Welcome to version nineteen of our newsletters. I hope they help keep all stakeholders in the Otago Country network up to date with the happenings within our organisation.
 
Well the season has begun in earnest with plenty happening all around the place with the Crosby Morris done and dusted with Queenstown sneaking in the back door to claim the trophy for the 2018-19 season but probably the story of this seasons competition was Caleb Carson from South Otago who by weight of runs has forced his way into the Hawke Cup team and has been added to the Otago U19 squad. Caleb stuck 74 out of 170 for our lads against a pretty strong Dunedin Metro side in the annual Stewart McKnight Trophy clash at Oturehua. It was a fine knock in fairly bowler friendly conditions.
Just a note to let you all know that Stewart recently had an ankle replacement and is in good form if not a little edgy and keen to get back on the bowling green. Really great to see Stewart at Oturehua for some of the game and thanks to Shirley for getting him there.
 
While on the subject of the McKnight family, Ken, at the ripe old age of 54 scored a double century a couple of weeks ago in club cricket over Yadina on the Sunshine Coast. Great effort Ken.
 
An exciting piece of news just received is that from next week on we will have a home at last. The Alexandra Rugby Club has agreed to let us utilise a small area upstairs at Molyneux Park for an office space. This gives us a ‘home’ and a base for Adrian and Willie to carry out their work. This is a huge step forward and I hope it is the start of a whole new relationship with the Alex Club which will benefit both organisations. A huge thanks to the ARFC for agreeing to this.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Trail Journeys for hosting Willie over the last 3-4 years and storing some of our gear. We really have appreciated your hospitality and wish you all the very best for the future.
 
Fraser Wilson and Jarred Andrew have the Hawke Cup side well organised and are confident of some good performances this coming season. Jimmy Pyle will lead the side again this season. The team is,
 
James Pyle, Captain and Wicketkeeper
Taylor Cumberland
Joel Meade
Reuben Pyle
Cam Jackson
Tim McCormick
Barry White
Kevin Loggenberg
Caleb Carson
Tom Myles
Bailey Andrews-Kennedy
Sam Blakely.
 
Unfortunately, their first game against North Otago was abandoned as early as last Thursday due to the extreme amount of rain in the Oamaru area leading into the game and both teams were awarded five points each.

This weekend they play current Hawke Cup holders Southland at Molyneux Park followed a fortnight later when they host South Canterbury at the same venue. Their last game in the Zone 4 elimination series will be 12-13 January when they travel to Ashburton to take on Mid Canterbury. Should they end as top qualifiers they will challenge Southland on 1-3 February at Queens Park in Invercargill. I’m sure you will join with us in wishing them all the very best of luck for the season.
 
We’ve got a couple of new sponsors on board this season which is great news. Both FMG https://www.fmg.co.nz/ and House of Travel https://www.houseoftravel.co.nz/hot-stores/otago-southland/alexandra have entered into partnerships with us and we are really pleased to have them on board.

We are also pleased to welcome Clare Toia-Bailey  and  www.image-central.co.nz. Clare is seen regularly at cricket all over our district and we use her photos often on our FB page.

So, if you need some insurance or travel or any photography done please use the businesses above.
 
A big thanks also to Liz Perkins at Monteith’s Bar http://www.mbba.co.nz/ in LX. Liz and her team will sponsor the new “ Sixes” to start in the New Year. Liz will also provide a staff member to help set up and organise the comp.
 
We have several funding sources that have supported us this season and I like to thank them greatly for this support,
 
Bendigo Valley Sports and Charity Foundation:
 www.bendigovalley.co.nz/
 
NZCT
http://www.nzct.org.nz/
 
The NZ Racing Board  
https://nzracingboard.co.nz/
 
The Trusts Community Foundation Ltd.
http://www.ttcfltd.org.nz/
 
Pub Charity
http://www.pubcharitylimited.org.nz/
 
It is just awesome to have these people supporting Otago Country and we ask that wherever possible can you please support them.
 
