The Otago Cricket Association celebrates its 150th anniversary with a luncheon for dignitaries at Wains Hotel yesterday. PHOTO: ADRIAN SECONI Honesty time. The lunch break is always one of the highlights of a cricket game. But as far as lunches go, yesterday’s was pretty special. The Otago Cricket Association (OCA) celebrated its 150th anniversary and they did it in style. The founding dinner was held at Wains Hotel — the very location where 13 men met to form the association on July 17, 1876. There were some notable apologies. The likes of Suzie Bates, Brendon McCullum and Stephen Boock were unable to attend. But 13 of the association’s 18 living life members were present, including Otago greats Warren Lees and Glenn Turner. The guest list was limited to life members, honorary members, past and present presidents and chairmen and some of Otago cricket’s most notable players. OCA chief executive Mike Coggan, who is driving the 150th celebrations, gave a speech on the association’s past and also previewed some of the events to come. Coggan said the OCA had not always done a great job of celebrating its success, but planned to play some catch-up. The association is also planning a series of Otago cricket stories, which it will start rolling out in August. Later this year, it will release a special 150th anniversary brew and Coggan is working on a commemorative book, which is turning into a much bigger project than he initially imagined. The board has agreed to form a Hall of Fame. Work is going on in the background to select the inaugural inductees. Everyone will have their own ideas on who should be in that group. But Coggan told the guests there were four immortals and it will not come as a surprise to anyone who they might be. He singled out Bert Sutcliffe, Lees, Turner and Bates, who are all bona fide Otago greats. Lees, Turner and former Otago Daily Times cricket writer Richard Boock spoke about the different eras of Otago cricket. Former Otago coach Mike Hesson and former Otago left-armer Neil Wagner got some stage time as well, and former Otago women’s players Catherine Campbell and Rachel Puller spoke about the women’s game. The afternoon was wrapped up with some cake. After all, it would not be a birthday without cake.
