London New Zealand Cricket Club at the CTV Cup 7th May 2011

Match 1 report from Gerard Walsh
 

On Saturday May 7th, LNZCC was privileged to enter a team into the CTV Cup, a day of 10-man 20-20 cricket organised by Tim Wilson of Christchurch. Tim’s aim was to support of the Christchurch Earthquake Red Cross Appeal. In order to adopt the right red-and-black attitude and get into the spirit of the day, we entered a team largely made up of Christchurch or Canterbury-linked players – Sam Martin, Richard Keyse , Ben Dormer, Sam Harding, Dave Tikao, Gerard Walsh, Andrew Barkle, Jackson Locke, Doug Speedy and debutant Dougal McLachlan.

London and the UK has been having a terrifically warm dry spring but May 7th dawned with heavy rain, for the first time in more than 8 weeks. No matter - we were playing cricket whatever the weather and games got underway between the 9 teams about an hour late.

Peel Forest born, Christ’s College educated Sam Martin skippered the first 20-20 match, won the toss and we batted first against a team of young South Africans called Sabre. In yet another addition to the glorious pantheon of international sportsmen to have turned out for LNZCC, our opening pair was 2002 All Black Sam Harding (who also top-scored for the day with something like 26 runs) and well-known Barbarian and Cambridge Blue Ben Dormer. The pitch was playing low, and the Sabre side were young and keen and fielding like it too.

The LNZCC batting card included several names who have been seen in club colours since the 1990‘s - names like Barkle, Keyse, and Tikao - and an encouraging number of newer club members - Speedy, Locke, McLachlan - who will need to carry things on for years to come. Harding, Dormer and Speedy launched some big blows, and Dormer dislodged the handle of a bat in nurdling one ball over the mid-wicket boundary. Unfortunately, batsmen came and went with regularity, Harding & Dormer apart, few partnerships formed as batsmen chased the ball a little too finely and flipped catches to fielders or were subjected to some ‘interesting’ umpiring decisions. The last pair of Doug Speedy and Dougal McLachlan added welcome ‘at the death runs’ to beef up a scorecard which unfortunately did not reflect the depth of talent and skill on display. Our batting account closed as we limped to a total of 106 off our rain-shortened 16 over spell.

The bowlers looked forward to an opportunity to resuscitate the match and take advantage of a pitch that was dead slow at one end and carried nicely at the other. The giant hands of Harding (Sam’s hands are like satellite dishes) were deployed behind the stumps and new club member Dougal McLachlan was granted the honour. McLachlan and Dave Tikao bowled a tidy spell with good fielding keeping things in shape. First change bowler Andrew Barkle pinned down one end although wickets were coming only slowly. Jackson Locke and Sam Martin were both brought into the attack and restricted the runs, with Martin taking four wickets in rapid order.

With Ben Dormer at deep mid off suffering from the effects of the sun he was replaced for a number of overs on the field by 8 yr old Ben Walsh who belied his age with some very safe hands and a very good arm. Into the final overs Richard Keyse picked up a wicket and then Doug Speedy took over to bowl out the last few overs alongside Martin. By this time, the run chase was in our favour, number of wickets wasn’t so important and the Sabre side needed 13 runs off the last Speedy over. A tight fielding performance would have seen us home.

First ball - a well-placed delivery and the batsman swished and a thick edge flew wide of Sam Harding's outstretched sat-dish down through the vacant slips area to where Locke and Gerard Walsh were patrolling fine leg and third man. Walsh raced towards the ball, and dived like a porpoise with his hands cupped ready to take the ball and fire it back to the keeper. Which he did shortly after retrieving the cherry from where it had raced over the boundary rope behind him. A misfielded four off the first ball - nine to get. The Sabre team collected runs through brutally-elegant swishes and swipes and Speedy turned to deliver the last ball of the innings with the scores tied at 106. The field was called in tight, Speedy bowled a very good ball, the batsman swung and a top edge carried the ball over the keeper’s head and across the fine leg boundary for Sabre to take the win.

