to download - Part 2 - Wellington Cricket

Trevor Meale (1928 – 2010)
Trevor Meale was a tall lefthanded
batsman originally
from Auckland who played
for the Hutt Cricket Club
as a very watchful opening
batsman in the years
following WWII. He made
his Plunket Shield debut for
Wellington against Central
Districts at the Basin
Reserve on 22 December
1951. At the end of that
season he scored 39 and
112* against the visiting
West Indies team that
included Clyde Walcott,
Everton Weekes and Sonny
Ramadhin.
He played 12 matches for
Haig Herbert Whiting (1918 – 2009)
Born in Wanganui, Haig
Whiting played Hawke Cup
and other representative
cricket for Wanganui and
Wairarapa and for 25
years played senior cricket
wherever he was teaching.
Invariably he was made
captain, just as he was to
become the Principal of four
Hutt Valley primary schools
and two Intermediates. His
peers saw him as a leader
and how right they were.
His demeanour as a person was identical to his demeanour
as a cricketer – neat, tidy and precise. His playing gear
immaculate; flannel trousers, viyella cream shirt, taken to the
ground in an overnight bag with his spotless nuggetted boots
tied onto the straps by their laces. And not one hair out of
place on the iconic short-back-and-sides that he perfected.
After serving as a tank commander in World War II he moved
to Wellington and led both Karori and Upper Hutt to senior
championships. His playing days were terminated when a ball
from the New Zealand fast bowler of the day Bob Blair broke
his jaw in three places and dislodged two back teeth. The
injury was bad for Haig the player, but opened opportunities
where he was to excel – at a national level.
Haig turned his attention to umpiring and for the next 17 years
was an unobtrusive and undemonstrative adjudicator. He
Wellington over the next two seasons, scoring 741 runs at
an average of 33.68. He made two centuries, his other being
130 against Fiji at the Basin Reserve in February 1954.
After four seasons playing club cricket in England he returned
to New Zealand but missed selection for Wellington in
1957/58. He batted soundly enough in a trial for the 1958
tour to England and was a surprise inclusion in the team
captained by John Reid. In the first match he scored 89
against Worcestershire, including six 6’s, but scored only 502
runs in all at an average of 21.81. He played the first and fifth
Test matches but made just 21 runs in 4 Test innings. He
retired from first-class cricket after the tour.
Trevor was involved in Hutt Valley cricket administration and
later umpired club and representative cricket. He moved
to Orewa where he became a keen lawn bowler and was
involved with Probus and church affairs.
umpired to the spirit of the game, 40 years before it became
a directive from the ICC, always to the fullest vigour of the
game, tempered with infinite good humour and fun, totally
respected by the players. His involvement with umpiring was
to last 39 years with Hutt Valley and 20 years on the New
Zealand Cricket Umpires’ Association, during which time he
was either the chairman or president of both bodies.
As well as umpiring Haig played a major role in the national
development of junior cricket. In the 1970s and 80s, he, along
with Don Hazlett, Ian Atkins, Trevor Rigby and Don Neely, set
up the New Zealand Cricket Junior Advisory Board. He also
managed two youth teams on tours of Australia.
Haig was on the Hutt Valley Cricket Association for 28 years,
firstly as a committee member, then chairman, president,
life member and finally Patron. He was made an honorary
member of NZ Cricket in 1993 and became a life member of
Cricket Wellington in 1999.
In addition he was involved in the Hutt Valley-based
Nondescripts Cricket Club from its establishment in 1962
and was Patron of Petone-Riverside, the club where his son
David, a Wellington B representative, played in the 1980s.
It could surely be said of Haig Whiting – the rarest of tributes
to a man who gave so much of his time, energy and wisdom
to cricket – that he never had a bad word to say of anyone
connected with the sport. As he used to say; “only good
people are involved in the game of cricket”.
Don Neely
Cricket Wellington Inc Annual Report | 85