Cricket: Longevity due to camaraderie

Former Otago and New Zealand seamer David Sewell is among the familiar names in the Oamaru...
Former Otago and New Zealand seamer David Sewell is among the familiar names in the Oamaru Cricket Club's greatest XI named for the club's 150th celebrations this weekend. Photo by Craig Baxter.
The Oamaru Cricket Club has shifted around Oamaru during its 150 years.

But wherever the club has been, the camaraderie among the members has ensured a century and a-half of consecutive cricket - even in the toughest of times.

The club celebrates its sesquicentennial with a variety of events this weekend, thanks to a year of hard work from the club's seven-strong 150th committee, chaired by Mark Julius.

Oamaru president and 150th committee member Ben Coleman said at least 60 ex-members were coming from around New Zealand and Australia to attend the celebrations, which begin at the clubrooms at Excelsior tonight.

Coleman, who joined the club in 2003, highlighted camaraderie as the main factor which had ensured its longevity despite difficult times in the early 1930s when membership was dangerously low.

''I certainly get a true sense of camaraderie with Oamaru Cricket Club.'' Coleman said.

''It seems to me that there's a really high level of respect between the members of the club and I think that helps by having the life members involved who have been involved with the club for so many years being able to pass down their experiences.''

The Oamaru club is not short of notable matches in its past either.

''Oamaru has had games against an All-England XI, against Australian XIs and there have been outstanding players to represent the club throughout its history,'' Coleman said.

Former New Zealand all-rounder and captain John Reid and Otago stalwart David Sewell are the most familiar names to play for Oamaru, along with talented players of the 1920s era such as Bill Uttley, Carl Zimmermann and Fred Jones.

The Oamaru club has been set up at several grounds around Oamaru during its existence.

The club was founded on the area in central Oamaru now called Takaro Park, before moving to a ground just north of the current Oamaru Showgrounds until 1911.

In the next 50 years, the club floated from ground to ground before securing Awamoa Park in southwest Oamaru.

The club made its last move from Awamoa Park to the western fringes of Centennial Park in 2000, joining up with the Excelsior rugby club and other sporting bodies under the same roof.

Oamaru is still holding its own on the field, claiming the Borton Cup - the trophy of North Otago cricketing supremacy - in 2008, and winning the North Otago twenty20 tournament earlier this year.

''It's been a bit of rebuilding for the senior side in the last couple of years, having lost the majority of the Borton Cup-winning side of 2008,'' Coleman said.

''But all clubs go through those ups and downs. We're certainly building up again.''

Oamaru Cricket Club
Greatest XI (in batting order)

Bill Uttley (1920s-30s), Brian Papps (1960s), John Reid (1950s, captain), Bob Wilson (1960s-80s), Carl Zimmerman (1920s-30s), Tony Cartwright (1950s-80s), Fred Jones (w) (1920s-30s, vice-captain), David Sewell (1990s-2010s), Bill Cubitt (1950s-60s), Robert Hewat (1880s-90s), George Sumpter (1860s). 12th man: Stuart Dean (1990s-2000s)

 

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