Not quite birthday Chawla was after
North City acting captain Neeraj Chawla didn’t have the happiest of birthdays during the Wellington premier cricket season opener on Saturday.
In fact, Chawla was struggling to find positives after his side’s horror start to the season.
Heavy defeats by Onslow and Karori were just what North City didn’t want.
‘‘It was not a very good day,’’ Chawla said.
‘‘We were not at full strength because [Norths captain] Michael Pollard and Dane Hutchinson were unavailable. They were at a Firebirds training camp.
‘‘ We’re also missing Mark Gillespie, of course, because he’s with the Black Caps.
‘‘But even without them, I was hoping we would do better.’’
North City struck a ridiculous draw. They played their morning Twenty20 match against Onslow at Churton Park, and then everyone had to drive to Miramar for the afternoon game.
Generally teams with doubleheaders play both matches on the same ground, and certainly not at the two extremes of the city.
Against Onslow, Norths could muster only 115- 9 in their 20 overs, a poor effort on a ground with such small boundaries it hosts primary school cricket.
Onslow had no trouble knocking off the runs in just 13 overs.
Chawla had a good game, making a brisk 21 and picking up two wickets with his off- spin. But apart from 20-odd from promoted second team player Stephen Mackay, there wasn’t much to enthuse over from Norths.
Things only got worse when Norths met title favourites Karori.
With Simon Baker smashing 80, Karori made 183-4. Norths’ reply was pitiful – 96-9.
Chawla injured his
ankle leaping for a catch and was unable to bat.
‘‘It swelled up badly,’’ he said. ‘‘I am hoping it will be OK for next Saturday when the one-day competition begins.’’ Norths play Hutt Districts at Linden.
The premier competition is split into Twenty20, one-day and twoday. The next Twenty20 round will be on November 27.
Karori wasted no time showing their class and won both their opening matches. The other leading side, Easts, played just once, for an easy win.
Chawla, a first-class cricketer in India before moving to Wellington four years ago, said it would be a development season for Norths.
‘‘We have lost some experienced players and are concentrating on bringing young players through,’’ he said. ‘‘There are four or five in the team now, and there’ll be a few more once the school year finishes.’’
Though he has just turned 34, Chawla still has hopes of playing rep cricket for Wellington. He got as far as the Wellington A side last season.
His life certainly around cricket.
During the week his job is to develop cricket in the North City area. He spends a lot of time in schools and is attempting to spark greater interest in the game in schools that have not traditionally been strong in cricket.
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