Congratulations to the following Otago Country representatives who have been selected to represent Otago at age group tournaments: 

Under 15: Paige Loggenberg, Caitlin Hollyer, Bridget Mullally, Anna Duncan, Caitlin Scherp.
Under 18: Kloe Vermeir 
Under 21: Eden Carson, Georgia Heffernan, Kate Heffernan.
Congratulations young ladies and all the best for your respective tournaments.
 
While on the subject of congratulations a special one to Toby Stanton from Queenstown who is the Otago Cricket SBS Bank Coach of the Month! Toby coaches the Division 3 Green team in Queenstown and is so well loved that some of them don't want to move up a grade! A massive thanks to Toby and all the other coaches in our Otago Country community, without you our kids wouldn't be able to get out and play the game we love.
https://www.facebook.com/OtagoCricket/photos/a.143309305694783/2878489645510055/?type=3&theater
 
Our administrator Adrian Morgan is a busy man and remains on top of everything in the OCCA. Don’t hesitate to contact Adrian should anything arise that you have a query about. Adrian can be reached on 0277333895 or email Adrian@otagocountrycricket.co.nz
 
Our two Cricket Development Officers are into their summer mode now and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them both for their contribution to our association. They play the most valuable role in the development of our game in our region. They are the face of our association and work with the most impressionable people, our youngsters. They are the experts in their role, use them. Willie Miller is back based in Alexandra and can be contacted on 0212790979 or email Willie@otagocricket.co.nz. Emma Campbell can be reached on 0211242266 or email emma@coachingsolutions.co.nz If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact either of them, or myself.
 
Keep up to date with any news of the association by checking out our Facebook page at   https://www.facebook.com/Otago-Country-Cricket-Association-133940846657978/
 
If you have anything you need to convey to the organisation feel free to contact any of the above. We are open for business.
 
Cheers,
Malcolm Jones (Jonesy)
Chairman  

​The season promised so much and delivered plenty in another very busy 12 months for the association. We headed into the season with the prospect of having a paid administrator for the first time in about 11 years. Adrian Morgan joined our ranks as a part time admin in December and has been a real asset. Adrian joined us as part of a Pilot Project with funding from NZC following the Astle/Hill review for a maximum of 20 hours per week. He has been nothing short of a huge success.
 
The Crosby Morris was held at Molyneux Park in October with the final round played in Queenstown. The Wakatipu side came out on top. There was a change in boundaries to create a more even playing field with the new configurations called Maniovalley, South Otago, Wakatipu and Upper Clutha. The Hawke Cup boys saved their best for last with a good win over Mid Canterbury at home with one highlight of the season being the documentary done by Sky Television on the Otago Country lads. This provided a real insight into the grassroots of the sport. In that game Bailey Andrews-Kennedy took 6-20 in the second innings to set up the win followed by a good chase with Liam Cotton, Barry White and Rueben Pyle chasing down the runs. The team has a great vibe going and results will follow. Fraser Wilson has introduced a development program of two fixtures against Southland teams that will help introduce up and coming players to the standard required to go to the next step.
 
Congratulations to the Queenstown Club for taking out the ‘Club of the Year Award’ at the NZC Awards. This was excellent recognition of all the work they have done promoting not only the senior club but the work they do in the youth field. It was also a pat on the back for the work Club Manager Emma Campbell undertakes not only managing but running the programs and coaching.

​How fortunate we are to get to use the magnificent facilities at both Molyneux Park and the Queenstown Events Centre. We also get to use great grounds at Clyde, Oturehua, Cromwell and the likes of Millbrook. The Molyneux Park back grounds hosted the Otago Volts pre-season with a four-day game against Canterbury the highlight following a week of training on the No 2 block which rates in the top couple of training blocks in NZ. It was brilliant to see first class cricket return to Molyneux Park and a great game ensued. Northern Districts took the honours but it was a close run thing. Congratulations to Gary Smith, Guy McCone and team at Asplundh for the playing surface, training strips and outfield provided. Great achievement first up.

