Bay Harbour: March 08, 2017

PAGE 6 BAY HARBOUR Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi
Wednesday March 8 2017
Our People
Not out after 16 years playing
Club captain Dan Vann has played for Sumner Cricket for 16 years. His love
for cricket has taken him all over the world and helped define his career as
a junior representative coach and Chisnallwood’s PE teacher. Noah Graham
spoke to him about his time in the game
A CAPTAIN’S KNOCK: Chisnallwood Intermediate School PE
teacher, Sumner Cricket Club captain and coach Dan Vann
spends most of his days talking and teaching cricket.
PHOTO: GEOFF SLOAN
What drew you into cricket?
It’s been in my family, my
grandfather used to be the
president of Otago cricket
and he was also an umpire,
and then my dad played from
there. Obviously, my brother
and I started playing and just
continued on through. I enjoy
it, it’s my passion and my job
as well. In my holidays and
after school I do a bit of cricket
coaching. It’s working on a lot of
mental training.
How does coaching compare
to playing?
I enjoy it. I still like playing.
I’ve always helped people get
better at things. Coaching just
came as part of that. I actually
got into teaching through
coaching. I did a bit of cricket
coaching when I was younger
and people just said I’d make a
good primary school teacher.
That’s what made me go to
Teacher’s College and I followed
it from there.
When did you start
playing?
I started in early primary
school and then backyard
cricket at home with my younger
brother. We used to play against
each other a lot. We used to live
on a farm so we had a few mates
from the area come along and
play a bit of backyard cricket.
Then we moved into the city
when I was a bit older. I actually
played at Sumner because I went
to Linwood College and it’s not
a very good cricket school. My
friend’s dad was the president –
Ray Steel – so I started playing at
the Sumner Cricket Club when I
was 15 or 16. I’ve played here for
about 16 years.
What was it like playing for
Sumner when you started?
When I first started I did okay.
It was good coming to Sumner
because the club had a very
strong senior team. I used to
play with the second team but I
would train with the first team.
So we had a lot of ex-Canterbury
players who would help coach
us. I worked my way up into
the senior team when I was 18
and then there were about two
years when I was known as
the ‘specialist’ fielder because
that’s all I did. Then a lot of the
older guys retired so I became
more of a senior player and then
eventually I was captain for a
couple of years and now I’m the
coach and the club captain. I
always ran the coaching sessions
and have helped the juniors and
stuff like that.
What’s the best part of
playing cricket?
It’s probably the camaraderie
of playing with your mates.
Cricket’s a game where you
spend half the time sitting and
not playing. If you don’t enjoy
the guys you’re hanging out with
then you’re not going to enjoy the
cricket. We’re lucky we’ve always
had a good team.
What is the memory that
sticks out to you the most?
Since I’ve been at the club
we’ve won about six or seven
titles. When we won them about
10 years ago I was an up-andcomer
and didn’t contribute as
much in terms of the game. In
more recent years it’s been a bit
more rewarding because of the
responsibility myself and the
other senior players have to
bare.
Effort with ball puts team in dominant
ON A ROLL:
Sumner
groundsman
Brendon
Wellington
rolled the
wicket at St
Leonards
Square
before
rolling
the New
Brighton
batting lineup.
•From page 1
His effort has left Sumner in a
dominant position going into the
second day on Saturday.
New Brighton finished day one
on 88/4 in their second innings, still
55 runs behind Sumner who will be
eyeing up a rare innings victory.
The conditions certainly didn’t
hamper the Sumner batting effort.
Put into bat they managed a first innings
total of 294/8 before the match
became the Wellington show.
The groundsman come strike
bowler single handily ripped
through New Brighton’s top order.
Wicketkeeper batsman Tom
McDonald was the only player to
put up a fight launching 95 from
53 balls before he was inevitably
dismissed by Wellington as New
Brighton fell for 151 all out in the
23rd over.
Sumner asked New Brighton to
follow-on and Wellington’s form
continued as he picked up three
for 28 to end the day with 10-58.
“It was a good feeling to get
there. I’ve had a few five wicket
bags but finally have the 10-wicket
match after 20 years of trying,”
said Wellington.
“I did some pretty good celebratory
moves . . . I even pulled out a
special celebration, the chainsaw.”
He credits his success to “old age
and experience.”
Through four games in the twoday
competition Wellington had
taken 17 wickets at an average of
16.23 and strike rate of 28.24.
Sumner Club captain Dan
Vann said Wellington had done
exceptionally well as the pitch was
a batsman’s wicket.
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