Chatfield falls agonisingly short of ton in final match

[Smudge]

What an unassuming bloke who was an absolute cult hero in NZ in the 1980s:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/good-reads/...wen-chatfield-retires-from-club-cricket-at-68

[FONT=&quot]Ewen Chatfield, aka The Naenae Express, has finally run out of steam.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The 68-year-old on Saturday played his last game of cricket for his beloved Wellington club Naenae Old Boys.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]But his hopes of a first ever century eluded him one final time - he was out first ball for a "golden duck" .[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Although he was best known as a miserly bowler, he made little secret of his desire to score a century.

[/FONT]

 

[Burgey]

Legend. Didn’t realise he was still playing. Blokes a deadset ornament to the game.

 

[Smudge]

And this is him at the clubrooms afterwards - look how many times he appears on the honours board!

https://twitter.com/AaronKlee/status/1089343137087025152

 

[Burgey]

What a great story. I hope a big deal has been made of this in NZ. Seems like as good a bloke as you’d find. Was a real unsung hero. By no means an all-timer, but was so valuable to NZ back in the day.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

What a story, what a man. Pretty incredible from Chats to still keep chugging along for so many years

 

[Smudge]

What a great story. I hope a big deal has been made of this in NZ. Seems like as good a bloke as you’d find. Was a real unsung hero. By no means an all-timer, but was so valuable to NZ back in the day.

Getting a bit of coverage on Stuff so I hope it gets picked up on the national TV news tonight.

 

[harsh.ag]

A+

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Looks better than Anderson.

 

[James]

True legend of NZ Cricket, what a hero playing club cricket until now.

Btw Smudge, I've edited your post to remove the copy/paste of the article, so people go to stuff to read it.

 

[Smudge]

True legend of NZ Cricket, what a hero playing club cricket until now.

Btw Smudge, I've edited your post to remove the copy/paste of the article, so people go to stuff to read it.

Oh well, I'm sure at least 50% of the posters won't bother doing that, but whatever.

 

[trundler]

That's simply mind blowing!

 

[The Battlers Prince]

Good read. Typical kiwi, flying under the radar but world class

 

[Kirkut]

I had to confirm if the naenae cricket club was in any case related to the naenae song.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Finished his career like the Don.

One of the true greats of NZ cricket

 

[The Hutt Rec]

He gave me a verbal barrage when I gave one of my team’s batsmen not out caught behind in a club game a few years ago. Was looking forward to playing him, but it turned into a nightmare after that. Batsman clearly hit the ground with his bat, too.

 

[stephen]

How sharp was he at his age?

 

[Tom Flint]

Is it unusual for club players to still be going at that age around the world? There are plenty of old boys going around in England in Saturday league's and Sunday friendlies

 

[Burgey]

Not that unusual for blokes that age, but pretty unusual for an ex international to still be doing the rounds.

 

[stephen]

Not that unusual for blokes that age, but pretty unusual for an ex international to still be doing the rounds.

Isn't Mo Matthews still playing grade in the hope of a recall?

 

[Chubb]

I’ve played against him once a couple years ago but didn’t face him. He bowled very accurate outswing but he’d give the younger lads in his team a chance with the new ball and bat like 9-10. He almost got them home in the match chasing 120 but we got the last man out and left him stranded. Still had the hand eye to play the ball very late. Almost caught him first ball diving to my left at gully but could only get fingertips to it. A lot of guys get pics with him when they played Naenae.