RECORD TONS: Tai Bridgman-Raison scored his 11th century for Te Puke to break a long-standing club record. PHOTO: ANDREW WARNER
RECORD TONS: Tai Bridgman-Raison scored his 11th century for Te Puke to break a long-standing club record. PHOTO: ANDREW WARNER
When Andy (ADG) Roberts finished playing club cricket for Te Puke in the late 1980s he left a scoring record that has endured ever since.
The former New Zealand and Northern Districts batsman scored 10 centuries in his time at the Te Puke club after a stellar career that included seven test matches and 5868 first-class runs from 112 games.
But his Te Puke record has been surpassed by a born-and-bred local stalwart who has been marking his crease at the Te Puke Domain since he was a teenager at the high school next door.
Last weekend Tai Bridgman-Raison, 32, scored his 11th century for Te Puke since making his senior debut in the 1999-2000 season.
The record-breaking knock came in a Williams Cup match against Tauranga Boys' College. It was not just any old hundred either, as he scored 174 and went past the club record of 173 set by Kane Williamson.
"It does mean a lot to do it like that. A number of guys score club hundreds but a big hundred like that does not come around that often so it was special," Bridgman-Raison said.
"I wasn't aware I was surpassing Kane's record on the day at all. I think just from ball one everything hit the middle and that was the difference. It was just my day when everything went right. When I played a shot it went in the gap and it went for four and just kept happening all the way through.
"I didn't feel any pressure to get there. Barry Leabourn and Don Warner were reminding me of it but I knew if I kept playing I would get there eventually.
"I didn't get nervous but when I got to the 90s I started thinking if I don't get it now, how much longer I am going to have to wait to get it. So there was a little bit of relief."
Going past Roberts' record has become something of an obsession over the last three years as he got closer.
"I would count them and I knew ADJ had 10 so it was probably a three-year process. I never met him as he passed before I started playing for the club so in a way I was a little bit sad to pass his record. He is held in such high regard by the people who knew him.
"All of the players want to go on the honours board, that is a main focus, especially when you look at the quality of players who are up there."
RUN MAKER: Tai Bridgman-Raison batting at his beloved Te Puke Domain. PHOTO: FILE
Bridgman-Raison played nine matches for Bay of Plenty between 2003 and 2005 but his priority has always been on scoring runs for Te Puke and helping the younger players coming through.
But cricket is much more than just a game to him.
He is full-time cricket manager for Bay of Plenty Cricket and said he never tired of being involved with the game.
"I love it. My role as cricket manager is just the perfect job really. Some people ask me that it must be difficult working in cricket then spending your free time on a Saturday playing but I just really enjoy it more than ever.
"We still have challenges in the Lakeland area but in the Western Bay the game is thriving."
