Honour for cricketing veteran — with an Otago history
CRICKET
VETERAN Kent allrounder Darren Stevens has been named as one of the five Wisden cricketers of the year.
Why do we care? Well, because it is remarkable story of longevity, and he had a memorable stint in Otago in 201011.
Memorable for mostly the wrong reasons, but first a look at his impressive career.
The 44yearold — that’s right, he’s closing in on a halfcentury and still playing —is a popular figure in Kent.
His award will have been received warmly among the faithful who have had tremendous value out of the the righthander/rightarmer since he transferred from Leicestershire in 2005.
He has scored 31 hundreds and claimed 29 fivewicket bags for the county.
And he was a standout last season. In the little cricket which was played in a Covid19affected summer, Stevens was in hot form with the ball.
He nabbed 29 wickets at an average of 15.58 in five firstclass games, including three more fivewicket hauls.
Incredibly, all 29 of his career fivewicket hauls have come since his 35th birthday.
Some of us have not even run around the block since passing that bracket year.
Stevens, who made his firstclass debut in 1997, became the the oldest player to receive the accolade since 1933. He is a modern WG Grace.
But Stevens’ stint with Otago 10 years ago was not particularly impressive.
He got dubbed the narcoleptic trundler after he took a nap before going out to bat in a oneday preliminary final.
Stevens might have got away with it had he not chose a sunny spot right next to the Otago Daily
cricket writer — me — or scored more runs.
But he was run out for 22 — probably still a little tired.
He was one of two English imports who came over that season. Chris Nash was the other.
Together they had about the same impact as a small child has on a plate of brussels sprouts.
Obviously, we never saw the best of him. them are from the North Island.
The Games begin with a dodgeball competition tomorrow afternoon and wind up on Wednesday with some clay shooting.
There are about a dozen events.
Da Silva represented New Zealand in wrestling at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne and the 1958 British Empire Games in Cardiff.
The heavyweight, who was also a skilled boxer, began his professional wrestling career in 1958 and went on to compete around the world.
Following retirement in 1977, Da Silva went on to work with atrisk youth to support and rehabilitate troubled young people. — RNZ