Wanderer's Cricket Club v Governor-General's XI

May I begin by greeting everyone in the languages of the realm of New Zealand, in English, Maori, Cook Island Maori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language.  Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and (Sign)

May I specifically greet you: Alan Isaac, Chairman of New Zealand Cricket; Mike Quigg, President of Cricket Wellington; Trevor McMahon, Patron of the Wanderers Cricket Club; Evan Gray, President of the Wanderers Cricket Club; Life members of both Cricket Wellington and the Wanderers; Molly Vance; Distinguished Guests otherwise; Ladies and Gentlemen. 

It is, with pleasure that my wife Susan and I are here to join you for lunch during the what is becoming the annual Wanderer's Cricket Club versus the Governor-General's College XI here at the Basin Reserve.

As I sat down yesterday afternoon to prepare what I might say at lunchtime today, the television was on, with the test match in Brisbane on yet another knife edge. Australia were eight wickets down for 224 with Simon Katich having scored a hundred. I had the thought of what a fantastic encounter it was continuing to be.  I looked up the Google News of the headlines from sport media on both sides of the Tasman.

The list read down depending on whether it was the New Zealand Herald or the Melbourne Age etc "Black Caps Still In It"; "Black Caps sent packing"; "Black Caps Bounce Back"; "Aussie Battle True Test for Ticker"; "26 Wickets Tumble" - and there were something like 302 stories.

I then thought "here is a newly invigorated and building team of Black Caps up against the world champion cricket team, Australia, the latter suddenly struggling after being defeated in a series in India, and a new young New Zealand fast bowler, Tim Southee, who could last year or the year before have been like you at secondary school and playing in a game like the one you are playing today, opening the bowling two days before and taking 4 for 63".

Little wonder, I thought, why cricket is so popular as a sport and pastime for so many New Zealanders, and little wonder that in the last year Cricket has been able to record more than 100,000 participants in the game. And accordingly what a pleasure it is to be connected with this game here today.

Through my life of following the sport, I have seen New Zealand cricket at its highs and its lows.  I was just eleven when on 25 March 1955 New Zealand bowled out by England for just 26 runs in an innings—a record that sadly stands to this day.

But with cricket lows are geerally followed by highs and a year later, I was among the crowd at EdenPark on 13 March 1956 seeing New Zealand win its first test match, taking the match by 190 runs. 

New Zealanders and cricket have a long association.  The Reverend Henry Williams, the Archdeacon of Waimate in the Bay of Islands recorded in his journal that the first cricket game in New Zealand was played on 20 December 1832 eight years before the Treaty of Waitangi.  With little comment, he noted: "Turned the boys out to play cricket Very expert, good bowlers."

This ground, the Basin Reserve, also has its share of history.  You may know that plaques cemented into the path around the Basin Reserve celebrate, in great detail, the records achieved in a test match between New Zealand and Sir Lanka in February 1991including New Zealand's highest test score (671-4), the highest score by a New Zealander (299 to Martin Crowe), the highest score at the Basin Reserve, and the world record for any wicket, in a partnership between Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones of 467 runs (in 548 minutes).

And then, after all that glorious detail, it ends: "Match Drawn." Only in a game like cricket could such an outcome be celebrated.  My predecessor from nearly 50 years ago, Charles John Lyttelton, Viscount Cobham, who was a keen cricketer and sportsman, pointed why such an achievement is a cause for celebration in a speech to a cricket dinner in Dunedin some years before in 1961 when he said:

"Every side likes to win, and it is futile hypocrisy to deny it.  One takes the field with the idea of outplaying one's opponents. But, in cricket at least, there is an unwritten law that one must never play up to the margin of the rules.  It is a game so terribly easily spoilt; people of mean spirit can make it wilt within half an hour, just as, conversely, the magnanimous gesture makes it flower in its full glory."

What Lord Cobham's comment points to is that cricket teaches many important values, and particularly for young players.  It not only tests a player's physical stamina, but also their mental adroitness and sportsmanship. 

Cricket is also a game of skill and strategy.  Brute force may bring quick boundaries but a less strong, but more skilful player will almost always get more runs and maintain a lengthier stay at the crease.  At pivotal points in a five-day match, time at the crease is often just as important as runs on the board.

Like all team sports, cricket also celebrates values such as fair play, team participation and leadership.  They are values that apply not only in sport, but continue to be sorely needed in business and the community. A New Zealander - 19th century Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in Parliament, Sir John Richardson, once appropriately said: "where there is good cricket there will also be good citizens who will be a credit to their country." 

I hope I have developed a suitable case for my enthusiasm for cricket and how it might stand underneath other things in New Zealand life for all of you and why I have been pleased to support these annual matches between the Wanderers Cricket Club and some of Wellington's finest college players, forming the Governor-General's XI, and on this famous ground.

While the Blackcaps are the sport's major public face and the cornerstone of New Zealand Cricket's financial strength, the real strength of any sport lies in grassroots participation.  On that front, cricket is in good heart, with the New Zealand Cricket's latest Annual Report stating that for the first time, more than 100,000 registered participants.  

So I look forward to seeing you continue your game.  To the Wanderers, I congratulate you on putting up such a fine team for my team to compete against.

To the Governor-General's XI, I wish you all the best in your future careers, both on and off the field. But most of all, despite the rivalry that all matches engender, I trust that you not only play to win, but also play the game to your enjoy yourselves.

And on that note, I will close in New Zealand's first language Maori, by offering everyone greetings and wishing you all good health and fortitude in their endeavours.  No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tena koutou katoa.