Amateur chronicles local cricket's history

Caught Wright, bowled Beard - the story of Bay of Plenty Cricket: if there's a better name out there for book chronicling 80 years of willow and white flannels in the region then it's not obvious.

From a seed of an idea six years ago, amateur historian and self-taught writer Barry Leabourn has produced a book detailing the 80-year history of cricket in Bay of Plenty, with the tome getting its first outing this weekend at a commemorative function at Bay Oval during the province's Fergus Hickey Rosebowl two-day clash with Hamilton. It will be 80 years to the month since Bay of Plenty made its representative cricket debut.

Leabourn, who handles media for Bay of Plenty cricket, said the idea for the book came six years ago when he suggested Bay start compiling and recording their history, which was until then a scattered collection of records.

"I started pulling stuff together and realised four years ago that this season would be the association's 80th anniversary, so the idea of a book snowballed. As a writer I'm pretty basic but there's not many people who want to get off their arse and record this stuff. In 20 years, when it's the 100th anniversary, whoever writes that book has the first 80 years at their fingertips."

Last year, with the season records falling into place, Leabourn sat down to think about a title. "I wanted to give it local reference and big milestones and then it came to me - Caught Wright, Bowled Beard - because there's only two people who've played 100 games for Bay of Plenty, Mike Wright (102) and Derek Beard (105). It was a perfect fit."

On March 28-30, 1932, Bay of Plenty took to the field for the first time against South Auckland in a Hawke Cup challenge. South Auckland, selected predominately from the Waikato region, batted first at Seddon Park in Hamilton and were eventually prised out for 333. Bay of Plenty were crushed for 59 and 171, making it an inauspicious start.

The beginnings of a district-wide minor association were even more interesting, with the first minor association formed in Whakatane in 1900 and a rival association cropping up in Rotorua two decades later, with the factions eventually coming together under one umbrella to play a visiting MCC XI.

"You start out on a journey and don't know what you'll find and end up playing detective, finding out all sort of little things.

"I spent nearly every week over winter at the library looking at micro-films of old newspapers, getting on first name terms with all the staff.

"I also tapped into the excellent archives NZ Cricket has developed dating back to the 1860s, the season records Derek Beard inherited from his father (former international Don) from about 1955, with the NZ Cricket Alamancs also a handy resource."

Te Puke's Allan Cotter proof-read the book several times while Tauranga Boys' College's Neil Howard, a former rep batsman, and Robin Rimmer helped craft Leabourn's legwork into a substantial piece of literature.