Australians are famously tough, grizzled cricketers, especially the New South Wales Over 70’s Veterans. Hard men, not fond of losing and partial to a spot of rehydration.
And so it proved on Sunday, 26th February 2023. The New South Welshmen toughed it out on a pluggy track after being inserted, and inched their way to what Valley stalwarts fondly believed was a sub-par 141 off their 40 overs.
There’s a back story (there always is), which involved the late withdrawal of two Valley bowlers due to injury, but a seemingly makeshift attack did us proud. Tight spells by Garry Hawker, John Kerrison, Angus (the Younger) Fulton and inevitably Stan Wooliscroft meant that, at the break, the local punditry was more than confident. “With our batting, this should be a doddle,” was the general sentiment.
We did mention ‘not fond of losing’ and, despite their age, the visitors came out with fire in their bellies. That, given the size of the bellies, created quite some heat which proved way too much for the vaunted top order.
The Valley pedigree, Hamish Cochran, Phil Harris (admittedly to a shocker of an LBW decision), Hugh Wright, Jeremy Wilson and Michael Mehaffey are all former or current New Zealand over-60s reps, but you wouldn’t have thought it.
It was left to New Zealand’s all-time leading over-70s run scorer Tony Penny who battled his way to 35 – marred only by him running out Fulton the Younger – to steady the ship. It wasn’t enough and the visitors won comfortably by some 25 runs.
We also mentioned rehydration, which was done in some style and at least one team went home happy, enormously impressed by the Club, if not our cricket.
Match Report
Valley Captain of the Day, Michael Mehaffey