​Northern Districts 456 and 135-9 dec (Jacob Duffy 5-49, Michael Rippon 4-30) beat Otago 248 and 318 (Brad Wilson 111, Anaru Kitchen 69 not out, Shawn Hicks 63; Ish Sodhi 5-124, Anton Devcich 3-40) by 25 runs. The game went late into the fourth day and finished while all around there was flooding and road closures. The Stewart McKnight game at Oturehua on the Sunday was washed out with Otago Country having posted a formidable total.
 
The Queenstown Events Centre in hosted nine games in the U19 World Cup with eight being televised. Brilliantly fine conditions for the first eight days and then the heavens opened on day nine. Such a shame as Andrew Douglas and his crew laid on superb surfaces for the boys to showcase their skills.
 
Our rep sides all performed with distinction and carried themselves well while representing our association. There was a great clip on Sky TV of the SIPST (Boys) team on the bank at Nelson during the BLACKCAPS ODI and they presented themselves very well during the brief interview. Congratulations to this side who received the Eastern Southland Fielding medal.
On the representative front, huge congratulations to Kate Heffernan who produced some outstanding performances representing Otago Country at the School Girls Tournament and went on to play for the White Ferns.
 
It takes a huge amount of work from a large number of people to get the eleven representative teams to trials, then selected, trained and then to all their games and I thank all those that contribute to make this happen. Your work is greatly appreciated.
 
Richard Golden died on the 9th January 2018 aged 79. Richard was a Life Member of Otago Country Cricket Association and was a long serving player and administrator for the Alexandra Club and Vincent Sub Association. Richard also represented Maniototo and had a stint in North Otago. He was a long serving secretary of the Vincent Association and was on the ‘Shell Committee’ that ran the 1st Class games at Molyneux Park. Senior Reserve players in the Vincent Competition play for the Richard Golden Cup. When Richard gave up playing he donned the white jacket and joined the Central Otago Umpires Association and was an active member and secretary for several years. ‘Goldie’ was a special part of our association and is sadly missed.
 
In recent years our association has signed Service Level Agreements/Partnership Agreements with Otago Cricket and NZC that included a tagged funding component which required us to complete certain functions before the tagged funding was released. We retained a level of ‘operational’ funding that came to us as of course. Moving into the current season that has all changed whereupon we now have set KPI’s to achieve before we receive any funding and a ‘risk and reward’ component should we achieve our set targets in a timely manner. A quite new challenge but one we are committed to. It should be said that OCA alongside NZC do fund our development people and part of our administrators’ payment.

​As we moved to the end of the season we lost two very well respected members of our board to retirement. Graeme Buttar and Fraser Wilson have both decided that their spare time should move in a different direction. Graeme was our Junior Cricket guru for 13 years while Fraser led that next level up and operated our Hawke Cup program for the last 4-5 years. They will both continue to contribute to the association in the future, but I would really like to thank them for the contribution they have made to our Board and association.
 
Playing numbers across the association were up slightly with an increase in senior numbers the reason. South Otago maintained six senior sides and have shown continued excitement in their formats and support for the Crosby Morris competition. The Vincent Club competition had five senior sides and nine senior reserve teams while total playing numbers in the association registered at 2,078 which was up 35 from the previous season. KiwiSport again assisted us to provide our Skills Challenge Program in schools and our development staff delivered to 4,716 participants.
 
Our association received funding and/or support from the following groups during the season and we thank them greatly. Breen Construction, New Zealand Racing Board, New Zealand Cricket, Otago Cricket, Sport Otago, White Water Plumbing, Kookaburra, Bendigo Sports and Charity Foundation, GeoSolve, Cancer Society Otago Branch, Central Otago District Council, Mark Wilson Marketing Specialist, Promo-X.
 
