History Dive: South Canterbury
Only Southland, among South Island minor associations, can claim to have had a Hawke Cup heritage as longstanding as South Canterbury.
In the very first season of Hawke Cup cricket, 1910/11, it was only those two sides who entered from the south. It meant their first round match was effectively a semi-final, with the winner catapulted immediately to the final.
The match was played, not in Timaru or Invercargill, but in Dunedin with both sides acknowledging a full trip was too much expense. While rail had increased substantially in New Zealand in the years leading up to the introduction of the Hawke Cup – in the process making the competition viable – it was still a time consuming and costly exercise to travel vast distances across New Zealand.
On the second day of 1911, Tom Lynch won the toss in bleak conditions and chose to bat first. Rain in the leadup had made the deck soft but apparently batting-friendly, and Lynch went to the crease with son James to face a bouncer barrage from Albert Edie.
Despite Edie’s efforts, it was Jack Doig at the other end who had the most success. Tiger Lynch, another son of Tom, was the best batter – his 46, alongside Kenneth Bain’s 35, dragged South Canterbury to 155.
It could’ve been much worse. While the Timaru, Invercargill and Dunedin newspapers disagree on much – the Dunedin newspapers, for instance, suggested everything and everyone was terrible apart from (surprise, surprise) the Dunedin ground and a couple of former-Dunedin club cricketers – they all agree that Southland dropped a lot of catches. Possibly eight.
In reply, Leslie O’Callaghan was phenomenal. His figures of 7-40 bowled Southland out for 137, and earned his side the first innings lead. The good news for South Canterbury wouldn’t last: despite Tiger Lynch (48) again standing firm, Arthur Poole’s 5-10 (including a hattrick) skittled the Cantabrians for 101.
While O’Callaghan again bowled well, taking another three wickets, Southland ran home winners by five wickets. Again the reporters agree here: South Canterbury’s ground fielding was excellent, but their catching late in the game resembled Southland’s on the first morning.
Southland went on to win the Hawke Cup, beating Rangitikei in the final. The South Cantabrians brooded on their loss, believing they would’ve won a rematch. It may have been a little fanciful – after all, Southland were undermanned in that first contest, missing the likes of their captain (and brilliant all-round sportsman) Don Hamilton.
That Christmas, the South Canterbury side had a chance to redeem themselves. They were the only side who challenged Southland in that 1911-12 season, travelling to Invercargill with plenty of intent.
Again batting first, South Canterbury put up 111 – always likely to be challenging to defend. O’Callaghan, who would be killed at Passchendaele only a few years later, did his level best with another huge haul (7-35).
Despite airing a few doubts about the legitimacy of his action, even the Invercargill papers had to give O’Callaghan his dues – one describing him as a “trundler of pace, and bowls a ball with a little top spin which increases its celerity on pitching, and he has a nasty slow ball which is apt to beat the best of batsmen.”
Southland, though, snuck over the line on first innings. Again South Canterbury collapsed in a second innings, this time undone by the great Syd Hiddleston who was brilliant in both innings. Chasing only 50-odd, Southland won by 10 wickets.
It would be 20 years before South Canterbury mounted another challenge.
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While those games were the beginnings of South Canterbury’s Hawke Cup story, it was by no means the beginning of cricket in the area. Records of South Canterbury representative sides go back to the 1870s, and in 1881 they hosted the brilliant Australian team featuring Fred Spofforth.
Spofforth took 11-11 that day, ripping through the South Canterbury XXII.
As cricket continued to slowly develop, apparently centred more around areas like Temuka and Geraldine where wickets were more conducive to good cricket than Timaru, it was the tour of Lord Hawke’s XI in 1902/03 that helped give the game a boost. Just as it did for so many provinces visited by the Pelham Warner-captained side.
Warner writes that “here we had one of the most enjoyable of the eighteen matches we played in New Zealand … the weather throughout the game was delightful, and the view from the ground superb; for away to the north-west the snow-covered peak of Mount Cook … stood out boldly against the turquoise-blue sky, while north, south, and east of us stretched the South Pacific.”
It’s also noted by Warner, though, that the pitch was poor. Graciously, he puts the blame on bad weather leading into the match. If TW Reese’s histories of New Zealand cricket are to be believed, though, it wasn’t a one-off issue: he snarkily notes that the South Canterbury cricket administrators are “just as keen as the Timaru wickets are bad.”
“Athletic Park in Timaru has been nicknamed ‘Assassination Park’,” Reese wrote of the ground Lord Hawke's XI were hosted at.
Despite South Canterbury’s slow development, they were comfortably the most proactive of the Canterbury minor associations – the only one to earn a challenge pre-World War 2. A major factor in this was the relative disinterest of Canterbury, relative to the other Major Associations. To quote Reese again: “Probably no province has ever had such slight connection with country cricket as Canterbury.”
While costs were prohibitive for many teams in challenging for the Hawke Cup, it was particularly tough for South Island associations. Added to this, a changing of the guard meant a weaker team without the stronger pre-war players.
In 1931, when South Canterbury toured to Hamilton, much rested on the shoulders of the experienced all-rounder Dan McBeath. While he bowled well, taking 4-66 and 4-63, Sydney Badeley won the battle of the captains. His 65 dragged South Auckland (for clarity, effectively a Waikato side) to 209, and his 3-33 aided Herbert Going in ripping through the visitors for 72. Despite a better batting effort in the second dig, the game was long gone for South Canterbury by then.
