Well, well, well – look who paid us a welcomed visit and caught up with the City Cricket Club lads at this weeks training session … Can anyone name either of these gents ???

First Clue
-One came off the long run up whilst wearing – it’s fair to say an extra, extra-long jersey for our successful City Reserve grade team of the 80’s.

-The other originally ran off the long run up before reverting to the short run up and becoming a very successful City Premier grade spin bowler.

Still struggling????

Second Clue
-Once described as a ‘player not of this planet’ after an incident involving a plane whilst playing in a Dargaville Shield cricket match.

-The other character was also well known for being a grumpy leg spin bowler, inventing the legendary ‘Moon ball’ that many players described as lollipops but to their demise found themselves walking back to the club rooms after being dismissed by his ‘infamous’ delivery.

Thank you for coming back to visit us – we hope the bodies weren’t too sore this morning after your net session!

City Cricket Club would officially like to announce and welcome our new professional player JAMES THOMPSON to our club for the coming cricket season.

James 19 is from Chester-le-Street, County Durham arrives in New Zealand on Saturday for the first time, as a club we are looking forward to experiencing James’ talents and what he brings to the club both on and off the field.

Jammie/Jimmie or ‘Pro’ as he is known as to many, has only just completed his season in the UK with a final which was played at the home of cricket – Lords. He is currently a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Young Cricketers and Washington Cricket Club.

Some of his achievements to date have included being part of the winning U17s National Championship along with receiving the Durham Academy player of the year in 2014 and also winning and being named man of the match in the Premier League T20 Final.

He is a top order right handed batsman capable of batting in the top 4 – this has seen him have a good season with the bat with highest scores being 103 vs  Hampshire 2XI (championship competition) along with 91 (n/o) vs Gloucestershire 2XI (one day competition).  James comes with further all-round skills and other strings to his bow, he is also a tidy right arm off spinner along with recently developing his wicket keeping skills.

Back home in England James has been described and is regarded as a very, very good fielder to the point of being involved as the sub fielder for England in the recent ashes series.

Last season James was the professional for the Claremont Nedlands Cricket Club side in Perth along where he also coached the juniors at that club. He has just passed his ECB level 2 coaching and is looking at possibly doing his level 3 in the future.

Some of his goals and plans for the future in the game involve playing first class cricket which would see him achieving another goal of signing up to a professional contract.

James is excited about being involved with City Cricket Club and has only heard good things about the club and the area from good friend Tom Smith who played as an overseas amateur here in Northland last season.

He’s looking forward to a new challenge and experiencing a different way of life along with making new friends, he enjoys geography and travelling so with that is excited about the opportunity instore.

All of City Cricket Club are looking forward to James’ arrival and playing their part in the development of his cricket along with offering a great life experience here in Northland during his stay.

As it has been highlighted in previous posts the City Cricket Club has been extremely fortunate to have very good overseas professionals involved with the club over many years.

This can certainly be said for English all-rounder Craig Rika, a right handed aggressive batsman and right arm medium fast bowler who joined the club as a professional in the 1992/93 season to play in the local Whangarei club cricket competition.

The Rika name was already famous to Northland sport, his late grandfather Kea Rika played rugby for North Auckland and late great grandfather Bill Rika was both a North Auckland, NZ Maoris and All Black forward in the late 1920’s so with that Craig came with a very good sporting pedigree.

The connection was made by City’s first class and Black Cap Bryan Young who met the youngster and his family back then when he played in England during the New Zealand off season and made arrangements for him to link Craig up with his City club.

‘Yorkie’ as he was known to many was only 19 when he arrived at the club as a young 1.88m tall strapping young athletic figure.

Back home in England he had been captaining his Woolhouse Grove School XI of Bradford and had signed as a non-contract member of the playing staff with the intention of being a paid member of the Yorkshire Academy of cricket staff which later on eventuated.

In addition to playing for his school he had also turned out for the Cleckheaton Cricket Club in the Bradford league where for three years he had been Cleckheatons young player of the year which in that time also saw him go onto play for the England U19 side.

Craig at that stage had also started to show his all-round sporting talents having also played for Yorkshire under 18’rugby team.

Craig became an extremely popular member of the City Cricket club and excelled on the field with both bat and ball – known for having a bullet arm in the outfield along with being a bowler who was somewhat of an awkward customer to face and punishing batsman who could hit a long ball.  This was no better highlighted when he cleared the City clubrooms at Cobham Oval with a towering six in a blistering innings of 150 that also saw him take out the highest club batting score for that season.

It’s fair to say as a true Englishman he enjoyed a beer or pint or two but was along with that a true gentleman and as described by many of the Whangarei and Northland female fraternity ‘absolutely gorgeous’ when attending many a social nights out with fellow City team mates and there partners at the local Forum bar night club in Whangarei.

He also was integral in doing a grand job coaching the City cricket club youngsters and for that matter was an extremely popular figure throughout junior cricket in Whangarei.

‘Yorkie’ went on to represent Northland as an all-rounder in four matches that same season scoring a well compiled 101no in a Fergus Hickey two day match against Poverty Bay.  He also played 5 one dayers for Northland and in one of those matches he produced a fine bowling spell in claiming a five wicket bag.

