Dannevirke ‘Man of the Match’ in Aussie over 70s cricket tour

Alan Pond and Gordon Kuggeleijn about to open an innings.

In June this year a team of NZ Over 70s cricketers played against their counterparts in Australia. Five games were completed, (one match was rained out), with the NZ team winning two.

Matches were played in Queensland at Caboolture, Maroochydor, Noosa Head and Ballina. That meant a bit of travelling between venues but plenty of warmth and sunshine for four of the matches made for a welcome change from NZ weather here.

Matches were 40 overs with 12 cricketers aside but only 11 on the field while fielding and when batting. Once 10 wickets were taken, the team was out. Cricketers were retired after facing 40 balls, but could return at the end if less than 10 wickets had been lost within 40 overs. This system is used extensively in Australia.

Alan Pond and Gordon Kuggeleijn in the official NZ uniform.

NZ cricketers were selected from Queenstown to Auckland. Gordon Kuggeleijn (Dannevirke) and Alan Pond (Ashhurst), both from Central Districts Cricket, featured as the opening batsmen on tour.

Gordon had a successful tour scoring the most runs for the team, 129 at an average of 64.5 runs. He also took four wickets and a couple of catches and was twice awarded, “Man of the Match” by the opposition captain.

The prize was a bottle of fine Aussie red wine to help celebrate a win or relieve the pain of coming second.

The last match was against the Queensland Over 70s representative team which was won by the Queensland team in a close match played at Caboolture.

Gordon says “It is a splendid venue and fitting for any class of cricket. Club cricket is played in Australia for 10 months of the year and the carefully groomed grounds are used only for cricket. They even have paid umpires!”

The next NZ Veterans Cricket tournament in NZ is in March 2024, played in Napier

Dave Murdoch is a part-time photo-journalist working for the Bush Telegraph and based at Dannevirke. He has covered any community story telling good news about the district for the last ten years.