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2004 Dunedin
Ten outright wins kept the umpires busy. Nelson emerged winner ahead of Christchurch Red.
Teams for this Tournament:
Three grounds were used. Those at Tonga Park, (also headquarters) plus the adjoining Kings High School ground and the remaining games at Kensington Oval, about 2 kilometres distant. Teams Summary
Results SummaryResults – Day 1
Results – Day 2
Results – Day 3
Results – Day 4
Results – Day 5
Tournament Controllers ReportPlanning for this tournament began in early 2003 with the establishment of an organising committee that then met at regular intervals throughout the year. The committee comprised Richard Spence (Chairman), Peri Spence (Administrator), Tony Branks, Jean-Anne Branks, Murray Hughes, Keith Gardner of Otago Cricket and Lindsay Bartlett (Tournament Controller, appointed in April 2003). Newsletters were sent to all participating associations in April, September and November to keep all informed with progress and confirm details of accommodation, meals, opening ceremony, grounds, draw etc. A tournament booklet was produced. This included a tournament programme, details of officials, tournament conditions, lists of all teams including coaches and managers, the draw (including alternative wet weather venues), ground maps and advertising from various sponsors and its content should be seen as part of this report. At the commencement of the tournament teams were provided with tournament ‘packs’ which included the booklets, information sheets, scorecards and entertainment pamphlets. The latter were to assist with evening activities; also the possibility that weather might force abandonment of any day’s play. Accommodation was arranged at seven different venues in Dunedin, with six teams taking up what was considered to be a satisfactory arrangement with Cumberland Hall, a University Hostel which had ample available accommodation due to university holidays. For those requiring it, Cumberland Hall also supplied lunches to players, umpires and officials. GroundsWith 14 teams competing it would have been desirable to have all seven daily matches played at the same venue, but no such ground was available in Dunedin. The best compromise was to use three pitches at Tonga Park, our headquarters two at the adjoining Kings High School ground and the remaining two at Kensington Oval, about 2 kilometres distant.Tonga Park and the Oval are Dunedin City controlled grounds. Consequently the pitches were prepared and the facilities made available free of charge. The City also offered to prepare the Kings High pitches for a fee, but a more favorable arrangement was made direct with Kings whereby the pitches were prepared by their own groundsman and a donation made to school funds. All pitches were of excellent standard with many favourable comments being made and it is appropriate to place on record here our appreciation to the City staff and contractors for their work and assistance and to Kings for making their facilities available and pitch preparation. All pitches at Tonga Park and the Oval were covered each evening by the City contractors. At Kings, this was done by players and officials and no difficulty was experienced here. All these details were put into place during meetings between City staff, the Kings groundsman and the tournament controller during the months leading up to the tournament. A contingency plan was also put in place to play on artificial pitches in the event of weather rendering the turf wickets unusable. The artificial wickets were at Bayfield Park (2), Kensington Oval (2), Culling Park, Kings High School and Ocean Grove. Scoreboards were borrowed, with thanks from Kaikorai, Albion and Carisbrook/Dunedin clubs and placed at each match. Rubbish Collection An arrangement was made with Waste Management for ‘wheelie bins’ to be placed at all grounds and emptied on the Wednesday and any extra day if required, and removed at end of the week. Ground ManagersIt was decided prudent to appoint separate Ground Managers at each of the three venues. This proved to be an excellent decision as they were ‘on the spot’ to deal with any issues if the tournament controller was at another ground. My gratitude goes to Sam Jones (Tonga), Dick Dean (Kings) and particularly Murray Hughes in the comparative isolation of the Oval, remembering that Murray had also taken on responsibility for the umpires. Along with these gentlemen, Richard Spence also put in a ‘full week’ and became our fifth ground manager when the artificial wickets at five separate venues were required on the last day.UmpiresThis necessity was addressed early in the year and Murray Hughes approached John McGlashan College from where he eventually obtained the services of most of the 15 year old age group boys, with a few from other schools. Murray arranged coaching sessions with the help of Don McKechnie, the Regional Training Officer for the Otago Cricket Umpires Association, to bring them up to speed. This proved very successful, bearing in mind that the umpires were not that much older than the players and most of them had committed themselves for the full five days. As was inevitable, some minor errors were made (as in tests), but the standard remained surprisingly high given their inexperience and the pressure applied at times by the players (expected) and some over enthusiastic supporters (less appropriate). There was an instance of a ‘no show’ by an umpire (due to a communication breakdown), but this caused no delay in play, as ground officials were able to deputise until a replacement was arranged. Following is a list of umpires who officiated:-