I would like to congratulate and thank all our great volunteers. You are the life-blood of our organisation and without you we wouldn’t exist. The mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, wives, girlfriends, partners and supporters that allow our players to enjoy our great game THANK YOU.
 
Cheers,
 
Malcolm Jones (Jonesy)
Chairman
 
25 September 2018
 

The Otago Country Cricket Association is thrilled to announce the signing of FMG as a Hawke Cup team sponsor. This is a three year partnership arrangement which is great news for cricket in our district.

"FMG’s mission is to build strong and prosperous rural communities, so it’s important to them to support associations such as the Otago Country Cricket Association."

FMG is New Zealand’s leading rural risk and advice specialist and continues to be one of the fastest growing insurance companies in NZ.

FMG has been an important part of the New Zealand farming landscape for over 113 years, helping rural and provincial New Zealanders protect their farms and livelihoods.
They provide risk advice and insurance to over 80,000 people and have around 30 offices nationwide.

Your local FMG team can help you with everything you need to manage your risks—without any middlemen. Whether you need to update a policy, make a claim or get a damage assessment, you will deal directly with them.

They provide insurance cover that’s customised for you and have a lot of experience to tap into and you can count on getting ‘advice worth listening to’.

Please give them your support where you can by getting in touch with Jarred:

Jarred Andrew
Rural Manager
e: jarred.andrew@fmg.co.nz
m: 027 674 4111
Call FMG Free: 0800 366 466 

Welcome to version seventeen of our newsletters. I hope they help keep all stakeholders in the Otago Country network up to date with the happenings within our organisation.
 
There has been plenty happened since the last newsletter and this one and I hope this version helps cover off most of it.
 
On the 15-17th January 2021 our association will celebrate 75 years as well as 25 years since we took the Fuji Xerox Cup (Hawke Cup equivalent) off Taranaki and 10 years since we won the Hawke Cup against North Otago. There has been a committee set up to organise the Jubilee/Reunion and I’m sure it will be a weekend to remember so keep your calendars free. Click on the links below to remind yourselves of the games,

versus Taranaki
https://archive.nzc.nz/Events/Fuji_Xerox_Cup_1995-96.html
 
versus North Otago
https://archive.nzc.nz/Events/Hawke_Cup_2010-11.html
 
Adrian Morgan has been in his role of Administration Manager for Otago Country now for around five months and has got his teeth firmly into the role. Adrian’s position is part time and part of a Pilot Project role agreed to by NZC, Otago Cricket and ourselves following a review conducted last year. He has completed our Health and Safety Policy and Vulnerable Persons Policy which have been adopted by the board. He has led the development of our Strategic Plan which will be ready for adoption at our July board meeting. Amongst other achievements he has completed a Facility Register for both the Queenstown Lakes District Council and the Central Otago District Council going into their Long Term Planning process, completed a Funding/Fundraising Policy and Social Media Paper. He is doing an excellent job and it’s great to have him on board. If you need to contact Adrian he can be reached on 0277333895 or email Adrian@otagocountrycricket.co.nz
 
It was great to see the Sky Sport Cricket Show segment on the Hawke Cup team during their game against the Mid Canterbury side. A top notch look at what Hawke Cup means to our players and supporters. Well done to all involved. I had contact after the show with Lon Anderson (he of the White Coat fame). Lon was chuffed the coat was still going and said he’d had a few messages from some old team mates after the show aired asking if he was still alive, in reference to the “Memorial” part on the coat. I would like to thank Sky TV for allowing us to use the clip on our Facebook page.
 
At our board meeting in May we received a letter of resignation from Graeme Buttar. Graeme had been the face of junior cricket in the Vincent and wider Otago Country area for over a decade (12 years involvement and 10 years on our board) A hugely passionate individual who was prepared to roll up his sleeves and get stuck in. There is no doubt he will be missed not only in the junior area but at the board table as well. Graeme will assist with the transition and I thank him for that. I wish him all the very best and just know the golf course will get a hammering but I also know that there will be an eye being kept in our direction. Thanks for all you’ve done for the association mate.
 
