McCaw a man for all sports seasons
He made his name in rugby, dabbled in some outdoor event racing and now Richie McCaw has shown he has a handful of cricket skills.
The former All Blacks great, who racked up a world-record 148 test caps during his glittering career, was one of the notable performers during the Twenty20 Black Clash in Christchurch last night.
Team Rugby pulled off the upset result in front of a sold-out crowd as they recorded a five-wicket win.
McCaw turned 38 last month but is still uber fit due to his multisport pursuits and took 2-31 with the ball with his gentle left-arm seamers.
“I went and rolled the arm over a few days ago but only bowled half a dozen balls,” McCaw said.
He usually plays one game of cricket a year for The Willows Cricket Club. He also played for the first XI during his time at Otago Boys’ High.
He played plenty of rugby in Christchurch during his 145-match career with the Crusaders but he wouldn’t have spent much time on Hagley Oval in a sporting capacity.
To add to his two wickets, McCaw also took a great catch in the outfield to dismiss Stephen Fleming off the bowling of Jordie Barrett.
“It was more a fluke, to be honest,” McCaw said. “I thought, ‘well, if I get that, then it doesn’t matter what else I do for the day. At least you’ve done something decent’, so pretty happy.”
Team Cricket lost the toss and were put in to bat, with Team Rugby’s skipper Kieran Read saying he wanted to see how the pitch played.
There were certainly no issues with the pitch and there were some surprisingly effective pieces of cricket from his rugby players.
Barrett (2-53) went for a few with the ball but he contributed two runouts, including a brilliant direct hit from the boundary to dismiss Hamish Marshall (12) late in the innings.
Read, like his loose forward friend McCaw, also took a great catch in the outfield. Neither were easy grabs and it was surprising to then see fullyfledged cricketer Brendon McCullum put down a relatively simple chance late in the innings at long on.
On the back of 43 from former Black Caps all-rounder Grant Elliott, Team Cricket eventually posted 168-8 from their 20 overs.
Elliott only recently retired from professional cricket and that was evident with how crisply he struck the ball compared to some of his teammates who are further removed from their glory days.
Chris Harris, famous in Canterbury for his lengthy cricket career in the red and black, was unbeaten on 24 to close out the innings.
Team Rugby’s chase was built on the foundation of 48 from a serious McCullum, while the talented Kaylum Boshier made 30 from 21 balls.
Jordie Barrett’s unbeaten 42 got Team Rugby home with five balls to spare. He was a highly-touted junior cricketer and he showed he still has plenty of ability on the cricket pitch.
Despite the potential for some hijinks there weren’t too many outlandish antics, although umpire Billy Bowden brought his usual flavour with his exuberant signals. Team Rugby’s win saw them claim the Lomu-Crowe Trophy.