After some reasonably heavy losses against the Christchurch Police XI over the last few years the Valley tried to field a team who could steady the ship. On arrival we were treated to a beautifully manicured outfield and block – one wonders if the presence of the Hagley Oval head groundsman in the Valley side put extra pressure on our own ground staff for this fixture?
The toss was won by the Police who decided to insert the Valley side. The openers made a watchful start, Jimmy Cannan hitting a couple of superb cuts before a dreadful mixup saw him standing next to the other opener in the 4th over asking who’s call the run really was. The Police bowlers really did hit their marks, and having former first-class cricketers coming on at first change is a sign of how accurate their openers really were. The Valley batting card shows a very slow run rate – from 10/1 after 4 overs to 31/2 after 15 overs. Ben Larter (35) and Simon Irving (15) helped to steady things putting on 50 for the third wicket before the Police brought Mike Kingston into the attack (5-17-8) who really started the wickets tumbling. At 91/7 the script for this Police fixture looked to be not straying too far from the usual, but Tom Byrne (17*) and Gareth Gibson (14) added what would become a match-winning 24 run partnership for the last wicket-taking us from 114/9 through to 138 all out.
Great lunch in the sun (thanks to Phil, John and Scott) and the Valley were not overly confident but did know they had something to bowl at. Nick Johnston looked dangerous early in his innings and so when Kurt Bayer’s (3-17-7) 11th delivery was lofted to Rupert Bool at mid-off it was a very important catch that was held safely. Gareth Gibson (2-14-4.5) was offered the new ball and the wind and took both up with some excellent pace, carry and line on offer. Ben Larter (4-21-8) came on and found the edge of the other opener and the Police were at 25/2 after 8 overs, certainly not behind the run rate at this stage. The Valley fielding effort was superb, with all of their top 6 batsmen being caught and no catches dropped – again, not something that we see every week in the Hoon Hay Valley.
The Police managed to lose regular wickets from here going from 44/3 through to 86/6. At this stage, young Hamish Falls-Anderson (0-19-7) came on with his off-spin into the wind and really managed to tie down that one end well. We had a bit of a scare with former Canterbury player Willie Lonsdale and their player of the day Mike Kingston putting on 40 for their 7th wicket, but after a sharp caught behind catch was held off Bool (1-10-4) 112/7 quickly became 115 all out.
So an excellent win for the Valley against an evergreen Police side, a match played in great spirit and we look forward to January 2023 to do it all again.
Short Scoreboard
Valley of Peace – 138 all out off 43.5 overs
Ben Larter 35
Paddy Sullivan 2-12-7.5
Mike Kingston 5-17-8
L Wolf 2-24-5
Christchurch Police XI – 115 all out off 36.5 overs
Dave Robertson 21
Gareth Gibson 2-14-5.5
Kurt Bayer 3-17-7
Ben Larter 4-21-8
Tom Byrne – VOP captain for the day
Jesse Tritschler – match report author