LNZCC then had a two hour layover before the next match versus a team of young New Zealanders called the Fancy Dans, two hours in which there was ample time to sample the excellent hospitality that Tim Wilson had arranged. This included a superb meat pack which we barbecued for lunch, some fine New Zealand wines and the phenomenally good VnC Cocktails range. The team expressed a clear preference for Pacific Maitai (in volume,) of which more in the second match report from Captain D.Tikao

With the emphasis of the day being on raising funds for Christchurch and enjoying the cricket the results and statistics were handled by the organisers. We therefore have limited accurate records of scores for the day other than the results.

Match 2 Report from Dave Tikao

The BBQ pack of prime, marinated NZ Lamb, washed down with Cider, Beer, Savignon Blanc and VnC cocktails made for a comfortable break while the team awaited their next game. In fairness, it got a bit messy.

A decent auction was in place in the VIP tenting area, with all kinds of Sporting, Kiwi and Sporting Kiwi memorabilia on display. A signed Crusaders Jersey, A signed Torres Painting, A signed Manchester United (2010/2011 Champions) Jersey , Kiwi Art from well known Kiwi Artists, it was all on the go, in aid of the EQ cause. On one of the tournament teams, was Christchurch ’s own Brendan Cole, minus his ballet pumps, so surely we must arrange to get him into the club colours at some stage, seeing as he’s no stranger to the willow and leather. Brendan stayed behind at the end of the day, to help with the clean-up, showing he has no airs and graces, and that despite his celebrity status, he’s still a Canterbury boy done good. It was a delight seeing the Man-Mountain Epi Taione there as well. Epi turned up to the tournament to assist in an administrative capacity, and on seeing the auction in progress, got himself a cab home and back, to collect some sporting memorabilia, which he then donated, and it raised even more funds towards this worthy cause.

On to the cricket. We were playing a side that had some decent players in it, and as we were going to field, and the oppo’ were going to bat, no toss was needed. The runs were fair, considering the amount of VnC had been consumed during the break. The fielding, which wasn’t our best (to be polite), across the board, in our first game, only got worse during the second game. Some memorable points to note included at least 6 of the LNZCC players taking the field with plastic glasses of Pacific Maitai to consume, during our game. Sam Martin was made to drop his beverage as a screaming cut/drive made it’s way to him in a point position, and the look on Sam’s face was priceless. If you can imagine a mix between elation at taking a fine catch, and disappointment at not being able to celebrate the wicket with a vodka cocktail. Andy Barkle had demanded he take the gloves for the game, and it was allowed as he had pulled rank on the skipper. It didn’t matter that he would have not been allowed (or capable) of driving at this particular stage. One of the best moments of the game came when Andy took a rising ball delivered by Sam Martin, inches in front of his face, which threw him off balance, and he ended up horizontal. The bowling restrictions were 3 overs a bowler, and we had a good mix of bowling. The cheer of the day was saved for youngster Ben Walsh who had come in as the teams 11th Man. Ben displayed text book fielding and a return over the sticks, not just on one occasion, which could be put down to youthful enthusiasm, mixed with athletic ability, and not Pacific Maitai. Ben Walsh, also bowled a very economical over, showing up his older team-mates. He was deservedly respected by the opposition, who were called in to defend their wickets for fear of being dismissed by the teams youngest recruit, and a certain name for the future of LNZCC. 4 more games Ben and you will be awarded your first 'LNZCC / Nottman Cap'."
Everybody batted, and as the records were not kept I cannot recall exact figures for either of the batting or bowling displays.

There was terrific support from Mike Stead & Kate, Andrew Morris, Adam Culy, Bonnie & Tamo, Karen Keyse, and the Walsh Whanau. Massive thanks to Marty for Officiating.

Sadly a loss is reported for game 2 of the CTV Cup.