There is a meeting around the junior cricket space at Breen Construction on 7th June at 5-30pm to set up a Junior Committee. This will be important as we move into the ‘Ages and Stages’ initiative from NZC and advance that policy through Otago Country.
 
We recently held a meeting between ourselves, Otago Cricket, Asplundh Molyneux Park groundstaff and the CODC to debrief on last season and sort out what is required leading into next season. Another positive meeting with all involved. I’d like to take this opportunity on congratulating the council on their willingness to assist with improvements to Molyneux Park to future proof the wicket blocks. There is increasing pressure on the blocks especially now the new decreased pitch lengths for junior cricket mean more use and more renovations. We appreciate the work that Ian Mann, Gary and Guy are facilitating to accommodate this change.
 
At our last meeting we welcomed prominent Alexandra business woman Liz Perkins to our board. Liz has a background in competitive cycling and has been involved in Ice Skating and Figure Skating administration at local and national level. Liz is the granddaughter of Jack Alabaster who coached our Fuji Xerox Cup winning side back in 1996. Jack of course played many seasons for Otago and had a distinguished test career for New Zealand. Liz will be an excellent addition to our board.
 
Our two Cricket Development Officers are in winter mode at the moment but I would like to take this opportunity to thank them both for their contribution to our association, they play the most valuable role in the development of our game in our region. They are the face of our association and work with the most impressionable people, our youngsters. They are the experts in their role, use them. Willie Miller who is based in Dunedin over this winter can be contacted on 0212790979 or email Willie @ otagocricket.co.nz. Emma Campbell although off contract at the moment can be reached on 0211242266 or email emma@coachingsolutions.co.nz If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact either of them, or myself.
 
While it is almost impossible to hold an awards function because we are so spread out it is most important we still recognise the efforts and achievements of our players. At the end of the season the players below were recognised for their efforts by their coaches.

Here are the Otago Country Award winners for the 2017-18 season. Congratulations to all the award winners.

Hawke Cup:
Batsman of the Year, No award.
Bowler of the Year, Bailey Andrews-Kennedy.
Player of the Year, Bailey Andrews-Kennedy.

U17 Boys:
Batsman of the Year, Reece Collin & Cam Jackson
Bowler of the Year, Lachie Weir
Spirit of Cricket, Matthew Nevill
Secondary School Girls:
Batsman of the Year, Olivia Hall
Bowler of the Year, Georgia Heffernan
Spirit of Cricket, Eden Carson
U15 Boys:
Batsman of the Year, Blake Cormack
Bowler of the Year, Fergus Reid
Spirit of Cricket, Damian Carson
U15 Girls:
Batsman of the Year, Anna Duncan & Caitlin Scherp
Bowler of the Year, Bridget Mullaly
Spirit of Cricket, Paige Loggenberg
Y7-8 Boys:
Batsman of the Year, Maz Cameron
Bowler of the Year, Brooklyn Smith
Spirit of Cricket, Fletcher Marshall
Primary School Girls:
Batsman of the Year, Anna Duncan
Bowler of the Year, Nina Hamilton
Spirit of Cricket, Bridget Mullaly
Y5-6 Boys
Batsman of the Year, James Dougherty
Bowler of the Year, Xavier Small
Spirit of Cricket, Alfie Omelvena-Flame
​
I couldn’t let the end of the season pass without thanking ALL our volunteers whatever role you play within the Otago Country Association. Without you we would be nothing. We really appreciate your most valuable contribution. Hard to put into words what you mean to us but “You guys Rock”.
 
 
Keep up to date with any news of the association by checking out our Facebook page at   https://www.facebook.com/Otago-Country-Cricket-Association-133940846657978/
 
If you have anything you need to convey to the organisation feel free to contact any of the above. We are open for business.
 
Cheers,
Malcolm Jones (Jonesy) Chairman