Movember Five Day ‘Test’ Match

In the inaugural Movember test match between Seddon Cricket Club and Movember Sports Club, hosts Seddon earned a 160-run win on the final morning on the back of a brilliant all-round performance from Guy Schwikkard. Schwikkard took the final wicket of the match shortly after taking the new ball, removing stubborn number 11 batter Matthew Butcher for 27, to claim a five wicket haul. His 5-45 in 15.1 overs came after he had lit up the scorecard in his two innings at bat, first scoring 128 from 101 balls in the first innings, followed by a lightning 54 from 33 deliveries in the third innings of the match.

The all-round showing saw Schwikkard named Winger Player of the Match.

The match started amid rain delays on Wednesday morning, allowing the two teams to enjoy a ceremonial brunch in which Fire and Emergency’s Matiu Leonard and former Olympian Mahe Drysdale spoke to the players about men’s health and wellbeing. They urged the players to talk, to be resilient and to work with and take care of one another. Their words flowed to the ground as the clouds dispersed and a sodden pitch was made playable with the efforts of all 24 players drying the ground.

Movember captain Craig Bulloch dropped the ball at the toss, forgetting that tails never fail before electing heads. With the toss, overseen by match umpire Bryce Lawrence, won, Seddon skipper Dan Fenwick elected to bat on the damp wicket.

While Movember had the early scalp of Darin Armstrong for the Test’s only duck, that only proceeded to bring together two of the game’s most prolific run scorers, in Corey Hyde and man of the match, Schwikkard.

Hyde played a pure Test match innings opening the batting, making 72 from 169 balls across a more than three hour stint in the middle, while Schwikkard was more brisk, belting 128 from 101 balls in little more than two hours.

By the time their partnership was ended, they had put on 196 runs together, leaving Seddon at 201-2 after 41 overs.

Mark Donovan continued to pile on the pressure as the day continued. Batting five, the Hamilton City Councillor

Seddon CC vs Movember XI

Tamahere, Hamilton was unbeaten overnight, and returned on day two to amass 115 from 106 balls, his first century for Seddon.

Seddon CC 503 (Ben Strang 129, Guy Schwikkard 128, Mark Donovan 115, Corey Hyde 72; Logan Brown 4-67) and 291-4 declared (Corey Hyde 102, Mark Donovan 60*, Ryan Preston 58*, Guy Schwikkard 54) beat Movember XI 278 (Robert Dunne 89, David Icke 55, Jacob Babu 54) and 356 (Ben Kennedy 79, Luke Kennedy 73, Jacob Babu 61; Guy Schwikkard 5-45, Bryan King 3-47) by 160 runs.

Donovan was only able to bat after a sodden outfield was dried out by a helicopter early in the afternoon of day two, as well as the addition of two Super-Sopers to soak up moisture.

He was joined at the crease by Ben Strang with the score 301-5 from 70 overs, and they proceeded to belt the ball to all parts.

Donovan departed nine overs later after a 106-run partnership, while Strang continued to apply the pressure, amassing the highest score of the match, 129 from just 60 balls. His second 50 runs came from only 14 deliveries.

Logan Brown was the pick of the bowlers and wrapped up the innings with Strang’s wicket, taking 4-67 from his 15.2 overs, at a miserly economy rate given the pace of scoring.

Needing more than 300 runs to avoid the follow on, Movember lost fairly regular wickets throughout their innings, starting with captain Bulloch in the second over.

But a staunch resistance was put up by opening batter Jacob Babu (54 from 79 balls) and number four Robert Dunne (89 from 102).

Both played classy innings under immense pressure from the Seddon bowlers, with Quinton De Bruin getting sharp bounce out of the wicket, and the likes of Mitch Mace, Bryan King and Kent Currie finding swing with the pink ball.

Dunne, the man behind the Movember charity, showed all his class with a number of sweeps to the fence against the spinners, but fell just short of three figures as light faded at the end of day three.

David Icke also kept things interesting, arriving batting five and belting 9 fours and three sixes in his 55 from 43 balls, while battling crippling back pain.

Movember were eventually bowled out for 278, 25 short of the follow on, early on day four.

Fenwick elected not to enforce the follow on, instead sending his batters out to set Movember a target.

Hyde changed tack in his second bat of the match, blasting 102 from just 62 balls as he got the monkey off the back.

Schwikkard made 54 to add to his tally for the match, while Donovan (60 not out) and Ryan Preston (58 not out) put on an unbeaten 118 run partnership before Fenwick declared with a lead of 516.

Movember had a decision to make. Would they have a crack at an historic 500-plus chase, or attempt to bat out the overs for a drawn test.

When they reached 110 runs without loss in just the 13th over, it seemed they were trying for the win.

The Kennedy’s, father Ben and son Luke, combined for a brutal opening salvo which had the Seddon bowlers scrambling and concerned 500 wasn’t enough on a flat Tamahere wicket.

It caused serious tension among the Seddon ranks, with some concern the batters were even doctoring the pitch while running between the wickets.