February, 2017 , The Valley Of Peace Cricket Club Inc.

It is with great relief that we can confirm the Valley of Peace cricket ground has survived the Cashmere Hills fires which took hold of the Hoon Hay Valley earlier in the week. As it can be seen in the attached picture, sadly some of our closest neighbours were not so fortunate and our thoughts are with them during this stressful time.

Thanks to all of those who have been in touch regarding the ground this week, we consider ourselves very fortunate to still have our historic ground unaffected. The aerial photo below was taken at 5pm yesterday afternoon (Thurs 16th Feb). While there are still a number of dangers in the area we hope we are through the worst of it.

We are yet to know when we can access the ground again and will be in contact with those who are due to play in the next couple of weeks regarding this.

Scott Cartwright
President VOP

Bushfires behind Valley of Peace pavilion Feb 2017

Bushfire behind Valley of Peace pavilion Feb 2017

Plume of smoke above Valley of Peace, Feb 2017

Bushfire above Valley of Peace Feb 2017

Aerial view, bushfires on Port Hills Christchurch Feb 2017

Aerial view, bushfire on Port Hills Christchurch Feb 2017

The Valley of Peace Cricket Club had another fantastic trip south to play our southern friends at the Millbrook Cricket Club, on the fringe of Arrowtown, in mid February. The travelling partying included 7 returning players, 7 with WAGs and 2 with kids … which was really great to see. We had 20+ for dinner both Saturday and Sunday evenings in wonderful Arrowtown including plenty of laughs and great meals. Talking about food, the game lunch was up to its usual very high standard and was full of game! Neither the pork nor venison were supermarket sourced, but rather they were tasty high country pests that found themselves in the sights of Tarras farmer Robbie Gibson’s rifle at the right time. Beautiful.

We played cricket on the Sunday and although the Valley came second, it was not without a fight. Millbrook always bowls well at home and restricted us to 144 off 38 (of 40) overs. Millbrook successfully chased with 7 wickets down in the 38th over. Tim Frickleton (3 for 19 and 36 runs with bat) and Stan Woolliscroft (0 for 15 off 7 overs) shone brightly for the VoP. Thank you to everyone for their contribution and effort.

Thanks to Jim Smith for the photos.

Phil S