The summer of Cricket has been another challenging one for all involved in the sport. In the last couple of years our members faced a myriad of challenges through the pandemic but this year our Auckland based players faced a new in challenge - with the region being hit with an onslaught of rain throughout the season and a couple of weather bombs through January that rendered Eden Park’s Outer Oval and Colin Maiden Park unplayable as they bore more of a resemblance to a lake than a cricket oval.
On the park the White Ferns were recently in action in South Africa at the ICC T20 Women’s World Cup, and the Blackcaps completed a test series against England and continue to host Sri Lanka in all three formats before heading back to Pakistan for a five match T20 and ODI series. On the domestic scene we saw the strength of Canterbury Cricket with both the Magicians and the Kings in the Super Smash Finals held at Hagley Oval. The Magicians proving too strong for defending champions the Wellington Blaze (who were without their White Ferns players), to collect their sixth trophy – just one title behind their counterparts from the capital. The men’s final was a replay of last year as the Kings hosted the Northern Brave. The Kings have made the last three Super Smash finals and fallen at the final hurdle in each case. In fact the last time the Kings captured the Super Smash crown was the inaugural contest in 2006, a team that coach Peter Fulton and Brendon McCullum were playing in. The Kings will have to wait another season to shake that monkey off their back as the Brave went back-to-back with a seven-wicket victory, joining the Aces and Firebirds with four men’s T20 titles. Congratulations to all our members for making it such a memorable summer across all formats and best of luck for the remainder of the season.
In this edition of Outright we explore the connection so many cricketers have with the game of golf, and Canterbury leg spinner Sarah Asmussen shares her story of how cricket and her study in human nutrition have come together like magic. Keeping with food science former bio engineer at Fonterra Ma’ara Ave reflects on his first professional contract for Central Districts and captaining the Cook Islands. With the new Women’s Premier League underway in India we delve into the exponential growth in the women’s game, and staying in India former player Jason Spice shares a yarn about the Road Safety World Series Legends tournament, before he returned back home for the 2023 edition of the Black Clash.
Click here or on the image of the cover above for a read or head to our publications section, we hope you enjoy this edition of Outright.
Nga mihi nui
NZCPA