*Official* NZ Domestic Season

[Mingster]

Matthew Walker's extremely handy in limited overs game on any surface, but in the longer version and on "decent wickets" he will struggle to take wickets. Very good batsman though, and his average of over 30 in FC shows that. Good to see him back playing cricket.

 

[Macka]

Has Sinclair lost any respect after saying he was interested in leaving Nz then not actually going through with it?

I don't think so. Had made a statement when he was very disappointed and then changed his mind. Who hasn't done that?

 

[cbuts]

personally he gained more respect after ripping up the selectors

 

[Smudge]

Nice story about a teammate of mine who was a net bowler for the English and Aussie teams:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/southlandtimes/0,2106,3358083a6439,00.html

 

[Smudge]

Twenty20 tournament to feature in 2005/2006 domestic season schedule

A domestic Twenty20 tournament will be introduced between Major Association teams as part of the 2005/2006 State domestic season schedule, released by New Zealand Cricket today.

NZC Chief Executive Martin Snedden said domestic Twenty20 competitions have been successfully trialled in England and South Africa and the short format tournament would provide an excellent opportunity to gauge public support in New Zealand.

The short format tournament will see two pools of three teams, with each team having one home and one away match. The top qualifiers from each pool will meet in the final on Sunday February 5 2006.

“There was a lot of public interest in the international Twenty20 match against Australia earlier this year and with the availability of the BLACKCAPS for the State teams we anticipate high interest in this tournament.

“The increased availability of the BLACKCAPS for domestic cricket will be good for the quality of the domestic competition overall and will be an added promotional draw-card for State Shield and State Championship matches.

“We have also created greater spacing between matches in the State Shield and State Championship in response to feedback from the Cricket Players Association. This initiative will provide better management of player workloads.”

http://www.nzcricket.co.nz/display.aspx?pri=20&sec=69&cid=4981&provider=0&tpl=0

Can't say I'm terribly thrilled - and Sneds' comment about public interest in the match earlier this year omits the fact most punters were more excited about the Black Caps being in beige and going retro.

 

[Smudge]

And while getting that article, I noticed this:

New Zealand umpire Doug Cowie announced his retirement from the ICC International panel and New Zealand umpiring panels today.

Cowie has been umpiring at the First Class level for 20 years and has umpired at the international level for the past ten years.

He has stood in 22 Tests, 71 One-Day Internationals, including matches at the 1999 World Cup in England, and more than 100 First Class games.

“I am still dedicated to the game and passionate about improving the role of modern umpires in cricket,” he said. “However, the satisfaction gained from the challenges of umpiring no longer outweigh the sacrifices necessary to perform on the field.

“Recent changes to cricket and umpiring have placed greater demands on umpires and I feel the time is right to refocus my priorities,” he said.

New Zealand Cricket umpires manager, Brian Aldridge said Mr Cowie’s retirement would be a loss to cricket both internationally and in New Zealand.

“Doug has been an excellent umpire during a distinguished career. He has made a significant contribution to umpiring in New Zealand and internationally.

“It is important that New Zealanders continue to umpire at the highest level and it will be difficult to fill the gap left by Doug.

“Umpiring at any level takes great commitment and we hope to develop the opportunities available to umpires in New Zealand to ensure that more can reach this level and in the future sustain a living from a career as a professional umpire.”

http://www.nzcricket.co.nz/display.aspx?pri=36&sec=68&cid=4842&provider=0&tpl=0

Fairly solid umpire. Like many, he made a few clangers, but where would we be without them?

 

[Tim]

NZ was always going to have a crack at Twenty20, it was just a matter of time.
Im willing to go along and see how it goes. I think with the international players available, there might be decent crowds.

 

[southern man]

Good news for Otago with Gaffney going to be available for the one dayers.

www.odt.co.nz

Gaffaney able to play one-dayers



By Adrian Seconi



Otago cricket received a leg up yesterday, courtesy of the long arm of the law.
Dashing opening batsman Chris Gaffaney will be available for Otago’s one-day matches this season despite not being able to take up a contract with the province because of work commitments.
Gaffaney (29) took up a position as a constable at the Dunedin police station on September 5 after graduating from police college in August.
The job change threatened to end the long-serving cricketer’s career but he told the Otago Daily Times yesterday a deal had been reached with his employers which would allow him to play in Otago’s one-day games.
“I applied to play the whole season which was denied, but the next-best solution was to make myself available for the one-dayers and use my annual leave,” Gaffaney said.
“I’m still young enough. I’ve still got the passion to play and am really excited to get the opportunity [to play cricket again].”
Gaffaney said there were issues to work out surrounding how much game time he would get leading into the domestic season.
Because of Gaffaney’s work roster, he would only be able to turn out for his club side, Green Island, three weekends from five.
In one of those weekends, Gaffaney would have to stop playing at 3.30pm to make his late shift.
“Obviously, it is not ideal but it is better than nothing,” he said.
“I sat down with the coach and the selectors and we tried to put a plan in place for what I can do and what I’m available for.”
The plan is for Gaffaney to make up for a lack of game time by spending extra time in the nets.
In the meantime, Gaffaney said he was enjoying his new job and getting rid of some ring rust playing in the Otago trial at Carisbrook.

heres an article about our overseas professional Jonathon Trott.