We unfortunately haven’t been able to track down ‘Yorkie’ since he last left New Zealand shores but if someone knows of his whereabouts or ‘Yorkie’ if you come across this post on your travels it would be great to hear from you.

Remember this lad? If you don’t it’s South African Simon Kuhn who joined the City Cricket Club as a ‘pro’ in the 2005/06 season and became extremely popular. It’s fair to say that the initiative and foresight by City Cricket Club to get a pro over saw Northland cricket follow in the trend by having options to have professional players available for other clubs under the umbrella of NCA.
Who will ever forget Kuhny’s introduction to the City Cricket club – having not long arrived in the country he was summonsed down to the City nets by a couple of the club stalwarts and severely put under the microscope by one man in particular that goes by the name of Martin (Maggot) Kimber, a former City and Northland leg spinner along with being one of City’s Life members. It’s fair to say Kuhny’s batting net on this occasion did not last particularly long after receiving his first ever ball in NZ. Kuhny after taking centre lined up to Maggots wiry and well known leg-spin deliveries.

Maggot on this occasion with a brand new ball in hand produced what he would describe to you as his ‘ball of the century’ a extremely quick leg spinning delivery (minus the spin part and certainly without the trajectory of his infamous ‘moon ball’) which found its way through Kuhny’s defence (like many, having played for Maggots turn) hitting him absolutely fair flush on the private parts and seeing him drop to the ground like a sack of spuds unable to continue his net and struggling to remove himself from the crease. After finally finding his feet in wanting to make his way out of the net as quickly as possible and away from total embarrassment and requiring sympathy Kuhny then of all things received the words from the nonchalant but fiery spinner ‘welcome to NZ Tiger’! A dashing right handed batsman along with being a tidy and agile wicket keeper not of the normal mould considering he was six foot in height and had two different sized feet!! These unorthodox characteristics even more so highlighted his talents in receiving the Young’s Platter for best club Wicket Keeper.

It was quite fitting that he and together with Owain Hopkins ‘Hutch’ also received the Kessell Trophy that year for the highest BATTING partnership of 146 runs for the season. Kuhny was not only skilled with the bat and handy behind the stumps but was a real character. It must be said that Kuhny’s sense of navigation was never that flash considering Whangarei is not all that hard to find its way around, on many occasions when labouring as a tiler for one of club members business a simple trip down the road could easily turn into a search and rescue mission in helping him find his way back to the work site. Kuhny who has recently had his first child won plaudits as a club pro enjoyed relaxing, telling a story at the bar with team mates and club members whilst enjoying a cold bevy and ciggie.

For many years between the 90’s – 2000’s City had a team which competed in the local fourth grade competition under the name of the “City Guvenors” a group of good mates who simply were madly in love with the game, would train or play if they could through rain, hail or shine along with having fun and spending many hours enjoying each other’s company in the City clubrooms at the old Cobham Oval.  The team was made up of entirely new younger members and one of the driving forces behind this group of characters was the husband and wife duo of Bruce and Sarah Kessell along with Bruce’s late father Murray.

Bruce Kessell was an integral part of this team and fair to say the ‘superstar’ of the Whangarei lower grade competitions for many years which saw him not only be prolific with both bat and ball but play a huge part in seeing the City Guvenors move up the ranks and have many successful seasons in the reserve grade competition.

On the majority of Friday evenings leading up to Saturday club matches a group of the team led by the one and only Kessel would be found honing their skills down at the City nets into the early hours of the morning down at the old Johnson and Crawford Indoor Centre – it would be frightening to know and even think what the power bill throughout the many years equated to.

Bruce Kessell was an all-rounder and free flowing top order batsman along with being a fiery right arm swing bowler who simply lead through his actions with many man of the match performances for the club.  A quick snapshot speaks for itself with his impressive performances over the years seeing him take out most of the CCC trophies that are on hand to receive. These include most wickets in a season on three different occasions, winning the best bowling average in 1992/93 and taking out the best bowling performance on four different occasions with his best bowling figures being 9 for 30 which is also the clubs record.  With the bat in hand he also achieved very impressive stats, winning the best batting average on five different occasions along with the taking out of the highest score on four different occasions including a highest score of 172no along with the Kessell family trophy for the highest batting partnership in 2007/08.

To go with all these achievements Bruce has also won the MVP player of the season along with best fieldsman and catches cup, the Wilson Platter for most overall points in a season an impressive 9 different occasions and also the prestigious trophy for City Cricket Clubs best club man in 1998/99.

Brought to our attention by one of his close team mates and partners in crime for the City Guvs, Bruce also believed that umpires for the day had just as an important job to do and never needed any extra help – obviously this helped his runs scoring at times with Bruce only walking when he ran out of petrol!

As has been highlighted, it is widely known within the club that Bruce had the clubs biggest trophy cabinet and at times needed to turn up with his very own trailer at the end of season prize giving evenings.  Not only was he a proven performer on the park for the club but also a real character that along with his family pulled together a unique group of club cricketers and supporters that shared in many special times shared by the City Cricket Club Guvs.