Cricket: Gloves come off; now it's family time

Veteran Carisbrook-Dunedin wicketkeeper Tony McEntyre dives for the ball at Tonga Park yesterday. The 34-year-old is hanging up his gloves after 18 seasons. Photo by Peter McIntosh.
Veteran Carisbrook-Dunedin wicketkeeper Tony McEntyre dives for the ball at Tonga Park yesterday. The 34-year-old is hanging up his gloves after 18 seasons. Photo by Peter McIntosh.
Tony McEntyre has probably done close to 100,000 squats during the best part of the past 20 years.

It is a wonder the veteran Carisbrook-Dunedin wicketkeeper can still bend his knees.

Actually, the 34-year-old builder is still quite sprightly and could easily go on for another ''couple of years''.

But the time, he says, is right and he will ''hang up the gloves'' after today's match against Kaikorai at Tonga Park.

''It is family time now,'' McEntyre told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.

McEntyre and wife Claire have two children, daughter Isabella (4) and son Thomas (23 months).

''I've got a lot out of the game and the game has given me a lot. I'm sure I'll still continue to give back to the game.

''And I've made some friends for life.''

McEntyre, who has been on the club committee for the past six years, made his senior debut for the Colts - an Otago development team - when he was still at school in 1995.

He was trapped lbw for a duck by Robert Kennedy, who had just returned from playing for New Zealand and must have surprised McEntyre with a delivery which was on line for a change.

''That was quite some introduction,'' he said with a healthy chuckle.

Aside from his stint with the Colts, McEntyre has always played for Carisbrook-Dunedin. The club is close to his heart and it is the team triumphs which he cites as his personal highlights.

The club celebrated its 125th jubilee in 2001, and all four sides - including the senior team - won their respective competitions that year.

Carisbrook-Dunedin had a talented line-up featuring Black Caps coach Mike Hesson, who captained a side which also included former New Zealand players Kerry Walmsley and Paul Wiseman and former Otago players Warren McSkimming and Martyn Croy.

''That would have to be the highlight of my club career. It came right down to the last game that season. We beat the Colts team, which Brendon McCullum was playing for, and had to wait on the result from Taieri's game against University-Grange. We needed Taieri to either draw or win, which they did.''

Cellphones were the size of bricks back then but Carisbrook-Dunedin coach Greg Johnston had the ''brick up to his ear and was giving the boys a ball-by-ball run-down of what was happening out at Brooklands''.

''The result went our way and the champagne started flowing.''

As well as a few technology upgrades, there have been some format changes, and the arrival of twenty20 cricket has added a new dynamic.

However, McEntyre felt the biggest change to senior club cricket had been moving from two-day cricket to declaration cricket.

''I'd like to see it go back to a two-day format. I like to encourage batsman to bat a bit more time. From what I've seen, in recent years, club batsman struggle to bat time.''

McEntyre also noted Otago players used to play more club cricket, particularly before the Christmas break.

McEntyre scored just one century for his club. It was against University-Grange in 2008. He struggled to recall who was in the attack that day but he does remember his side lost.

Carisbrook-Dunedin has taken a relaxed approach to the harvesting of statistics. In other words, no-one knows how many catches McEntyre has taken or how many runs he has scored.

But as a rough guide, if he averaged about 24 catches every season for 18 seasons - he took 2007 off to build a house - he has potentially taken 432 grabs and played about 300 games.

Wickets are easier to remember. He has two of them. He caught and bowled Craig Cumming (Otago's all-time leading scorer) and also claimed Otago all-rounder Sam Wells' wicket.

''There might be a couple of others but I remember those ones.''

McEntyre also played some Hawke Cup cricket when Dunedin Metro featured in the tournament briefly. Metro won the cup in 1999-2000.

He also played in some trial matches for Otago and played in a pre-season match for the Volts against Canterbury in 2001.

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