History of Veterans Cricket NZ
Vintage Cricket in Wellington
Vintage and Golden Oldies cricket started in Wellington in 1988 when Tawa Turtles (representing what was then Tawa Cricket Club) and Onslow Oldies (representing Onslow CC) started attending Air NZ Golden Oldies (over-40) tournaments and then, in 2006, Vintage tournaments (over-35s) around the world.
In 2012 the Tawa Turtles spearheaded the 6th International Vintage tournament, which was held in Wellington with 32 teams from around the world attending the week-long carnival. Six Wellington teams participated in the planning and played in this tournament. As a result of this tournament, older cricketers expressed a desire to continue to participate in vintage cricket.
Growth in Vintage and Over-60s cricket
From 2012 there was a steady growth in participation of vintage cricketers, and especially those aged 50-plus. Cricket Wellington started a twice-a-month Sunday grade for vintage cricketers, which started with six teams and now has two divisions and 13 teams. This competition is now the main playing competition for Over 35 cricketers in Wellington.
In 2013 the Australian Over-60s side toured New Zealand and played two games in Wellington. After this, Wellington was invited to send an over-60s side to the 9th Australian State Championship (ASC) Over-60s tournament in 2014. This invitation resulted in a New Zealand side being selected to attend along with 31 teams from the various Australian states. This started the approach of sending a NZ side to this tournament each year.
In 2015, Vintage Cricket NZ, run by Peter McDermott suggested that a national tournament should be held to select future teams to the ASC Over-60s.
This tournament would ensure that the strongest team possible would represent NZ in the ASC and provide a base for future games against touring sides.
The National Over-60s Championships
A small group from Wellington including Grant Baker, Ewen Chatfield and Dave Harle, with strong support from Cricket Wellington, established the inaugural NZ National Over-60s tournament.
With contacts in each of the Major Associations, the first tournament, along the same lines as the Australian tournament took place in Petone in February 2016.
Auckland, Northern Districts, Central Districts and Wellington were present and from this tournament a squad was selected to attend the ASC in Perth in November of 2016. New Zealand was placed in Division 3 and won two of its games, ending up 4th in the division of 8 teams.
In February 2017 all six Major Associations attended the National Tournament and two teams were selected to attend the 2017 ASC in Canberra. One side in Division 2 and a second side in Division 3. Both teams were stronger than the previous year and ended up in the middle of their divisions.
By 2018 the word had got out to other cricketers in the 55-plus age group that there was a pathway to provincial and NZ representation in cricket.
After the 2018 tournament, two teams were selected to represent NZ in the ASC. This resulted in NZ1 winning all of its games in Division 2, including a close final against Queensland, and earning promotion to Division 1. The second NZ side won all their pool games to progress through to its final in but were runners up to NSW in Division 3.
The 2019 National tournament was again played at Petone, with all six Major Associations sending strong teams. The strength of the squad selected to travel to Adelaide for the 2019 ASC tournament reflects the growing strength of the NZ tournament. The NZ1 team played in the top division at the 2019 ASC, with the NZ2 team in Division 3, winning all pool games and the final against Victoria to earn promotion to Division 2 for the 2020 tournament.
In March of 2019, Australia sent its national Over-60s squad for a series of games against New Zealand and New Zealand selection teams. New Zealand won the series 2-1, which would have been a shock to the visitors but demonstrated the increasing strength of the New Zealand selections. In 2020 NZ Over 60s will participate in the first World Cup of Cricket for Over 60s in Queensland against 7 other countries.
Veterans Cricket New Zealand (VCNZ)
As mentioned previously, the Wellington Committee, along with Cricket Wellington were instrumental in running the National tournament for its first four years and considered it timely to set up VCNZ to run this tournament and Veterans cricket in general.
The first thoughts about VCNZ started at the 2018 National Tournament, where a meeting of coordinators from each of the Associations met and agreed to form VCNZ and establish a board of trustees. At the 2019 National Tournament, the Trust Deed to establish VCNZ Charitable Trust was agreed and a trustee from each Association was nominated to be a trustee of the Trust.
On 4 February 2019 during the AGM of the NZ Over 60's Cricket Week at the Petone Recreation ground it was resolved to institute Veterans Cricket New Zealand ("VCNZ") as result of the recent interest in veterans cricket throughout New Zealand and to set up a Charitable Trust to be administered by representatives reflecting the cricket associations and districts playing in New Zealand.
VCNZ was incorporated as a Charitable Trust on 4 February 2019. The initial trustees John Dean and Grant Baker applied for VCNZ to be registered under the Charities Act 2005. VCNZ is registered with the Charities Commission as a Charitable Trust. VCNZ has now become the official entity for Over-40s , Over-50s, Over-60s and Over-70s cricket in NZ.
Support from Major Associations and New Zealand Cricket
Cricket Wellington has taken the lead with Over-60s cricket since the 2012 International Vintage Tournament was held there. In 2015, prior to the first Over 60s National Tournament, Cricket Wellington briefed the chief executives of the other 5 Major Associations and gained strong support for over-60s teams.
New Zealand Cricket provided a letter of support to Over-60s for the National Tournament and for the NZ squad to Australia. NZC also gave permission to the over-60s (now VCNZ) to use the NZ Cricket symbol on playing shirts, caps and uniform. NZC has also provided visible support through its website with media releases at the end of each National Over-60s tournament, results of matches in Australia and, more recently, with reports on each of the tests against the Over-60s Australian team.
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