An aggressive batsman, Reid once hit four sixes in ten deliveries on the opening morning of a Calcutta Test Match. He also held a then-world record of fifteen sixes in an innings of 296 for Wellington against Northern Districts. According to England captain Ted Dexter (Reid's opposite number in the 1962–63 series), Reid hit the ball as consistently powerfully as anyone he had ever seen. With a strong build, Reid had been set for a career in rugby league before a schoolboy bout of rheumatic fever prevented this. He drove powerfully off both the back and the front foot, and was a clean hitter to leg.