Hawke Cup heroes return home
A lot has changed in Nelson since 1997 – the last time the Hawke Cup resided here.
Saxton Oval was still a farm paddock in no state for international cricket, while a large portion of the current Nelson Griffins squad were yet to be introduced to bat and ball – or even born.
The city’s airport terminal would have looked very different too. It was there that a crowd of well-wishers, including a number of past Nelson players, welcomed the victorious team and their hard-fought cricketing trophy home on Monday.
Nelson ended Southland’s Hawke Cup tenure over the weekend, claiming a 36-run first-innings victory to end a thrilling three-day showdown at Invercargill’s Queens Park on Sunday.
After Nelson scored 297 in their first innings, thanks largely to a 122-run knock from opener Tom Zohrab and 72 from captain Greg Hay, Southland looked in control of things at 233-5.
However, they lost their last five wickets for 28 runs on the final afternoon to gift Nelson the win.
Bowler Sam Baxendine finished the match with figures of 4-46, claiming the key wickets of opener James Ng (87) and Amarpreet Singh (78) in closing out the hosts’ innings.
He said a win seemed unlikely but not impossible for Nelson during the lunchbreak.
‘‘It was a bit of a crazy finish – having to take five wickets with only 60 runs up our sleeve. It was pretty tough but you can’t stop believing – that was the message, not to give up – you’re always one wicket away from getting back into it.’’
Coach Ryan Edwards said it was an honour to bring the Hawke Cup back to Nelson after a 22-year absence, especially as he never had the chance to challenge for it as a player.
One day on, he said the achievement had yet to sink in.
‘‘We’ve had so many messages in the last couple of weeks leading up to it and then the last three days while we were down there – I think the boys, even if they haven’t really grown up with it – they’ve read enough and heard enough about it to know this is pretty special.
‘‘We told the Hawke Cup a few stories last night and it told us a few as well – we definitely gave it a nudge last night to try and make it sink in.’’
Nelson Cricket Association general manager Dave Leonard was involved with three winning eras as a player, beginning with Nelson’s win over Northland in the 1991/1992 season.
The team has two challenges to withstand if they are to keep the hallowed trophy for the winter – a tough assignment against Hawke’s Bay in a fortnight, followed by the Zone 1 winner from the Northern Districts associations.
‘‘It’s a hard thing to win but it’s a bloody hard thing to hold onto,’’ Leonard said.
Nelson have held the Hawke Cup on 11 separate occasions and have successfully defended the trophy 71 times.
They still hold the record for the most consecutive defences, their 28-match streak from December, 1958, to February, 1965.