This year New Zealand fielded two teams in the Australian Seniors' Cricket State Championships for the first time, having entered one team for the previous 9 years.
Held in Canberra from 18 to 23 November, 32 teams in four divisions competed with over 500 players battling for supremacy.
The New Zealand teams that went to Canberra were selected after the National Provincial Championships held in Wellington in February and won by Canterbury.
The NZ 1 side played in Division 2 and included Ewen Chatfield, captain(W); Gavin Chatfield (ND); John Cushen (O); John Davidson (A); Bevan Guthrie (O); Channa Jayasinha (W); Cliff King (ND); Michael Mehaffey (C); Andrew Nuttall (C); Simon Payton (A); Allan Pond (CD); Rod Smith (A); Gary Rudolph (A); and Malcolm Walker (O).
NZ 1 won two of their three pool games and reached the Division 2 final where they went down to Victoria. Gary Rudolph scored 110 runs at an average of 55., Andrew Nuttall 98 averaging 49. In the bowling- Ewen Chatfield took 10 wickets with runs-per-over of 2.52, Gavin Chatfield 9 wickets at 3.71, Andrew Nuttall 7 wickets at 2.59.
The NZ 2 side played in Division 3 and included Grant Baker (W); Bruce Hooper-Smith (CD); Gus Klein (A); Gordon Kuggeliejn (CD); Peter Meads (A): John Morreau (ND); Owey O’Connell (O); Murray Riley (W); Lance Ryan (C); John Steer, captain (A); Kim Whittington (CD); Jeremy Wilson (C).
NZ 2 also won two of their three pool games and ended up playing off for 5th place in Division 3 winning comprehensively against a Victoria team to win three from four games.
Murray Riley scored 86 runs at 28.7, Kim Whittington 73 runs at 36.5, Lance Ryan 66 runs at 33 and Owey O’Connell 59 runs at 29.5. In the bowling-Gus Klein 7 wickets with RPO of 1.38 and Lance Ryan 9 wickets at 2.93
Cricket was clearly the winner in Canberra with the game played in exceptional spirit, by a group of players all now playing for the joy of getting out and still competing.
Next year the tournament will be held in Penrith, Sydney and NZ will again be represented.
