Cricket: CD Stags always had Plunket Shield in the bag but showed humanity always prevails

The Central Districts Stags celebrate retaining the Plunket Shield at Seddon Park, Hamilton, today. Photo/Photosport

On the highway of accomplishments, the milestones the Central Districts Stags and Northern Districts Knights cricketers had reached in the past four days stand out like cat's eyes glowing in the centre line, demarcating one side of the traffic with the oncoming one.

■ Doug Bracewell: 300 first-class wickets when he dismissed Daryl Flynn.
■ Ajaz Patel: 200 first-class wickets for the Stags, dismissing Dean Brownlie.
■ Kieran Noema-Barnett: 4th first-class century.
■ Dean Brownlie: 14th first-class century; 5th for ND.
■ Greg Hay: 5000 first-class runs for CD when he scored 30.

If that wasn't enough, the four-day Plunket Shield was already in the bag even before the coin was tossed and coach Heinrich Malan, keeping a low profile, was on his last hurrah for the major district association side.

But that doesn't mean the extraordinary men, with Hay at the helm, have somehow lost touch with the common denominator — people — after rising above the expectations to seize the opportunity at Seddon Park, Hamilton, today.

Yes, they lost the game by 142 runs but they had, more than retaining the shield, reminded everyone of the essence of humanity when they decided to play the game even though the Canterbury Kings, by forfeiting their game against the Wellington Firebirds at the Basin Reserve on Saturday, had ended the run chase on the bragging rights.

For that matter, it was something bigger than the accolades they will bestow on each other during their awards ceremony at the Old Church in Meeanee Rd on Friday night in a summer when the Burger King Super Smash Twenty20 trophy will have pride of place on the mantle piece of the CD headquarters in Napier.

The final round eight, red-ball game was about acknowledging the plight of the families of the victims of the mosque massacre in Christchurch last Friday, which has claimed 50 lives and left 29 injured, including a 4-year-old girl among the eight in critical condition in hospital. The gunman had indiscriminately mowed down worshippers at two mosques where moments after, the touring Bangladesh team had arrived for prayers on a bus before fleeing on foot through Hagley Park.

In the past four days, the Stags had psychologist Gary Hermansson, of Palmerston North, stationed at Seddon Park to help any players needing counselling.

Black Caps test spinner Ajaz Patel and seamer Ryan McCone, of Christchurch, were the most affected in what doubled up as a healing process for players who were stunned and shocked.

CD Stag's test spinner Ajaz Patel with outgoing coach Heinrich Malan. Photo/Photosport

A devout Muslim, Patel would have been at a mosque there at that time but had missed the selection.

McCone, whose family lives in Christchurch, was stuck in the police cordon of nearby suburbs during and in the aftermath of the attacks.

It's safe to say the Stags are unlikely to ever forget why the 2018-19 champions engraved on the shield will have a special place in their hearts.

"It's been a dark couple of days in the country and, hence, as an organisation and as a team, especially after Canterbury pulled out, wanted to show our respect not just to Canterbury but also the events that took place last week," said Malan.

He said they had made a pact not to be over excited about something that was bigger than any game of cricket so CD's goal was to make it to the end of the match regardless of the result.

"We still made sure that throughout the game we followed our process to get six points that took us well clear of where we wanted to be," he said, revealing they were reflecting quietly with an enjoyable beer after a back-to-back victories in the format which was snapshot of incremental progress over the past six years.

While it was a hard few days at the back end, the Stags had produced Black Caps talent and claimed titles with pride.

The massacre, Malan said, had reinforced and strengthened CD's culture as a tight-knit group who checked on each other's wellbeing.

The scattered catchment district meant the culture came to the fore as the Knights also showed utmost respect in the way they went about their business.

"It just put a reflection on reality in front of us and both teams came out admirably from that, which is a feather in both the camps," he said.

He said the Stags had put their arms around each other to assure everyone what it meant to be there for each other.

"It's easy to talk about culture things but the true reflection of culture is in the action," he said. "It's not just in the bad days but also in the good days to see people step up in different situations to play their roles and challenge to be better than each other."

Malan said he would now ease into his comfy lounge suite to watch a lot of IPL and ICC World Cup to see what job crops up in the next few weeks.

"If it's something that aligns with the way I look at and do things then I'll give it my best crack and see what comes up."

The Malans, with their two Kiwi boys, want to stay in New Zealand so looking abroad isn't his first preference.