This season The Willows took part in the inaugural Kindred Cricket Competition (KCC). This national competition for over 35 year olds, involved 12 like- minded clubs from around New Zealand, who played three local matches, before meeting in Wellington for a weekend of finals in February.
Our local ‘conference’ included annual foes Hawkswood, plus teams from Blenheim (United Country & Vineyards) and Nelson (Nelson Ramblers). Unfortunately our match against Blenheim was rained out, and our match against Nelson was called off with both teams struggling to field a team in January. So our only conference match was against Hawkswood which was a severe loss for The Willows Over-35s.
As such, we took very few points into the finals weekend in Wellington, hosted by Karori Cricket Club, and were seeded toward the bottom of the table. With only eight teams travelling to Wellington, the finals weekend consisted of three 20/20 matches over two days.
In our first match we played Greytown CC. With little 20/20 experience in our Over-35s team we were not really sure how it would go. However, we restricted Greytown to 98 with some fine slow bowling from Tony Gray (3/13) and Graeme Inglis (3/10). The Willows then chased down the total in 12 overs, with Kelvin Scott (29) and Nigel Fletcher (35*) doing the damage.
And so to the semi-finals against United Country & Vineyards from Blenheim. It was an early start and it was pretty clear that The Willows had enjoyed the Wellington night life more so than the Blenheim boys! Somewhat blurry eyed we staggered to 100 off our 20 overs; however, this could have been a lot less if it hadn’t been for some rear-guard action from Hugo Davison, swotting 40 not out.
Not content to settle for a bronze medal, The Willows fired up for the defence and bowled and fielded like men half their age. The bowlers all chipped in and United were bowled out for 83.
And so into the final against competition organisers Kaipaki CC from Hamilton. Batting first it was the Kelvin Scott show, scoring an undefeated tournament top score of 84*. Supported by Glynn Howell (35), The Willows posted 145/2, their highest score of the finals weekend. To be fair, the Kaipaki boys had sampled the Wellington nightlife even more than we did!
Again the Willows bowlers stepped up and Kaipaki were bowled out for 129. Another great effort in the field, all the more astounding as by this stage there were only about eight able bodied players on the field! We may have snuck home, however we are the inaugural Kindred Cricket Competition national Champions! What followed was a great night of prize giving and celebrations! Congratulations to Kelvin Scott, Tony Gray and Graeme Inglis for deservedly being selected in the tournament team.
Thanks must go to Karori CC for hosting the finals, and organiser Kent Currie from Kaipaki CC. We will certainly be re-entering next year to defend our title!
Postscript: No mention of Hawkswood I hear you say? Sadly no. Hawkswood somehow managed to book flights for the wrong weekend! I’m sure they will be back next year to try and steal our trophy!