Culhane revisits his field of dreams
Simon Culhane hopes his return to the South Island primary schools cricket tournament in Dunedin next week will be a little bit more pleasant than the last time he attended.
As a youngster Culhane played in two South Island primary schools tournament, one in Dunedin in 1980, the other in Timaru in 1981.
‘‘Dunedin wasn’t that flash, we got half a day’s cricket and the rest was rain. Timaru was OK, we had five days of cricket, it was great. I’ve got fond memories [of the South Island tournament].’’
Culhane is best known for his rugby exploits as a former All Black, but he was also a promising cricketer where he played at Hawke Cup level for Southland.
He also coached the Stags to a Ranfurly Shield win and has assisted Jamie Joseph at the Highlanders.
The South Island primary schools cricket tournament was first held in 1963 and involves 14 teams from throughout the South Island.
The 2016 tournament will be held in Dunedin and Culhane will again attend, this coaching ranks.
Culhane, whose son Benji is part of the team, joins Greg Hart as coaches of the Invercargill Metro team at the 2016 tournament.
He was pleased that forecast for Dunedin next week was promising.
While the spotlight is less intense overseeing junior cricket compared to what Culhane has encountered in previous sporting
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the endeavours, he was loving the role and that competitive edge was still there.
‘‘It’s good to be coaching these boys, it’s good fun. We’ve got a good wee group coaching this team, with Greg Hart there as well.’’
They have also called on some Southland cricket stalwarts to help out. Peter Skelt has helped with the spin-bowlers while Robbie Hill has passed on some advice to the spinners.
A large group of the Invercargill Metro team are returning for their second year playing at the South Island tournament after they travelled to Blenheim last year.
‘‘We’ve got a lot of Year 8s this year where last year we had a lot of Year 7s. We did OK in Blenheim without setting the world on fire, but they are a bit older and a bit more experienced now and know what to expect,’’ Culhane said.
Invercargill Metro will open their tournament on Monday against Mid Canterbury, while Southland Country will play Marlborough on the opening day.
The tournament will through until Friday.
A Southland team has never won the South Island primary schools tournament.
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