CRICKET - De Terte's bat talks for him

ANYONE who has had anything to do with James de Terte will tell you he's a man of few words.
That the Taradale Cricket Club player is holidaying in Thailand, lapping up its exotic festivals and food, after a playing stint in Darwin, Australia, means SportToday wasn't going to have much joy contacting him, let alone get much out of him.
Kick in plan B. Who would know him better than his club and Hawke's Bay senior men's teammates?
His parents, Kerri and Rod de Terte, of Poraiti, of course.
Firstly Rod, points out, the 26-year-old batsman definitely does more talking with his willow.
"You can say he's economical with his words. He'll have an input but if he has nothing to say, he won't. Some even think he's arrogant," his father points out about the right-hand batsman who was the toast of the Hawke's Bay Cricket Association 2008-09 prizegiving ceremony last night at the Nelson Park Pavilion, Napier.
He became the first recipient of the Harry Findlay Cup as the Bay player of the year. It was a befitting award for de Terte who carved up a record four centuries last season in helping the Bay men retain the Hawke Cup, the symbol of minor union supremacy.
The Bay senior side last defended the cup twice in 1968 when Central Districts CEO Blair Furlong was a team member.
Said Bay senior men's coach, Dale Smidt: "It's the first time in 126 years of Hawke's Bay cricket that anyone has got four centuries in a season. He's knocking the door down on CD selection."
De Terte played one game for the CD Stags in Christchurch against Canterbury in the 2007-08 season. He managed 17 runs at No 7 but, disappointingly, didn't get more game time after that.
The psychology and philosophy graduate, who prefers to play in the V and square off the wicket, will play his 50th match for the Bay during the opening two-day elimination round Hawke Cup match against Wanganui on the weekend of November 14-15 away at Victoria Park.
In the past two seasons he has scored 958 runs, averaging 56.
Last season he had the highest aggregate runs, amassing 1052 with a split of 566 runs as a Bay senior rep and 486.
Mother Kerri aptly sums up de Terte's passion for the game, considering the former Hereworth School pupil was a CD age-group cricketer and a Hastings East and Bay age-group rugby player.
Explains Kerri: "His grandmother [Jill Wilson, of Havelock North] asked him when he was 12-years-old what he preferred, rugby or cricket.
"He thought about it before replying, 'I'd rather play cricket because you can play it whole day'. It's something we all laugh about even to this day."
Father Rod says de Terte played for the CD green team in those days when they had a yellow team too because more youngsters played to a higher standard.
As a Lindisfarne College fifth-former, de Terte broke a little bone below the thumb on his left hand and shelved rugby because he didn't want to risk further injury to his wrist in case it curtailed his cricketing aspirations. He is also a single-digit handicap golfer.
Smidt said the awards were moved to the beginning of the new season because players hadn't supported it well.
"The players go to their own club prizegiving, daylight ends and winter kicks in," he said, claiming it was also difficult to quickly compile statistics as soon as the season concluded.