There might be a few more grey hairs and creaky knees, but the intensity of a series against Australia will be just as high for the New Zealand Over-50s team as it would for any other age group.
From February 19–22, the cricket fields of Nelson will welcome the Old Rival for a three-match ODI series between the NZ Over-50s (the “Greycaps”) and the Australian Over-50s. The matches are being played at Marsden Recreation Ground on February 19, Brightwater Domain on February 20, and Conway Oval (a private ground) on February 22. More details can be found at www.facebook.com/nz050s
This series will serve as a warm-up for the inaugural Over-50s World Cup, which will be held in Sydney in November/December of 2018. That tournament will see eight teams – including New Zealand, Australia, England, Sri Lanka and Pakistan – competing for the title of Over-50s World Champions.
Unlike a lot of veterans’ cricket, which tends to be played in a festival-style setting, this month’s series and the World Cup will be serious and competitive. There are no compulsory retirements for batsmen, the matches are 50-overs-a-side, and the traditional New Zealand–Australia rivalry will no doubt be as strong as it always is. The captain of the Australian side, Paul Stenhouse, said “As with most sports against our neighbours, I’m sure it will be very competitive but also played in good spirits.” He added, with tongue in cheek, that “No underarm – I mean underhanded – tactics are expected!”
For many of the New Zealand players, selection in this team has served as a great motivation to keep playing. Andrew Spence, a wicketkeeper-batsman from Wanganui, said “I’m looking forward to playing against and with players of a similar age and lifting my skill set to those around me.” Rudie Swanepoel, from Cambridge, went even further, saying that selection in the team was “better than winning Lotto”.
The Greycaps team features an ex-international, in all-rounder Richard Petrie, as well as former first-class players Dean Askew, Adrian Dale and Andrew Nuttall. Nuttall, the oldest member of the side, was also part of the New Zealand Over-60s side, which recently competed in the Australian National Over-60s Championships. He said, “It’s great to be able to keep playing, and having these tournaments to target provides that additional incentive to go for that extra jog around the park. I’m looking forward to the development of a NZ Over-50s tournament as this will help keep some 40-year-olds in the game.”
New Zealand team manager and selector, Jim Morrison, said: “What you find with over-50s teams, both in New Zealand and Australia, is that the best players are usually those who have continued playing club cricket right through, not those who used to play at a high level but then stopped.” An important criterion for selection, according to Morrison, is that players are playing regular cricket.
With no formal over-50s cricket structure in New Zealand, selecting this first-ever side was difficult. “I was starting from scratch, so I emailed every major and minor cricket association in the country, plus every club I could fine online, asking for nominations,” says Morrison. He received about 30 nominations, from which he selected a 14-man squad for this series. “The process wasn’t perfect,” he admits, “but it was the best I could do without having the resources for a selection tournament or trials.”
Like so much of cricket history, the concept of over-50s cricket has its strongest roots in England, where there are more than a hundred competitive over-50s teams, not to mention over-60s and even over-70s teams.
Australia also has an established tradition of over-50s cricket. In 2017 the national team undertook an extensive 17-match tour of the United Kingdom, which included matches against over-50s county sides, plus ODIs against both England and Wales. The Aussies won most of the county games but came up a little short in the internationals – highlighting the strength of over-50s cricket in the UK.
Stenhouse said, “The groundbreaking tour to the UK in mid-2017 set the tone and this tour to NZ will see more players wear the over-50s Baggy Green, which we all wear with great pride. We are very excited and keen to be coming across the ditch to play our New Zealand counterparts.”
Stenhouse added that it was “wonderful that cricketers can continue playing competitively against other countries well past the age when many have hung the boots up.”
Looking ahead, the New Zealand team captain, Nigel Fletcher, said, “If we can continue to raise awareness of over-50s cricket in New Zealand, it would be great to see a national Over-50s Provincial Championship to rival the Over-50s State Competition in Australia and the Over-50s County Championship in England.”
Australia enter this series as favourites, based largely on their experience as a unit and the established nature of over-50s cricket in that country. The New Zealand team are, despite their enthusiasm, something of an unknown quantity. However, as Fletcher noted, “There is a buzz in this squad that tells me we will not only be competitive, but we will enjoy the experience – an experience that will bring together some very good cricketers from around New Zealand to do battle against the old foe.”
The 16-man Greycaps squad for the World Cup has not yet been named, and nominations are still welcomed by email at over50sworldcup@gmail.com. Players must be over 50 years of age as of December 31, 2018.
The New Zealand team is self-funded at this stage, but has received generous financial support from Craigs Investment Partners and Crowe Horwath, as well as logistical support from New Zealand Cricket and gear from Kookaburra. Further sponsors are being sought, especially for the World Cup.
