As it has been highlighted in previous posts the City Cricket Club has been extremely fortunate to have very good overseas professionals involved with the club over many years.

This can certainly be said for English all-rounder Craig Rika, a right handed aggressive batsman and right arm medium fast bowler who joined the club as a professional in the 1992/93 season to play in the local Whangarei club cricket competition.

The Rika name was already famous to Northland sport, his late grandfather Kea Rika played rugby for North Auckland and late great grandfather Bill Rika was both a North Auckland, NZ Maoris and All Black forward in the late 1920’s so with that Craig came with a very good sporting pedigree.

The connection was made by City’s first class and Black Cap Bryan Young who met the youngster and his family back then when he played in England during the New Zealand off season and made arrangements for him to link Craig up with his City club.

‘Yorkie’ as he was known to many was only 19 when he arrived at the club as a young 1.88m tall strapping young athletic figure.

Back home in England he had been captaining his Woolhouse Grove School XI of Bradford and had signed as a non-contract member of the playing staff with the intention of being a paid member of the Yorkshire Academy of cricket staff which later on eventuated.

In addition to playing for his school he had also turned out for the Cleckheaton Cricket Club in the Bradford league where for three years he had been Cleckheatons young player of the year which in that time also saw him go onto play for the England U19 side.

Craig at that stage had also started to show his all-round sporting talents having also played for Yorkshire under 18’rugby team.

Craig became an extremely popular member of the City Cricket club and excelled on the field with both bat and ball – known for having a bullet arm in the outfield along with being a bowler who was somewhat of an awkward customer to face and punishing batsman who could hit a long ball.  This was no better highlighted when he cleared the City clubrooms at Cobham Oval with a towering six in a blistering innings of 150 that also saw him take out the highest club batting score for that season.

It’s fair to say as a true Englishman he enjoyed a beer or pint or two but was along with that a true gentleman and as described by many of the Whangarei and Northland female fraternity ‘absolutely gorgeous’ when attending many a social nights out with fellow City team mates and there partners at the local Forum bar night club in Whangarei.

He also was integral in doing a grand job coaching the City cricket club youngsters and for that matter was an extremely popular figure throughout junior cricket in Whangarei.

‘Yorkie’ went on to represent Northland as an all-rounder in four matches that same season scoring a well compiled 101no in a Fergus Hickey two day match against Poverty Bay.  He also played 5 one dayers for Northland and in one of those matches he produced a fine bowling spell in claiming a five wicket bag.

We unfortunately haven’t been able to track down ‘Yorkie’ since he last left New Zealand shores but if someone knows of his whereabouts or ‘Yorkie’ if you come across this post on your travels it would be great to hear from you.

Remember this lad? If you don’t it’s South African Simon Kuhn who joined the City Cricket Club as a ‘pro’ in the 2005/06 season and became extremely popular. It’s fair to say that the initiative and foresight by City Cricket Club to get a pro over saw Northland cricket follow in the trend by having options to have professional players available for other clubs under the umbrella of NCA.
Who will ever forget Kuhny’s introduction to the City Cricket club – having not long arrived in the country he was summonsed down to the City nets by a couple of the club stalwarts and severely put under the microscope by one man in particular that goes by the name of Martin (Maggot) Kimber, a former City and Northland leg spinner along with being one of City’s Life members. It’s fair to say Kuhny’s batting net on this occasion did not last particularly long after receiving his first ever ball in NZ. Kuhny after taking centre lined up to Maggots wiry and well known leg-spin deliveries.

Maggot on this occasion with a brand new ball in hand produced what he would describe to you as his ‘ball of the century’ a extremely quick leg spinning delivery (minus the spin part and certainly without the trajectory of his infamous ‘moon ball’) which found its way through Kuhny’s defence (like many, having played for Maggots turn) hitting him absolutely fair flush on the private parts and seeing him drop to the ground like a sack of spuds unable to continue his net and struggling to remove himself from the crease. After finally finding his feet in wanting to make his way out of the net as quickly as possible and away from total embarrassment and requiring sympathy Kuhny then of all things received the words from the nonchalant but fiery spinner ‘welcome to NZ Tiger’! A dashing right handed batsman along with being a tidy and agile wicket keeper not of the normal mould considering he was six foot in height and had two different sized feet!! These unorthodox characteristics even more so highlighted his talents in receiving the Young’s Platter for best club Wicket Keeper.

