The Wellington-Tasman side which won the inaugural Over-50 IPT tournament:
Top from left: John Wilson, Rev Fernando (Sri Lankan Sports), Scott McCullum (Eastern Suburbs), Martin Pike (Onslow), Rupert Crichton (Hutt Districts), David Goldingham (Hutt Districts), Duncan Hutchinson (Onslow), Graham Chote (Naenae).
Bottom row: Kirulubalaratnam Nithyaganesh (North City), Dave Leonard (Nelson) Stephen Hewson (Uppper Hutt United) Jason Kilwell (Nelson).
Absent: Mason Robinson (Nelson), Richard Petrie (Eastern Suburbs) Dave Whiting (Petone Riverside).
Four games in four days is tough going at any level of cricket but when you are over-50 it's even tougher.
That challenge though didn't deterred the Wellington-Tasman side who have won the inaugural over-50 Inter-provincial tournament played in Christchurch over the past week.
The side which contains 12 Wellington based players beat one of the pre-tournament favourites Canterbury-Otago in the final.
Bowling first Wellington-Tasman contained the home side to 245 in their 45 overs on a very batsman friendly Hagley Oval pitch, with spinner Stephen Hewson taking 2-37 off nine overs.
The Wellington-Tasman run chase got off to a flier with former Black Cap Richard Petrie and Nelson representative Mason Robinson putting on a century opening stand in double quick time.
When Petrie (76) and Robinson (44) departed, former Central Districts players Dave Leonard (37 not out) guided the side home.
Wellington-Tasman had previously beaten Canterbury-Otago in pool play and knocked off the other pre-tournament favourites Auckland who had a raft of former first class players - when they dismissed them for just 90.
The side's only loss was in the final over of their game against Districts.
Skipper Petrie, who was named the player of the tournament after scoring a century in the pool match against Canterbury, said he rates the win among the highlights of the career.
"There are two titles that I am particularly proud of being part of winning. Playing for Darwen as their club professional I led them to the Northern League title in Lancashire in 1999 and this rates as a similar achievement.
"We weren't seen as one of the tournament favourites but it was a real team effort. The guys have worked bloody hard over the winter started training in May heading into the Cricket Wellington centre in the depths of winter - we were determined to perform and our preparation was undoubtedly a key to getting through the tournament relatively unscathed injury wise.
"We talked a lot - well I talked a lot about - the three zones 'green, orange, red'. Concentrate on the things in the green zone - the things that you can control for example where you pitch the ball when you are bowling, your attitude and things like that.
"Forget about the orange and red zones - that's stuff you have absolutely no control or very little control over. Things like the umpiring decisions, the state of the pitch or the approach of a batsman. That way you can narrow your own job down and that's exactly what the guys in this team did," he said.
"The guys gave me a few sideways looks when I first started talking about it but they embraced it."
Petrie, Robinson, Leonard and Hewson have all been named in the New Zealand side to compete at the over-50 Cricket World Cup in South Africa in March.
"Hewie's bowling through the tournament was all the more remarkable as he had a broken middle finger on bowling hand. He didn't tell me that until after the tournament so there have been a few stern words said," joked Petrie.
"He was the most economical bowler at the tournament...he 'Out Nuttalled - Nuttall' - referring to wily veteran Canterbury-Otago spinner Andrew Nuttall who played for Canterbury during the 1970's and 1980's."
