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Sideline Sid Sports correspondant & historian www.sunlive.co.nz |
Last Sunday heralded the first round of the Attrill Cup, which is competed for by the Bay of Plenty Cricket sub-association's representative teams, at the Te Puke Domain and Pemberton Park.
While the origins of the start of the Attrill Cup have become clouded in time, a Bay of Plenty Times report of 1938, stated 'Tauranga had relieved Opotiki of the Attrill Cup after the Eastern Bay side had held the symbol of Bay of Plenty Sub-Association cricket for seven years”.
Players at the weekend faced very different conditions from the 1950s, which is illustrated by the following yarn from Buddy Graham, of a trip to the Ureweras to play an Attrill Cup match.
'In the late 1950s, Urewera entered the Attrill Cup competition. In order to avoid a bye, Tauranga entered two teams. We drew Urewera in the first round game to be played at Minginui, a saw-milling town in the Ureweras. These games were played on Sundays, so in this case it was an early start.”
'As I was in the Tauranga A team, I was appointed manager of the B team. [At] 6am on Sunday morning, it was raining solidly in Tauranga and a phone call was made to Minginui to check on conditions there. Raining heavily as well but we were assured it would clear, so we decided to go. Three cars with four occupants each, I was the 12th man in case of emergencies, set out.”
'It rained all the way; and on arriving into Minginui we were confronted with a bog, and some pretty sodden individuals. However, miracles do happen and at midday the rain stopped. We had a grand lunch, and because of the nature of the soil the water drained away. Out came the tractor with the pitch rolled, matting put down, and play started at 1pm.”
'The team managers acted as umpires and Tauranga batted. Amazingly, at my end, the opening bowler had a wooden leg. But with a heave of the shoulders he managed a reasonable pace and was very accurate. Another medium pacer operated at the other end, and as the innings progressed it was obvious they did not have a spin bowler.”
'Urewera then batted and were doing reasonably well until the introduction of Alan Scott (a master at Tauranga College), who bowled donkey drops with an exaggerated flick of the wrist. Needless to say the locals had never seen anything like this before, and apart from the odd heave over the mid-wicket boundary, soon succumbed”.
'The other umpire had a smoke at square leg; and I am sure the keg had been opened before the number 11 batsman came in. Tauranga won on the first innings.”
'A marvellous meal was put on for us and we learned that all of Minginui belonged to the cricket club, hence the great clubrooms and facilities. A mountain of beer bottles testified to the social activities. We left in the dark for a long trip home to Tauranga, arriving about midnight. A memorable day all round.”
Tauranga Team: R Williams (captain), K Sharplin (Midlands), J Hare, R Vincent (Tauranga), B McDonald, C Fox, C Ross, M Sandlant (College), D Clapcott (Mount), J Stuart, A Scott (Albion), 12th Man: Buddy Graham.
Seeya at the game.