ANZPCC (AUS/NZ Police Cricket Championship)

So while you lot have been waiting for the rain to stop, some of us have been lucky enough to be playing cricket across the ditch. I was fortunate enough to be included in the New Zealand Police Cricket Team for the 16th Australia – New Zealand Police Cricket Championship held in Perth during late Feb. The event is held on a bi-annual basis, with hosting being shared amongst the Australian states and NZ. NZ has never won the tournament, but has finished runner up on two occasions.

Day One - Thursday afternoon, all except one member of the team assembled at Auckland airport for the 7 ½ hour flight to Perth. A lot of the team were touring for the first time, so we all wandered around looking sideways at others thinking “maybe he’s one of us?”, but eventually we all grouped together. With some last minute defections the team number only 11 plus our manager. It was captained by ex-ND and Auckland rep Richard Morgan and contained players from Whangarei to Invercargill. Other members had played 2nd XI, Hawke Cup or Provincial cricket, Premier Club Level or other club level, while some were not currently active. There were a couple of boys from the Mount, one of whom played in that 20/20 game earlier in the season. At least it was a conversation starter.


We landed at Perth and the WA boys drove us to our accommodation, apartments located 10 minutes walk from the WACA. Also staying there, but arriving a few days after us were the boys from Victoria.

Day Two was a free day to get us used to the time difference, which was really knocking us around. In the evening the WA boys had arranged us entry into the night trots at Gloucester Park. We were invited to sit next to the track with all of the “important” people during the feature race. We were then introduced to the crowd. Of course it goes without saying that we all made thousands of dollars, trifectas all round.

Day Three – Still struggling with jet lag, but the boys managed to shake a bit of it off with a training session at the WACA indoor nets. Nothing flasher than what we are used to apart from the complex containing four nets. The highlight of the day was walking onto the WACA (and consequently being chased off by the groundsmen for breathing on the block).
Day Four – We shared a bus to the ground with the Vic boys, where the competition would take place. The hosting club was Midland-Guilford Cricket Club. Within the clubrooms you could see a vast amount of history. Players of note to have played for MGCC are Simon Katich, Tom Moody, Tim Zoehrer, Bruce Yardley, Jo Angel, Brendan Julian & former English captain Alec Stewart.
Our opening match was scheduled on what was known as ‘Lilac Oval’, the ground used for the former traditional opening match for international teams touring Australia. It was the hardest pitch I have ever seen, and there was a bit of cracking. So we are thinking bounce and maybe it will take turn or a bit of sideways movement off the cracks. Very quickly we learned no sideways movement, no spin, not a great deal of bounce, but vary off a good line or length and you get smacked. Another interesting point regarding the ground was that it was in the flight path for the Perth airport, with a plane passing at least every 20 minutes or so. After a few days the boys had noticed that there hadn’t been from Air New Zealand, which had us a bit worried, thinking the company had gone bust and therefore there was no way home.
We played 45 over matches, under some rules new to all. For the 1st 15, two players were allowed outside the ring, 2nd 15 three players, with five players allowed outside for the rest. Each team could play a specialist batter and bowler.
We kitted up in our whites with our black caps displaying the silver fern for team photos followed by the opening ceremony. After a few words from the organisers a bag piper played and then a minute silence was observed for the victims of the recent horrific bushfires. We also wore black arm bands for our opening match against NSW.
NSW got through to about 230, after an opening stand of around 120. We fell 25 odd runs short. Too many dropped catches on our part probably being the difference. During the match there was a good dose of Australian culture (AC/DC) playing from the nearby picnic area.

That evening was the opening function where former Australian International (and half Kiwi) Bruce Reid was the guest speaker. He talked on his views of the current game, dislike for Greg Matthews, the Allan Lamb over (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5LD1AZqRuo) and on insistence from us, the Chris Pringle over. He was highly entertaining.

Day Five and we played the hosts WA on the far pitch. However we were all a bit cautious after hearing about a certain event. All of the pitches border the Swan River, with a small strip of bush in between. A small deadly poisonous snake had been killed adjacent to our ground on the previous day. Where there are small snakes bigger snakes can usually be found, so we were told to be careful when fielding the ball if it made its way into the bush. Cheers to the skipper who bowled four balls down leg in one over for me to fetch amongst the dead leaves and sticks. We restricted them to around 220 and were cruising with a century from Sunny Patel, only to crash and lose by 15 runs. A game we should have won quite easily. Our day with nature was not complete however, as in the changing rooms was a spider the size of your palm guarding its web.

Day Six and a potential wooden spoon game against South Australia on the middle pitch. We won the third toss in a row and having previously fielded first to stay out of the afternoon heat which was somewhere in the high 30’s, we changed the plan and decided to bat. Unfortunately after two balls we were 2 down, we recovered slightly, but eventually were all out in the last over for 199. SA got there about five down with 3 overs to go.

Day Seven was a rest day and it absolutely poured. We caught a ferry to visit the zoo, with highlights being the python and crocodile. The following day we were scheduled to play Queensland but because of the rain the pitches were deemed unplayable, or at least we would ruin them for later in the week. Therefore it came down to a game of touch, and continuing our run of bad form, we were cleaned up. So we had the afternoon free and the boys from SA arranged us some tickets to the WACA to watch the Sheffield Shield match between WA and SA from the members lounge.
Day nine and the grudge match against our roomies and travelling buddies from Victoria. With not a lot riding on the game we shortened it to 40 overs, restricted Vic to 220ish and then ran them down with plenty of overs to spare with only 3 wickets down. With that win we finished fourth ahead of Victoria and South Australia on the countback system employed. WA won the tournament, going through unbeaten , illustrating that we weren't too far off the pace, considering our encounter earlier in the week against them and the fact that most of the other teams play together on a regular basis.

That evening the closing ceremony was held at the Burswood Casino. It is difficult to describe the size of the complex but sharing the main billing that evening with the police cricketers was the ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and a ‘Coldplay’ concert. Along with this were a number of bars and restaurants. The boys looked sharp dressed in their number ones, easily standing out amongst the other teams. The guest speaker was former Australian off spinner Bruce Yardley, who stressed the legitimacy of Muralitharan’s action along with other things. A tournament team was announced, with opening bowler Chris Lemon from Auckland being the only Kiwi to make the team.
We enjoyed the night’s festivities knowing we had a few days before heading back home.
With another couple of days in Perth there was a team trip to Fremantle along the Swan River, along with a tour of the Fremantle prison, thoroughly enjoyable.

Overall the standard of cricket was good. Each team had two or three decent batsman and good bowlers, but we did not experience any pace of note. Overall a fantastic experience and as tour ended, the boys were much more of a team. Now knowing what it’s all about, we are all keen to do a lot better in Melbourne in two years time.

Campbell Vette (aka Cooch)