In the week following the fantastic 2021 Presidents vs Captains game, highlighted by the life members lunch and unveiling of the extensive work done on the club’s history, another historic fixture was held as the first Valley of Peace Junior Invitational match involving 22 quality Year 8 (form 2 for those more familiar) young men from various schools and clubs in the Christchurch region.

The brainchild of Glenn Bongartz, a frequent guest of the Valley and captain of the Christchurch Golf Club XI, the event was a joint fundraiser for the VoP and East Shirley Cricket Club involving two 20-20 fixtures on Good Friday.

As you can imagine with 22 juniors, a large crowd gathered with the area to the southwest of the scorebox was absolutely filled with parents, family, and supporters. They were well rugged up for the conditions including gazebos and cover just in case the forecast bad weather came through.

The 22 players were randomly drawn into two teams, the Cartwright-Grocott XI (captained by Douglas Bongartz) and the Tritschler-Duncan XI (led by Liam Suddaby), the team names highlighting the link between the Valley and East Shirley Junior Cricket legends.

Team managers then drew out batting and bowling orders, ensuring all had the opportunity to participate fully. Liam won the toss for the Tritschler-Duncan XI for the first match and elected to field. There were a few rules to work through with the players, but it was decided that fours and sixes would count for their full value, batsmen would retire after 24 balls and bowlers would rotate in one-over spells.

With all in readiness, umpire Music (who had transformed from parking attendant Music using the same VoP coat) walked out to “you can’t stop the music” by the Village People on the sound system – probably a Valley first I suspect? Jack Fletcher would walk out to “The Jack” by AC/DC partnered with Coll Thomson and put on a strong opening partnership of 35 off 7 overs for the Cartwright XI. This was in the face of quality left-arm opening bowling from Jimmy Jackson and Henry Murfitt aided by impressive spin bowling from Max Boyle.

Unfortunately, the predicted rain started to fall during the first innings making gripping the ball increasingly difficult. The players were enthusiastic to continue and displayed great skills in the greasy conditions. Jack Fletcher was retired 19 after his 24 balls, including three 4’s.

The score moved on despite the tough conditions but slowed a little to be 44 for 1 after 10 overs and 65 for 2 after 15. Michael Johnstone’s two wickets aided the Tritschler-Duncan XI cause.

Good stroke play near the end of the innings including memorable lofted cover drives and boundaries from Bongartz, William Sandford, and Cooper Hemmingway helped lift the score to 95 off 20 overs. Suddaby marshaled his troops well, set good fields, and was always clear with his communication with players and umpires alike. It was felt 96 was a reachable total at the end of the innings drinks break.

Wickets fell regularly during the first half of the Tritschler-Duncan XI innings – as did the rain! So much so a call to Ant was required to find the sawdust and then a break was required to let the worst of the weather pass through (and to resurrect the fallen spectator gazebo that had blown over in the wind). The score after 11 overs was 47 (the same as the Cartwright-Grocott XI) but 5 wickets had fallen.

So with 50 required off 9 overs the Tritschler-Duncan XI middle-order upped the ante and this left 12 required off two overs. William Sandford was drawn to bowl the 19th over and despite now super wet conditions, bowled an accurate over of seam bowling to restrict the scoring to just 3 leaving Jack Fletcher to step up at the death. While Dylan Cox (16 including three 4’s) and Lucas Irvine tried hard, 3 runs off the first 5 balls meant it was the classic 6 to win off the last ball. Jack held his nerve but the ball went to the boundary for four resulting in the Cartwright-Grocott XI being victors by 1 run.

The conditions at this point meant that another match was sadly unable to be started, but all boys had participated in the field and the majority had a bat. During the after-match presentations, Liam thanked Glenn Bongartz for the day, as did the parents involved. Despite the weather, it was a unique and excellent day that will hopefully live long in the memories of the players and families involved.

The umpires and scorers presented the following awards:

·      Player of the Day: Jack Fletcher 19 retired – plus excellent death bowling

·      Liam Stocker (Cartwright-Grocott XI) 10 runs, 2 for 11 bowling and a direct hit run out for the ages

·      Max Boyle (Tritschler-Duncan XI) 19 retired, 2 overs 1 – 6 spin bowling

·      Coll Thomson 1 – 3 off 2 overs including a maiden

·      Michael Johnstone 2 – 5 bowling

·      Liam Suddaby got an award for the way he lead the Tritschler-Duncan XI

For any day like this, many sponsors, supporters, and volunteers were required, a few of which included:

·      Dave Johnstone and Fresh Choice Merivale for the great mega meat raffle prize.

·      Durham St New World for providing the snacks and Raro.

·      Dan Vann and Evolution for the two-day holiday coaching course.

·      Valley of Peace CC for the ground and the print for the raffle.

·      Ant Polson the Valley groundsman, who was just amazing and went above and beyond the call of duty as always.

·      Ann Mcleod (professional scorer) and umpires Angus Mcleod and Tom Music.

·      David Lloyd and suit sponsored by the ANZ, supporters of cricket in New Zealand including of course the VoP CC. He also wins the best-dressed and number one barman award. Scotty, Barry, and the hosting team have some competition!!

·      David Howard Manager/Coach/Mentor of Tritschler-Duncan XI along with Jonty Howard (DJ Howie) and Jackson who did a magnificent job before and on the day with the player songs and ground announcing.

·      Final thanks to Scott for the support of the concept from the time Glenn came up with the idea in late 2020 through to match day. And to the players – well done, we look forward to the next 10-20-30-40-50 years of your involvement in hopefully the game of cricket and again at the Valley of Peace. The future of Canterbury cricket looks very bright.

Short scoreboard

Cartwright-Grocott XI  95 for 5 off 20 overs

J Fletcher 19*,  C Thomson 13, L. Stocker 10, A. Kafle 10, M. Johnstone 2 – 5

Tritschler-Duncan XI  94 for 9 off 20 overs

M. Boyle 19*, D. Cox 16, J. Jackson 10, A. Kafle 2 – 8, L. Stocker 2 – 11

Cartwright-Grocott XI win by 1 run

Players

Cartwright-Grocott XI  
Douglas Bongartz (Capt.), Liam Stocker, Ethan O’Donavan, Coll Thomson, Ankit Kafle, Will Sandford, Tom McIntosh, Cedar Murray-Carter, Spencer Hair, Cooper Hemmingway, Jack Fletcher

Tritschler-Duncan XI
Liam Suddaby (Capt.), Henry Murfitt, Zach Barrett, Ben Dowdle, Jimmy Jackson, Max Boyle, Michael Johnstone, Charlie Redfern, Dylan Cox, Jack Dale, Lucas Irvine

Tom Music
Valley Umpire and scribe for the day

 

Team coaches & team captains (D Bongartz & L Suddaby)

Valley of Peace Junior Invitational teams, April 2021

The Watershed, Valley of Peace Cricket Club, April 2021