CRAIGS INVESTMENT PARTNERS SEDDON SIXES 2024

On Sunday 10th of March 2024, Seddon Cricket Club hosted the annual Craigs Investment Partners Seddon Sixes at the magnificent Tamahere Cricket Ground that is located on the outskirts of Hamilton.

The day will be marked down in Seddon Cricket Club history as one of its finest to date. Players from all over the top half of the North Island travelled to Tamahere to compete for the coveted Bradburn Family Cup. This year the theme for the tournament was the 1992 Cricket World Cup, with teams wearing the iconic team playing shirts that were worn during that historic event.

The 8 teams were split into two pools of 4. Each team played 3 round robin pool games before being separated into a top 4 that contained the two top seeds from each pool and a bottom 4 that the bottom two placed teams in each pool then competed in. Teams played a minimum of 4 games each with the teams that made the Bradburn Family Cup Final and Cooper Family Cup Final playing 5 games. That’s a lot of cricket! and the bodies were feeling it by the end of the day!!

The teams were made up of mostly Seddon Cricket Club members, but there were a few names that were featuring for the first time at one of our events.

There was so much action during the day we won’t be able to justify all the highlights in one post so this is just a summary – we will add snippets as we progress through the week.

Cobham Cricket Club (India) have been crowned Bradburn Family Cup Champions for 2024. It was quite fitting as ex Northern Districts representatives Joey Yovich (ND #176) and Mark Bailey (ND #151) played a lot of cricket with Grant Bradburn (ND #133) and I’m sure they will cherish looking after the cup that their mate is named after - it has already taken a special place in the superb Cobham Oval pavilion. Also, to feature for Cobham Cricket Club were Solomon Nash, son of Dion Nash (ND #158), Jordan Van Zyl, Darron Goodwin and Stephen James.

Jordan Van Zyl took home the Lance Cairns Shield for most sixes hit during the tournament. He hit a mammoth 19 sixes throughout the day and some balls that were whacked out of the ground have only just been spotted in Pirongia. It was an incredible expedition of clean hitting from the teenager.

Other teams that featured during the day were the Jesse Kennedy and Chris Cummings led North Waikato Cricket Club (England) who made it through to the final. They were worthy finalists and upset some big-name teams on their way to the main dance. It was a pleasure to have them at the Seddon Sixes for the first time.

Otorohanga Raptors (New Zealand) led by Leighton Parsons, Bryan King and Chris Keech couldn’t quite regain the same form that crowned them champions in 2023. They fought hard but they were tipped up by North Waikato in their Semi Final.

The Panthers (Sri Lanka) led by Guy Schwikkard were eventually beaten by Cobham Cricket Club in the Semi Finals, but they provided the spectators with many highlights during the day. Fraser Graafhuis has lost none of his hand eye coordination and batting technique that haunted many bowlers in Hamilton club cricket many years ago. More on Fraser later in the week but his batting was a genuine highlight.

The Pandora Cricket Club (Australia) led by Brett Maber and Quinton De Bruin, couldn’t quite regenerate the form that took them to the Bradburn Cup Final last year. However, they didn’t give up and they were at least rewarded with the Cooper Family Cup. There was a general consensus around the ground that they actually enjoyed representing Australia for the day…

Craigs Investment Partners (West Indies) led by Dwight Egelhof, had a mixed day. The highlight for them was the exceptional hitting from Brandon Weal who at one stage was a contender for the Lance Cairns Shield. Once again, they were great value, and we sincerely thank them for their ongoing support of Seddon Cricket Club.

Seddon Swish (Zimbabwe) led by Andrew Mackie created the biggest upset in Seddon Sixes history when they beat last year’s champions Otorohanga Raptors. It was an incredible result for the team that is made up of parents of sons/daughters that attend Riverbend. Josh Wright was a significant contributor for this team and displayed some belligerent hitting on several occasions.

The Green n Tonics (Pakistan) had a day to forget. They went into the day with high hopes as they were representing the nation that won the 1992 World Cup and they thought they just had to turn up. Unfortunately for the team featuring Scott McLeod, Scott Couch, Cameron Marcroft, Gene Waller, Dave McLennan, Tim Henwood and Kent Currie they didn’t win a game, in fact they didn’t even come second in some of their games. They at least have hamstring, groin and adductor injuries to show for their troubles. Stick to rugby lads.

These days wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for the fantastic Seddon Cricket Club supporters.

Matt Stark at Stark Property for letting us use his glorious, picturesque ground.

Richard Kane at Paladin Sports for absolutely nailing the replica 1992 World Cup uniforms! They were amazing and they made the day a special one for all.

Ryan Preston at Gatorade New Zealand. It was a very hot day and everyone needed plenty of Gatorade and Pepsi to get themselves through the day!

Darrel Hadley at Good George Brewing. Thank you for helping us set up the venue and letting us use your umbrellas, chilly bins and providing refreshments of a different sort for our members.

Brett Maber at Power Farming New Zealand for sponsoring the ‘Home Run Derby’. It’s a great concept and we will write more about it in a separate post. Everyone loves the Power Farming Over, also…never out of the game with that!

Thank you to Olly Te Ua for donating Strawberry Pink Primo for Primo Moment of the Match. Again, more on that later.

How good was the BurgerFuel from Cameron McLeod. Such a cool lunch for the players to enjoy.

Thank you to Cameron Marcroft at Loan Market Central - Mortgage Advisers for sponsoring the Player of the Match for each game. Each player received a MASSIVE cheque to the value of a $360,000 home loan.

Ryan Gulbransen, wow what can we say. Simply MAGNIFICENT!! Ryan was our DJ and he literally took us back in time to 1992 with his soundtrack. He made us all feel part of the Barmy Army at one stage also! Thank you, Ryan

Thank you to Evan John Gray for umpiring out in the middle. It wasn’t easy as there was so much happening and very quickly! You were amazing, Evan!

Thank you to committee members Simeon Price, Colin Groves, and Kirsten Stevens for working very hard behind the scenes. Tournaments like these take massive efforts from several different people and you were brilliant. Alongside them was club personality Colin Hickey who again outdone himself with being the glue in the operation.

Thank you to Michelle Dando for capturing the tournament with amazing photos! As you will see from what her lens provided, there was plenty of smiles, laughter and good times throughout the day.

Thank you to all the players, supporters and everyone that made this a very special day in Seddon Cricket Club folklore.

As Richie Benaud would say….MARVELLOUS.