Cricket: Liam Rukuwai makes 50th appearance for Hawke's Bay senior men this weekend

Liam Rukuwai (right) discusses field placements with leg spinner GC Pretorius as Hawke's Bay stand-in captain early this summer. Photo/file

Liam Rukuwai was only 18 when he made his debut for the Hawke's Bay senior men's representative cricket team.

A decade later, Rukuwai is making his 50th appearance for Pay Excellence-sponsored Bay side when they play Manawatu in their round five and final Furlong Cup (zone) two-day match in Napier from today.

"I'm always very proud of every Hawke's Bay game I've played for the association so, yeah, it's awesome," says the 28-year-old employee of Drinkrow Builders in Napier who will receive a cap to acknowledge his contribution before the red-ball affair starts at 9.55am at Nelson Park.

A first-innings points win, in the elimination series of the Central Districts catchment area, when the players shake hands and umpires lift the bails tomorrow, will mean the Bay, with interim coach Craig Ross at the helm, will earn the right to challenge for the Hawke Cup, the symbol of minor association supremacy in the country.

"Hopefully it'll be my third challenge this weekend," says Rukuwai who wasn't in any of the Bay sides who lifted the Hawke Cup during his tenure due to one reason or other.

The former St John's College student, who made his debut in the same season for the Big Barrel Napier Technical Old Boys (NTOB) premier men's club side as the Bay senior men, also is sitting on 98 representative wickets.

"Maybe I would have got my 100 wickets already by now if everyone had got their catches," says Rukuwai with a chuckle.

"There have been a few culprits. Morten Freer [ex-NTOB teammate] was the biggest one."

The right-arm seamer is among a few veterans in the Bay side such as skipper and Heretaunga Building Society Cornwall CC player Jacob Smith, Ruahine Motors Central Hawke's Bay CC spinner Angus Schaw and "evergreen" You Travel Taradale bowler Luke Wright.

"Manawatu's done us a big favour but we're still going to go out to do the job [against Manawatu] like we did with other teams so we can get some momentum into the challenge."

The Bay had leapfrogged Taranaki by a point when they defeated them in round three at Nelson Park but Manawatu beat Taranaki by first-innings points in round four.

That saw the Bay open a six-point gulf over second-placed Taranaki while the Michael Mason-coached Manawatu are eight points adrift of the leaders.

The balmy weather in the Bay means a result is imminent.

Ross has bolstered his batting line-up after CD Stags coach Heinrich Malan released NTOB and former New Zealand under-19 player Christian Leopard this weekend with the return of Ross Taylor from the Black Caps for the Ford Trophy match in Auckland today.

Talented Leopard, who was in his debut Burger King Super Smash T20 season, was 12th man for the best part of the campaign.

Schaw, the son of former coach Colin Schaw sacked before Christmas, is the notable omission from the previous rounds.

Ask if the Bay squad finds the changing of coaches a distraction, Rukuwai says: "No, it hasn't disrupted us much. Colin's been good and he set us some standards and we're making sure we're keeping them."

He says if the Bay men stay together as a unit they should prosper for some time.
Rukuwai umms and aahs when you ask him how long he hopes to endure for the Bay men.

"I'll see how the body holds up for the next season and then re-evaluate from there."

A former Bay captain, who called the shots when Smith has been on injury layoffs, Rukuwai has, at times, had his cameo moments with the bat as a left-hander.

"I should be batting up the order in front of Luke Wright," he says, the humour surfacing again. "I think he's slipped the coach a little bit of money."

On a serious note, Rukuwai relishes having played alongside former teammates such as Brad Patton and Marc Calkin "who showed me the ropes".

The prospect of NTOB progressing to the national premier club championship in Auckland should they win the final qualifying tourney in Palmerston North on Waitangi Weekend excites him.

■ Hawke's Bay: Jake Smith (c, Cornwall), Matt Edmondson (w, NTOB), James Field (Havelock North), Dean Foxcroft (Taradale), Jayden Lennox (NTOB) Christian Leopard (NTOB), GC Pretorius (CHB), Liam Rukuwai (NTOB), Brad Schmulian (Havelock North), Ben Stoyanoff (Taradale), Graeme Tryon (Havelock North), Luke Wright (Taradale)

Team coach: Craig Ross
Team manager: John Jowsey
Team scorer: Neil Jackett