggled to find a replacement for the retired Richard Hadlee and suffered the decline in power of their only world class batsman, Martin Crowe.

Despite his dismal performance in the Tests Rutherford scored 104 against Test and County Cricket Board XI at Edgbaston but eventually saved his best for the last match against Brian Close’s XI at Scarborough. Rutherford had spent the night celebrating Willie Watson’s 21st birthday. He was still a bit groggy when he walked out and before anyone could realise what was going on he had reached his hundred off the last ball before lunch. A thunderous hook from Stephenson took him from 97 to 101. It had taken him 71 balls and he had not even played the whole session. Rutherford slept through lunch and sprung into mindless hitting after the interval. He later wrote in his autobiography A Hell of a Way to Make Living: “It’s difficult to recall a lot of the detail from the innings. Once he got to around 150, Rudders set his sights on beating his other Ian’s highest first-class score of 222. Once Rutherford achieved that, he so far into Wonderland Ken just went for everything.”

Trevor Franklin had fallen for 45 and after the quick wickets of Martin Crowe and Jeremy Coney New Zealand had been reduced to 113 for 4. It was Evan Gray who rose to the occasion, helping Rutherford add 319 runs in 291 balls from only 185 minutes. He himself fell for 88. Rutherford carried on like a dream; it was difficult to believe that his previous highest First-Class score was a mere 130. “The amazing thing about the innings is that it was chanceless. You’d think there would have been the odd miscue but everything seemed to find the middle of the bat and a gap in the field,” he later wrote. Yet again he reached a landmark off the last ball before a break when he hit Doshi for four to end the second session. He had reached — no, not 200 — but his triple-hundred. Rutherford had managed to score 199 between lunch and tea. He returned to the dressing-room to find Wright walking across the room uttering the words “do you believe that” in a loop.

Arguably, Rutherford's greatest success came in One Day Internationals where he won ten matches as captain and made his highest international score, with 108 in a losing cause against India. He was a member of the New Zealand side which reached the semi-finals of the 1992 World Cup, their 2nd equal best performance in the tournament's history. In the 1997 New Year Honours, Rutherford was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to cricket. Rutherford published his autobiography, A Hell of a Way to Make a Living, in 1995. With Mike Crean he wrote a book for young cricketers, Ken Rutherford’s Book of Cricket, in 1992.

After retirement from the playing side of the game, he coached the Irish national cricket team. After coaching the Ireland national team for two years he followed his interest in horse racing, returning home to work as head bookmaker for the New Zealand TAB and then filled a similar role in Singapore. Back in South Africa he then worked as chief executive of racing broadcaster Tellytrack. Since 2013 (and as of 2014) he is general manager of the Waikato Racing Club. He left Waikato Racing Club to take up a similar role in New South Wales at the end of 2019.