It was quite fitting that he and together with Owain Hopkins ‘Hutch’ also received the Kessell Trophy that year for the highest BATTING partnership of 146 runs for the season. Kuhny was not only skilled with the bat and handy behind the stumps but was a real character. It must be said that Kuhny’s sense of navigation was never that flash considering Whangarei is not all that hard to find its way around, on many occasions when labouring as a tiler for one of club members business a simple trip down the road could easily turn into a search and rescue mission in helping him find his way back to the work site. Kuhny who has recently had his first child won plaudits as a club pro enjoyed relaxing, telling a story at the bar with team mates and club members whilst enjoying a cold bevy and ciggie.

For many years between the 90’s – 2000’s City had a team which competed in the local fourth grade competition under the name of the “City Guvenors” a group of good mates who simply were madly in love with the game, would train or play if they could through rain, hail or shine along with having fun and spending many hours enjoying each other’s company in the City clubrooms at the old Cobham Oval.  The team was made up of entirely new younger members and one of the driving forces behind this group of characters was the husband and wife duo of Bruce and Sarah Kessell along with Bruce’s late father Murray.

Bruce Kessell was an integral part of this team and fair to say the ‘superstar’ of the Whangarei lower grade competitions for many years which saw him not only be prolific with both bat and ball but play a huge part in seeing the City Guvenors move up the ranks and have many successful seasons in the reserve grade competition.

On the majority of Friday evenings leading up to Saturday club matches a group of the team led by the one and only Kessel would be found honing their skills down at the City nets into the early hours of the morning down at the old Johnson and Crawford Indoor Centre – it would be frightening to know and even think what the power bill throughout the many years equated to.

Bruce Kessell was an all-rounder and free flowing top order batsman along with being a fiery right arm swing bowler who simply lead through his actions with many man of the match performances for the club.  A quick snapshot speaks for itself with his impressive performances over the years seeing him take out most of the CCC trophies that are on hand to receive. These include most wickets in a season on three different occasions, winning the best bowling average in 1992/93 and taking out the best bowling performance on four different occasions with his best bowling figures being 9 for 30 which is also the clubs record.  With the bat in hand he also achieved very impressive stats, winning the best batting average on five different occasions along with the taking out of the highest score on four different occasions including a highest score of 172no along with the Kessell family trophy for the highest batting partnership in 2007/08.

To go with all these achievements Bruce has also won the MVP player of the season along with best fieldsman and catches cup, the Wilson Platter for most overall points in a season an impressive 9 different occasions and also the prestigious trophy for City Cricket Clubs best club man in 1998/99.

Brought to our attention by one of his close team mates and partners in crime for the City Guvs, Bruce also believed that umpires for the day had just as an important job to do and never needed any extra help – obviously this helped his runs scoring at times with Bruce only walking when he ran out of petrol!

As has been highlighted, it is widely known within the club that Bruce had the clubs biggest trophy cabinet and at times needed to turn up with his very own trailer at the end of season prize giving evenings.  Not only was he a proven performer on the park for the club but also a real character that along with his family pulled together a unique group of club cricketers and supporters that shared in many special times shared by the City Cricket Club Guvs.

Peter Nathan could be well described as City Cricket Clubs ‘Calypso Bradman’! Peter seen here playing a swash buckling cover drive for City in a premier grade match at the ‘old’ Cobham Oval, Port Road in Whangarei. Pete known to his club mates as ‘Rasta’ certainly embraced the flamboyant West Indian way and golden era, this was best highlighted as Pete could always be easily spotted playing in the City colours but wearing the West Indian Maroon coloured wide brim floppy hat whilst so relaxed at times you could have thought he was actually horizontal, both on and off the field!

When Pete wasn’t throwing wood to willow at the tail end of the City innings he was taking wickets with his crafty swinging delivers with the special ‘knack’ of taking key wickets and breaking notable partnerships when thrown the ball by his skipper. A great City Cricket Club man and someone who could be always called upon at the drop of a hat, Pete can still be spotted supporting and following cricket teams down at Cobham Oval.

Pete is a Maintenance Supervisor at Housing New Zealand Corporation in Whangarei.