www.odt.co.nz

Trott keen to make runs for Otago



• Cricket


By Adrian Seconi



Jonathan Trott will become available for England selection in September, but Otago will have his services first.
The 24-year-old right-hand batsman has been plying his trade most recently for English county side Warwickshire. In 62 first-class matches, Trott has made 3894 runs at the healthy average of 40.14.
His inclusion in the Otago team this season came at the expense of out-of-form former Pakistani international Muhammad Wasim.
And with a name tailor-made for newspaper headlines, Trott is aware of how much is expected from him this season.
It is hoped Trott will be the panacea for an ailing middle-order, which was too often dismissed by opposing teams last season before making any significant contribution.
However, the South African-born Trott was playing down his recent form with the bat.
“I had a good season statistically for Warwickshire, but personally I don’t think my four-day cricket was where I wanted it to be.
“But it is another season, and that is the thing about cricket, you get another chance.
“I plan to put in the hard work here and improve as a player and contribute to, hopefully, a successful Otago side.”
Trott said he learnt of the opportunity to play his cricket in New Zealand this season through his agent and, with family living here, jumped at the chance.
Trott’s parents live in Rotorua and he has a sister living in Auckland. But despite having family ties in New Zealand, the talented batsman was eyeing a spot in the England cricket side.
He becomes available for England in September — his father is English and Trott will by then have satisfied the residency criteria.
Trott grew up in Cape Town and started playing cricket at an early age. He visited New Zealand for Christmas in 2002 but yesterday was his first full day in the South Island. He admits knowing little of Dunedin before arriving.
“I heard it was a university town, and cold.
“I know why they call it the house of pain now, because it is so cold when the wind blows.”
While he might still be adjusting to the weather, Trott said he was already feeling well ensconced, flatting with fellow Otago cricketers James McMillan, Neil Broom, Greg Todd and Aaron Redmond.
Trott said he prefers socialising to “stamp collecting” in his free time, and at the top of his list of places to see was Queenstown.
As for players on whom Trott models his game, he said: “I don’t really have a favourite. Every batsman has something special about them so I try find what’s good about their game — be it Jacques Kallis technically or Rahul Dravid.”
“Cricket is a tricky game, so I try and learn what I can wherever I can.”
Trott said he would like to “get a couple of hundreds” this season and help the team “get big scores”. So would Otago.

 

[Tim]

I find it interesting that his parents live here. Hopefully he'll help make Otago a more competitive side.

 

[southern man]

We have always been competitive, What we need is help becoming a consistently winning side. It looks like Wilson might become a one day specilist, aswell as Gaffney, so our one day team will be quite abit stronger than our 4 day team.

In the one dayers we should do alright with a batting line up of
Cumming
Gaffney
Redmond
Trott
Todd
Broom
Hopkins
But looking at one of those top six will have to go to make room for our bowlers. So not bad batting depth.

 

[Tim]

Having Trott and Broom in the team this year should definately improve the batting. Otago usually start brightly but then generally fade towards the end. They could go well this season if they can get things right.

 

[southern man]

The one dayers are where I expect our sucess to potentially be, We bat down to 11, and have a ***** load of bowlers too. Then there's that limited availability of Gaffney and potentially Wilson to only one dayers. Also when you take into account of the super sub rules we could have players like Brad Scoot or Aaron Redmond filling that role, Both capble with bat and ball.

 

[Tim]

I was interested to read recently that Hayden Shaw had quit cricket and returned to hockey. NZC would be angry over that considering they put him in Academy teams etc.
My Uncle knows him quite well down in Christchurch and he reckons he's a bit of a pre-Madonna so maybe things weren't going his way with cricket.

So I guess Canterbury must be looking for someone to take up a contract.

 

[southern man]

The guys a bloody good hockey player though, so it's no suprise that he is returning to the sport that he is best at. He will add another dimension to the mens hockey team with his defensive work and his drag flick, and as a Hockey fan I'm stocked he is returning to Hockey.

 

[Smudge]

I'm covering North Otago v Southland this weekend, so I shall keep you all posted.

 

[Blaze]

I'm covering North Otago v Southland this weekend, so I shall keep you all posted.

Godo stuff.. Wilson playing?

 

[Smudge]

Yep - I'd say he will be opening the bowling with Mark Bilcliff. Young Shaun Fitzgibbon is a pretty handy keeper-batsman for Southland as well. North Otago have Marcel McKenzie and have picked up Shaun Haig and Jarrod Waldron through the "two draftees" rule. They've also got Craig Smith bowling his handy left-armers. Should be a good tussle.

 

[southern man]

Yep - I'd say he will be opening the bowling with Mark Bilcliff. Young Shaun Fitzgibbon is a pretty handy keeper-batsman for Southland as well. North Otago have Marcel McKenzie and have picked up Shaun Haig and Jarrod Waldron through the "two draftees" rule. They've also got Craig Smith bowling his handy left-armers. Should be a good tussle.

Surely they could have picked up a player with more North Otago connections that Waldron?

 

[Right arm fast]

waldron once coached me hes coming back from a back injury isnt he?

 

[Smudge]

Surely they could have picked up a player with more North Otago connections that Waldron?

How many N.O connections does Haig have? He started out playing for Taieri at age 16 (I remember playing against the little scamp - we rolled them that day . And now he's seen the light and gone to mighty Albion ).

If they wanted to do that, then about the only option (off the top of my head) would be Sewell, and he'll have a fair bit of involvement with the Volts, so it's a bit pointless picking him. Besides, I think their batting needs bolstering more than anything.