Cricket: Bay stalwarts honoured for service

Bay of Plenty Cricket life members Mike Wright (left) and Derek Beard (right) back in 2003. In the centre is Graham Burnett.

Two Bay of Plenty Cricket members received a rare honour at the BOPCA prizegiving held last Thursday.

Alan Cotter and Derek Beard were awarded life membership of the Bay of Plenty Cricket Association.

The pair are just the third and fourth members to receive the honour since the BOPCA was affiliated to New Zealand Cricket in 1931.

"The board is delighted to be able to recognise two such worthy recipients who have provided fantastic service to cricket in the region over an extended period of time," Bay of Plenty Cricket chairman Richard Dey said.

"We have recently reinvigorated the life membership process and hope to be able to continue to acknowledge outstanding members in coming years.

Between 1981 and 1998 Beard became just the second Bay of Plenty player to reach 100 games for Bay of Plenty.

He played the most matches for Bay of Plenty (105), contributed the second most runs (2843) and took the most wickets (204). Beard also played eight games for Northern Districts.

Beard played 13 Hawke Cup challenges, the most by a Bay player, scoring 549 runs with a highest score of 135.

He is second on the Bay of Plenty Hawke Cup wicket tally with 21 and best bowling figures of 6/48.

He played a huge role in the organisation of the ND one-day games played at Blake Park, from 1987 until the mid-2000s and continues to give sterling service to Bay of Plenty Cricket as a board member.

Alan Cotter has a passion for cricket that dates back to his playing days, well over half a century ago.

He is a long-time Te Puke Cricket Club administrator and was one of the prime movers in upgrading the clubhouse and facilities at the picturesque Te Puke Domain.

He also played a big role in the Te Puke CC 120th and 125th jubilee celebrations in the new millennium.

Cotter picked up the administration reins at Bay of Plenty Cricket when the organisation moved to amalgamate with junior cricket in the 1990s.

He faithfully recorded the key facts and decisions around amalgamation and he published the major discussion documents, which came from the various think-tanks, that allowed Bay of Plenty Cricket to move forward.

He was also involved in the BOPCA Umpires Association for many years and his dedicated service to the Te Puke community was recognised with a Trustpower Community Services Award.

He has also been involved with a number of school committees.

Cotter lives by the philosophy that if everyone does their bit in the community then the community is a better place for it.

The two other BOPCA Life Members are long-time Bay of Plenty and Rotorua cricket administrator Alan Long and Mike Wright who rewrote the batting records during his 22 seasons playing in the Bay of Plenty uniform.

Bay of Plenty Cricket Life Members:

* Alan Long (1990) Rotorua, Michael Wright (2007) Tauranga, Derek Beard (2016) Mount Maunganui, Alan Cotter (2016) Te Puke.