BRIEF OVERVIEW
The earliest recorded evidence of a ‘Kerikeri Cricket Club’ was in 1896, when a match report was published in the local newspaper detailing the game between Kerikeri and Totara North, played at the Kaeo racetrack. Despite a lack of concrete evidence, there can be little doubt that there was a club in existence – in some form – prior to 1896. Cricket in the Bay can actually be traced back to February 6 1834 when Charles Darwin was guest of honour at a game of cricket played at the Waimate North Mission House.
In the early 19th century, the land bank now known as the Kerikeri Domain was reportedly gifted to the community ‘for the purposes of cricket, such was the continued popularity of the game.
Over the ensuing years, Kerikeri Cricket Club has sporadically continued to exist. The Club contained many stalwarts – names including Riddell, Robb and Greaney were mainstays of the Club over a long period of time in the latter half of the 20th century. It could be argued that the Club reached its nadir in the 1980s, when it competed with the Kerikeri High School 1st XI to be ‘top dog’ in the local Bay competition.
Numbers waned in the 1990s as players struggled to commit to a full day of cricket and/or the Bay struggled to field enough teams for meaningful local competition. As the Bay of Islands league eventually folded, some great players were lost to the game, as travel to play in Whangarei proved a bridge too far for many. Kerikeri Cricket Club then entered a hiatus in 2005, apart from the odd game against teams like Kaitaia.
In the meantime, Kerikeri High School continued to field a team in the Whangarei Reserve Grade Men’s competition until 2016 when it became apparent – with a number of players’ finishing school – that they would not have sufficient numbers to field a team in the 2016-2017 season. A decision was then made by new coach Lowell Gundry and manager Simon Hart – with full support from the Northland Cricket Association - to resurrect the Kerikeri Cricket Club in order to give the schoolboys a chance to continue with their cricket. The plan was to recruit enough local (adult) cricketers to add to a team that would enter the Whangarei Reserve Grade men’s competition. Advertisements were placed in local newspapers and on social media, and before too long a core squad was formed for the 2016-2017 team.
Sponsorship was sought and soon obtained for the Club – WRMK Lawyers were named Principal Sponsors for two years from 2017, and with that the Reserve Grade team became known as ‘WRMK Kerikeri Cricket Club’. In addition, Homestead Sports Bar and Bistro agreed to sponsor the Reserve Grade team in the form of complimentary food after all home games, and ‘The Tucky’ tuck-shop at Kerikeri High School also provided tuck-shop vouchers to be awarded to school-age players.
The newly-reformed Kerikeri Cricket Club enjoyed a successful return to competitive cricket and throughout the season, more and more potential players expressed their interest in joining the Club, to the point where it may be possible to enter two teams in the Reserve Grade men’s competition in 2017-2018. At the conclusion of the 2016-2017, the Club was approached by the administrators of the Kerikeri year 5 and 6 team entered in the Northland Primary Schools competition, with a view to the team formally joining the Kerikeri Cricket Club. This amalgamation is currently in the process of being formalized, and could result in at least another 60+ junior cricketers joining Kerikeri Cricket Club for the 2017-2018 season.
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