Findlays keep it in the family

I T'S COMMON to hear people say cricket's in so-and-so's blood.
But how much of the red stain from a spittle-shone Red King (ball) seeps through a player's whites into the bloodstream to anoint budding cricketers?
Well, try the Findlay family for size. They will have three generations involved at the start of the 2010 Riverbend Camp in Hawke's Bay today.
Grandfather Harry Findlay is coaching the Napier Technical Old Boys under-10 team. His son, Craig, is the co-ordinator of the annual cricket camp for juniors, while older brother Graeme is father Harry's assistant and will assume the mantle of coach when Harry heads off to a funeral in Auckland on Sunday.
Today the Findlay clan broke fresh ground when Graeme's son, 8-year-old Sean, and Craig's 6-year-old son, Toby, padded up and rolled their arms under the watchful eye of their grandfather against Johnsonville (Wellington) at Frimley Park, Hastings, for their first game with a hard ball.
"Toby went to his first camp when he was still in the wife's tummy," Craig told SportToday yesterday, clarifying mum Raewyn was pregnant with Toby when he first took over the reins of the camp from Hastings stalwart Ray Mettrick in 2002.
"He hasn't missed any camps since. He's been selling raffle tickets there since and all the coaches, managers and players know him really well," said a proud Craig. He added that the proceeds from fundraising activities during the camp were invested into the development of junior cricket in the region.
When Craig coached the Napier Boys' High School first XI team two seasons ago, Toby would give the players throwdowns before progressing to rolling his arm over at the nets. Towards the end of the season, Toby padded up and the NBHS players were bowling to him and giving him throw downs.
Explained Graeme: "His parents [Craig and Raewyn] didn't get him a red uniform [NTOB's colours] so he went through the drawers, found a red T-shirt and shorts and wore them everywhere."
How serious the Findlays are about cricket is reflected in the backyard of Craig's home in Napier. The NTOB stalwart has put up a mini net, complete with a pint-sized roller and mown pitch.
Harry, who is Hawke's Bay Cricket Association president, said that when his parents got tired of playing with him in the backyard he would put all the gear on and emulate his Black Cap heroes.
"He'd come back into the house after hitting a few balls to say Brendon McCullum's out. He would then go back and bat as Jacob Oram. It's all make-believe at that age," Findlay said.
Graeme and son Sean's tale is a little different.
 Graeme played alongside Craig and youngest brother Scott for NTOB prems in the 1995-96 season against Havelock North Cricket Club at Nelson Park, Napier.
"I was an opener and I made my highest score of 70 that day," said Graeme.
 He had gravitated towards hockey, no doubt the influence of his mother, the late Judith Findlay, a former Otago, Wanganui and Rangitikei representative.
Craig interjected amid laughter: "If I remember correctly, you were playing against the Hawke's Bay Blind Club."
Graeme has fond memories of preparing for his first Riverbend Cricket Camp and getting over the mental hurdle of graduating to the hard ball.
"I remember mum standing there throwing balls at my pads and saying, 'Look, that doesn't hurt'."
Wife Angela (nee Nilsson), the Taradale High School PE teacher, was a swimmer and New Zealand junior triathlon champion, meaning she didn't really catch the cricket bug early.
To Angela's credit, she has now sat a course on cricket coaching and points out any flaws in the bowling action of Sean and his sisters, 5-year-old twins Emma and Hannah, and 4-year-old Greer, in the backyard.
Ironically, Angela did play for the Napier girls' team at the 1984 Riverbend Camp.
Graeme also recalled going out to a girl for a first-ball duck at the camp but preferred not to go there. It wasn't Angela by any chance, was it Graeme?
No, Graeme's still not going there, but elaborated: "You've got to catch the cricket bug first or else it becomes a hell of a boring game if you don't.
"Once you catch it, it stays with you for life.
"Angela told me that if Sean plays cricket then I have to be over there for him."
Brother Scott (ex-NZ indoor representative) and wife Donna (nee Trow, ex-White Fern), also have a son, Connor, who turns 3 years old this month, and who will no doubt become a pivotal member of the Findlay dynasty.
But Harry points out there's a special "import" in his NTOB U10s side.
His namesake and grand nephew, 8-year-old Harry, of Wellington, who also exorcised the demons of facing a hard ball today, was coming for a holiday here and was hopeful of playing, but his grand uncle had told him his squad was full.
"A player pulled out from our team because of his commitments to going on a holiday with his family, so on Christmas Eve I phoned him up and he got a great Christmas present," he said of Harry the boy, who is the son of rugby fanatic and runner Kevin and former Wellington indoor/outdoor representative cricketer Jo McDougall.
For the senior Harry, a former school principal, cricket has always been a passion despite having played a lot of rugby in his heyday.
"I very seldom coached my own sons because as a coach I dealt more with the Napier zone, organising junior cricket and the administrative side of things. When they made rep teams then I was involved," he said of his sons, who played for Taradale as youngsters.
"[Late wife] Judith always supported them and she never missed a game of theirs."