Life members, our test hopeful, Kotkamp's four and more

Gerry Ward was stunned when he and Bill Donaldson were awarded life membership of the Southland Cricket Association on Monday evening.

Ward knew Donaldson would be honored. After all, it was Ward who had nominated Donaldson about a month earlier.

But what followed Donaldson's recognition at the General Assembly on Monday evening came as a shock.

We did that part of the job [on Monday night] and then sat down and Allan Faithful stood up and said; What you don't actually know is that there is another one [life membership]. I was astounded. “I was blown away,” Ward said.

He shouldn't have been shocked given his level of service to the sport over many years.

Ward was born into cricket and his journey began as a baby in Miller St, when his father played for Marist.

He went on to carve out a long playing career for Marist itself, which eventually ended in his mid-40s.

Though Ward probably had the biggest impact in a coaching capacity.

Ward got into coaching when he started teaching at Tweedsmuir Intermediate School in 1984. Many of the players went on to play a lot of senior club cricket and some to higher honors – including Jeff Wilson.

He has had various roles that have promoted cricket at the various schools he has worked at over the years. He also coached an Otago Under-18 team that once won a national title.

After his coaching days, Ward also spent many seasons as a referee in Southland and was a regular member of the board of the Southland Cricket Association.

His first stint was in 1984 and in later years he was chairman of the SCA and now holds the role of president of the Southland Cricket Association.

Ward said cricket has been good to him, in terms of the people he has met through it.

I think my best friends came from cricket. You meet some really cool people; You might find yourself standing square-legged in front of a referee and end up chatting with someone for an hour or two.

While it rains, you might sit together in the pavilion for three hours.

Ward played a lot of cricket against Donaldson, who along with him became SCA's newest life member.

Donaldson has devoted a lot of time to both Appleby Cricket Club and Southland cricket in general over many years.

His family's involvement with Appleby Cricket Club dates back to the 1920s. His father played in the 1930s and Bill himself started playing for the club in 1969.

Bill has – among many other duties – been a key driver over the years in amassing a remarkable club record in terms of playing statistics.

But in addition to his work for the Appleby club, Bill has also been a key figure in the Southland Cricket Association for many years. It included more than 20 years as part of the association's board.

Ward said much of Donaldson's work in sorting out certain matters at Southland Cricket's headquarters in Queens Park has probably gone unnoticed by many.

Bill gets things fixed and puts up scaffolding around the club areas and doesn't charge anything for it.

Donaldson and Ward join Allan Faithful, Keith Adams and Ian Folster as the current living members of the Southland Cricket Association.

Another tireless Southland cricket volunteer was honored this week.

Otago Cricket runs an SBS Bank Volunteer of the Month award. Four people will be selected: one each from the Dunedin, Southland, Otago Country and North Otago districts.

They then ask the public to vote for their winner.

Hamish Murie was nominated for Southland this month and his popularity within the cricket community was highlighted when he won the vote.

Murie has done a lot for cricket over the years, whether as a groundsman, club director, junior coach, manager or many other roles.

Congratulations Hamisch.

Southland's Jacob Duffy has been named in the Black Caps test squad for the series against England starting on November 28 in Christchurch.

If Duffy can force his way into the playing XI, he will end a long drought for Southland cricket.

You have to go back to 1978 to find the last former or current Southland Hawke Cup player to play test cricket for New Zealand.

Sure, Duffy, Jeff Wilson and Brian McKechnie have played white-ball cricket for New Zealand, but not in the purist format.

It's been a long time since top batsman Robert Jumbo Anderson played his last Test for New Zealand against England 46 years ago.

You have to go back further and further to Gren Alabasters' last Test in 1972 to find Southland's last born and bred Test cricketer.

The Black Caps are likely to play four-pace bowlers on a Hagley Park pitch where spinners are almost non-existent.

Five pace bowlers have been named: Matt Henry, Tim Southee, Will ORourke, Duffy and Nathan Smith.

Henry, Southee and ORourke will almost certainly play, leaving the other opening for Duffy or his former Southern Volts teammate Smith.

If Gary Stead and Tom Latham look to strengthen the batting at No. 8, Smith averages 27 with the bat in first-class cricket and is likely to get the nod.

But this column is all about Southland, so fingers crossed Duffy gets a Test debut.

Southland wicketkeeper-batsman Nick Brown was given the opportunity to line up for Otago A in a match with a New Zealand development team in Lincoln this week.

It was a three-day competition that ran from Tuesday to Thursday. Brown contributed two runs in the first innings before top-scoring for Otago A in the second innings with 57 from 86 balls.

New Zealand Development won the match by two wickets.

Southlands Louisa Kotkamp has played a leading role in helping the Southern Sparks to a victory in the Sparks opening game of the 2024-2025 national women's season.

The Sparks took on Canterbury at Rangiora on Saturday as they began their Hallyburton Johnstone Shield title defense.

First up, the Sparks hit 198 for six from 39 overs with less rain.

Then Kotkamp and the Sparks bowlers took the lead by bowling out Canterbury for just 60 with the Gore product the choice of the bowlers who took four for 17 from seven overs.

There were some dominant performances with the ball in Southlands senior club cricket action on Saturday.

Marist bowlers Dylan Hawkes (five for 13) and Abid Younas (four for 19) run through the Blue Mountain batting line-up to dismiss them for just 69 in the match played at Miller St in Invercargill.

Marist converted the required runs in the 13th over with the loss of three wickets.

The Curve also found it hard Invercargill – Old Boys on Saturday he managed just 48 after winning the toss and batting first.

Invercargill-Old Boys needed just 7.5 overs and lost one wicket to win the match.

The Appleby, Central West Saturday's showdown in Appleby produced more runs. Appleby posted 228 for seven from his 40 overs after winning the toss and batting.

Ryan Rusk top scored with 41 off 25 balls in an innings with five sixes.

John White and Kyle Schins made sure Central-West got off to a good start in response with an opening score of 54 points.

Connor Wells top-scored later in the innings with 48 from 31 balls in an encouraging performance, but Central-Western still fell 30 runs short before being bowled out for 198.