FacilitiesAll venues had adequate changing facilities which, at Tonga No 1 and both Kings grounds were also suitable for scorers. The pitches at Tonga 2 & 3 and the Oval were however further removed from the pavilions, so it was decided to provide tents for each of theses matches. An approach was made to the Scouting organisation and after discussions with several different groups an agreement was reached with Scout groups in Green Island/Mosgiel/Saddle Hill. This resulted in the scouts erecting tents at each of the four above venues prior to each day’s play. At the end of day’s play the ground officials took down the tents with the assistance of the teams and stored them in the changing rooms, for the scouts to remove and erect again the next day. This provided shelter for the scorers, storage for equipment etc and certainly added colour to the scene (along with some tents and gazebos brought independently by some of the teams). A donation was made to Scout funds for this service.Scorers tables and chairs for Tonga Park and the Oval were supplied off the back of a truck by Richard Spence and were stored each night along with the tents. Suitable chairs and tables were in place at Kings. A supply of disposable paper cups was purchased for drinks breaks, water being served in 2 – 4 litre plastic bottles. Seven 250ml pump packs of sunblock were purchased and placed on scorer’s tables at each match. ResultsAt the end of each match each team was required to complete a result sheet and hand it to the Ground Manager. These were collated during the evening and Keith Gardner issued a summary of results to South Island Newspapers and some Radio stations. Unfortunately it was not possible to compile this summary prior to the newspapers’ deadline for printing the following day, so it was usually a further day before the results appeared in the newspapers. The web site Cricinfo also had the media release on its site. None the less the coverage was adequate and the Otago Daily Times also published some photos and an interview with our long-standing historian, Derek Cockburn. From the results an updated points table was compiled and a copy distributed to each team the following day.The umpires, as well as recording details of overs bowled by individuals (to facilitate enforcement of the rule regarding over limits), recorded on their cards fielding errors for the purpose of the eventual awarding of the Eastern Southland Fielding trophy and these cards were also collected by ground managers at the close of each day’s play Opening CeremonyThis took place at Carisbrook on the Sunday afternoon, commencing with team photographs. While this was taking place the children amused themselves by bowling to ‘Shaq”, the Otago Rugby mascot, and ‘Voltman’ the Otago Cricket mascot.The official opening followed with addresses by former New Zealand representative Stephen Boock and Dunedin City Councilor, Neil Collins who formally declared the tournament open. Tournament MeetingsAn agreement was reached with one of our sponsors, Captain Cook tavern, to have the Sunday and Thursday Coaches and Managers meetings at the tavern, and also the after match ‘Happy Hour’.Barry Townrow from the Buller team presided as judge and prosecutor (no defence attorney was permitted) at the Happy Hours held on the Monday and Thursday evenings and proceeded to issue fines to various people for their heinous misdemeanors committed during the tournament. Sunday Evening MeetingThis commenced with a minute’s silence in memory of Jim Lindsay, the Central Otago team coach, who passed away suddenly shortly prior to the tournament. All our sympathy goes to his family and all those in the cricketing fraternity who knew him.The purpose of the meeting was to reinforce the tournament format and various ‘housekeeping’ matters such as introducing match officials, clarifying location of grounds, parking, need for players and officials to assist with tents, covers, tables etc at close of play. Certain tournament conditions and expectations in regard to behaviour, not least towards umpires, were also emphasised. An umpires meeting was held on the Monday prior to commencement of play to give them their final briefing and deal with any last minute queries. Thursday MeetingIt had become evident that while the tournament has continued to be successful in its present form, it has been run an ‘ad hoc’ basis without any formal structure.A meeting was therefore called (all associations being formally notified on 1/12/03) to decide whether a process for any future change should be put in place. To ensure independence, the services of Mark Bracewell as chairman and John Innes as secretary were obtained, neither of these gentlemen having any formal connection with the tournament administration. After some discussion the meeting voted in favour of establishing a formal process, the following motion being passed. This was considered a successful result. The Tournament proper commenced on time on Monday in hot fine conditions and matches were played out without incident apart