So it was that South Canterbury would begin a 33-year challenge exile. While they flirted occasionally with the idea of further challenges in the ‘30s, costs were too much and the focus instead was on trying to get Canterbury sub-association competitions underway, or supporting efforts to create elimination structures in the Hawke Cup. While various abortive efforts were agreed or implemented at time, little stuck.
It wasn’t until after the Second World War that a more modern and recognisable Cup structure began to take shape. With that, South Island (and particularly Canterbury) minor associations became increasingly interested in the Cup.
The issue for South Canterbury was that this ensured a very tough road to earning a challenge, needing to beat either Southland or North Canterbury (depending on the precise zonal structure) to get there.
In 1974 they earned the right to play old foes Southland, and briefly threatened to run away with the game before a Jack Alabaster rearguard gave the holders some renewed hope. The Alabaster brother double act then did what they did best, and strangled their way to a first innings lead. Unfortunately a Graeme Thomson spectacular ended any chance of South Canterbury forcing a second innings result, dismissed for 73 with Thomson taking 7-29.
In 1976, the first innings was again tight before – again! – blowing out in a second innings collapse, Thomson this time taking 6-37. South Canterbury had made 124, and Southland passed it seven down (with Denis Cocks and Gren Alabaster still at the crease) before eking out 134.
By this stage, Phil D’Auvergne was back in the side and his memories of that match and the next few will be on The Hawke Cup Report this week.
Next came Wairarapa in 1978, where a wonderfully strong batting line up struggled until Stephen Elliott and Doug Crombie made runs from 136-6. A good top order start from South Canterbury couldn’t be backed up, and neither Barrie Andrews nor Murray Parker could kick on with their starts to keep their side in the contest.
By this stage, South Canterbury were becoming regular challengers and a strong side was beginning to build. In 1981 the side travelled to Nelson, only to be stymied by two full days of rain.
The result the side had in 1983 against Northland was a real stinger: from 129-7 a 44 year-old Brian Dunning and 18 year-old Bryan Young both made hundreds and led Northland to 372. Some big overs were bowled – D’Auvergne getting through nearly 63 overs for his 6-100. While many batters got starts, no one kicked on to give South Canterbury hope with the bat and they fell well short.
In 1985 they had their greatest chance to that point, taking the first innings against Nelson. Gary Walton had other ideas though, having the day of his life on a challenging wicket. After nearly saving his side with the bat, his 7-45 gave Nelson an outshot at chasing a total of 112 on the last afternoon. Crashing along at over 5-an-over, Jeff Rackley and Jock Edwards got Nelson home.
That was a brutal loss, falling short despite taking first innings spoils. Walton had a once-in-a-lifetime display, and South Canterbury missed out on the victory it seemed they had been building towards for a decade.
Earning their next challenge in 1988, it was again a rained off affair, and 1992 against Northland was no better. The cricketing gods seemed to be playing a cruel trick – there was no issue with being rained off in 1994 against Manawatu, instead running into an in-form Dave Fulton who made a double hundred as his side made 650. It wasn’t even a contest.
This match was Todd Elliotte’s first challenge, and he would be captain for their high tide mark in 2000. The Hawke Cup Report will be publishing Elliotte’s career musings on Thursday.
From 1994 it would take until 2000 for another challenge to come South Canterbury’s way. This time, though, it was different. Coming up against a familiar foe in Canterbury Country, Hamish Wood dined out on the Country top order, taking the first four wickets to have them 23-4. He would finish with 6-63, and South Canterbury were left to pass 223 to claim the Cup.
A strong top order display from the likes of Andrew Buckingham, Craig Drennan and Ryan de Joux put them in the box seat and 195-3. That quickly became 204-7 in a rough spell just before stumps on Day 2 and the early overs of Day 3, and captain Elliotte found himself batting with a very young Nigel Jones facing what must’ve felt like a very mountainous 20 runs.
After getting across the line, South Canterbury pushed the score past 250. It was enough to secure the win, Canterbury Country 115-7 in their second innings when rain put paid to the match.
While a huge result for South Canterbury, after nearly 90 years of trying for the Hawke Cup, the good news wouldn’t last long. This was the final season of New Zealand Cricket’s ill-conceived metro experiment in the Hawke Cup, and South Canterbury were forced to square up to Dunedin Metro.
The side was ridiculous, with the likes of Mark Richardson, Brendon McCullum, Paul Wiseman and Glenn Jonas featuring. Only three of the players hadn’t played First Class cricket: one would debut a month later, another within a couple of summers, while the third was McCullum.
South Canterbury didn’t stand a chance and were put to the sword.
It would be over a decade before they earned another challenge, in 2013 against Bay of Plenty. It was a one-sided contest against a wonderfully strong BOP batting lineup, despite Sam Carlaw’s 7-109 and some second innings runs from Nick Horsley and Dan Laming (a survivor from that 2000 side) amongst others.
South Canterbury haven’t earned a challenge since – until now. This weekend they come up against a confident Hawke’s Bay side, who have looked largely unruffled this season in holding onto the cup. It will be a different challenge for Hawke’s Bay though, who will likely be without a number of first-choice players. South Canterbury have the likes of Carlaw and captain Glen Drake who played in 2013 to add some extra resolve to the group, and are every chance of putting a winning performance together at Nelson Park this weekend.
