Consistency was the key to the Gisborne and District Cricket Association’s division 2 Bendigo Country Week title win last week.
After being relegated to division 2 this year, the GDCA was determined it was going to be for only a brief spell.
On the way to the title, the GDCA team lost only one match for the week and that was by just two runs.
Coach Peter Cullen said he was thrilled by the effort put in by all the players.
“It was a great week and the whole team played well,” Cullen said.
“The incentive was to win the premiership and go back up again. We tried to select a team that could do that.
“It’s very hard to get a group of players who want to and can play for the whole week, but these guys did exactly that. We had 10 players who came for the whole week.”
Cullen praised the efforts of the team’s leaders, Warren Else and Chris Burkett.
“Warren did a great job as captain and was well supported by Chris [as vice-captain].
“Chris was man of the match in the grand final and had a really good week. It’s hard to get fast bowlers to commit, and he carried the brunt of the load so credit to him that he got the reward,” Cullen added.
While Burkett was the stand-out, topping both the bowling and batting figures for the GDCA, other players made sure he wasn’t alone.
“Every player contributed for at least one or two games. Chris and Darcy Nolan bowled well every match, while for someone like Taylor Stevenson, who is in his first year in the team, it’s special to be part of a premiership. “Hopefully, it’ll hold him in good stead and he’ll be part of the team for many years.”
Cullen said team supporters had come every day to watch, notably Ron Smith, Gary Wilson and Allan Williams.
With this year’s competition now over, thoughts are already turning to next year.
“We want to win the division 1 title, which we haven’t won in a number of years,” Cullen said. “We weren’t that far off last year and the competition is extremely close.
“Our group has a lot of potential and I’ll give all the players a chance to put their hands up for next year to come back and try.”