from a couple of injuries, fortunately minor, to Southland Metro players. Similar conditions, if a little cooler and windier, prevailed on Wednesday and Thursday. On Tuesday however, the players were greeted by light misty drizzle. Play nonetheless commenced pretty much on time at Tonga Park and Kings, and a little later at the Oval, with adjusted lunch breaks. During the lunch break at Kings and Tonga the drizzle gave way to heavy rain with a distinct drop in temperature. At that point there seemed no realistic prospect of a resumption of play, with the grounds becoming saturated, and, in accordance with the tournament rules, this particular point being one that was spelled out at Sunday meeting, the two ground managers, after consultation with the tournament manager, made the decision to abandon the matches at their respective grounds. At the time it was made this appeared an entirely sensible decision, although, as it transpired, play surprisingly, could have resumed later in the day, albeit in somewhat unpleasant conditions. At the Oval, the two matches had continued during the rain and although eventual abandonment appeared inevitable for some time the ground manager, again in consultation with the tournament controller and in accordance with tournament rules, allowed play to continue – which was also the wish of the teams – and the games were played to a finish. Some teams whose matches were abandoned were understandably disappointed but accepted the situation more readily than others. Some might have made greater effort to maintain their sense of proportion. It is worthy of note the Nelson, one of the teams whose match was abandoned and whose management was particularly critical of the decision (with hindsight) went on to win the tournament, thus demonstrating that they had the ability, on the field to overcome what they had believed to be an insurmountable obstacle. Future tournaments will undoubtedly address this vexed question of weather stoppages or abandonment. Obvious options are one off, all off; each game treated individually; or a ground by ground ruling as applied here. Opinions will be affected by circumstances at different centers, particularly whether all games can be played at one ground, or if not (more likely) haw many separate venues and how far apart they are. No system will be perceived by all as being completely fair to all teams and at the same time maximise the cricket played. The blanket stoppage policy could on an unsettled day, have play suspended at fine venues because it is raining at one, quite apart from abandonment. My personal recommendation would be that normal laws of cricket should prevail at each individual match. If umpires are considered too inexperienced to make what could be a difficult decision they can defer to the ground or match manager who can make the decision at each individual match. This would enable the teams probably via their coaches/managers, to opt to continue play in the unsuitable conditions if they agree. The umpires/match manager would, of course, still be required to suspend play in the event of conditions deteriorating to the extent of being dangerous. This method has the potential for some teams to be advantaged/disadvantaged by weather stoppages but that is part of cricket and is a factor in tournaments all round the cricketing world. Certainly I believe the objective should be to maximise the cricket played as a first priority and the actual winning of the tournament is a bonus. The final day, Friday, dawned to more stormy weather, compounded by the cover at one of the Kings pitches being either blown off or removed by vandals. The City advised that due to the overnight rain and morning conditions, the turf pitches would not be available for the day. The contingency plan to transfer to artificial wickets was therefore activated. Surprisingly few difficulties arose from this with all games getting under way later than scheduled, but with the ability to extend the day by a maximum of 70 minutes, and with some sensible adjustments to lunch breaks at some games (there were five separate venues) little real time was lost. The Closing Ceremony took place at Tonga Park at 6.30 p.m. somewhat later than planned due to the extension of play on the day. All teams presented behind their individual sign boards and were addressed first by Richard Spence as Chairman of the organising Committee, and then by Neville Hoskin, the tournament founder. Neville made a plea that the tournament not be subjected to major change, and in particular that it not be altered to a limited over format. The present format is, he said, akin to test cricket, and if you can’t win then you have the opportunity to show character by digging in for a draw. The winners and fielding trophies were then presented. The Sir Jack Newman Trophy - tournament winner – Nelson and the Eastern Southland Fielding trophy – Marlborough. The final formality was the announcement of the Otago and Canterbury U14 representative teams and the presentation of their caps. It remains for me to thank all those involved in the organisation of this tournament – so many people and organisations contributed in so many different ways – and all the teams who participated, along with their managers and supporters. Our best wishes to South Canterbury, the venue for the 42nd tournament in 2005. |
