The summer of 2023/2024 will go down as one of the best in BWCUCC history. For the second time in the clubs history our Premier Men completed the ‘double’ of One-Day & Two-Day Titles! The Two-Day title had only been won twice since the 1950’s, illustrating how significant winning this trophy back to back is.

Round one started at Burnside Park, hosting St Albans. Spring Rain ruled out the first days play, leading to a 2nd innings game on day 2. Losing the toss BWC were sent in and got off to a great start with both openers Thomas Zohrab & Henry Christie making fifties. A middle order collapse, followed by some lower order hitting got BWC through to a very competitive 257 in week one of the season. BWC’s spinners were far too strong for a young St Albans side who were bundled out for 71, with captain Hay taking 4/11 and leg spinner Ethan O’Donoghue taking 3/31. An outright win to start the summer. New Zealand u19 captain Oscar Jackson made his debut.

BWC hosted OBC in round two and once again were sent in to bat in green spring conditions. In 19 overs of carnage BWC were bundled out for a poultry 47, leaving a lot of work to be done to get back into the game. In response OBC made 120 all out, with Rohan Thompson taking 4/27 off 17 overs leading the attack well. At stumps BWC had grinded to 76/4 leaving scores level at stumps. A strong partnership with O’Dononghue (48) and Carl Huyser (31) saw BWC through to 169 AO, leaving 96 to win. Opening bowlers Alex Tait and Rohan Thompson provided one of the most destructive 19 overs ever seen on Burnside 1, dismissing OBC for 26! Thompson 5/15 finishing with match figures 9/42 and Tait 5/11, an amazing win by 70 runs after such a poor first innings.

Round three took BWC to Heathcote Domain. Winning the toss and inserting Heathcote. Heathcote batted well and made 224 all out from 54 overs. Captain Hay picked up another 4 wicket haul. In response BWC batted poorly limping past the follow on mark to 129 all out thanks to 8* from Curtis Millard at the end. Heathcote’s innings was dictated by David Zohrab who picked up the first 6 wickets finishing with 6/75 and enable BWC to hold Heathcote to 178/9 dec leaving 274 to win off 52 overs. Losing Thomas Zohrab early, Nick Gibb & Steven Hobson on debut make a good 70 run partnership before falling in consectutive balls. This brought Hay & Scott Janett to the crease. Togethter they dismantled the HCC attack, seeing off the remaining 191 runs in just 23 overs unbeaten. Hay finishing 130* (65) and Janett 60* (64). An incredible partnership sealing a famous win at the valley.

Round four against Merivale Papanui at Edgar Macintosh Park was significant for a few reasons. Carl Huyser played his 100th Two-Day match for BWCUCC an incredible acheivement. Thomas Zohrab took the captaincy for the first time, and played his last match before heading to Napier for work. It was also the first Premier match against MP. Losing the toss BWCUCC were sent in, limping through to 215/9 declared. Contributions were spread with Nick Gibb making 48 and Alex Tait a rapid 44*. BWCUCC were able to knock MP over for 102 in their first innings and enforce the follow on. David Zohrab taking 5/30 the chief destroyer. In their 2nd innings MP only managed 104, with Alex Tait taking 5/28 and giving BWC an innings win and an impressive 4/4 outright wins heading into the white ball part of the season.

Red ball cricket returned to St Albans Park for round 5 against Lancaster Park, after both the T20 & 50 over competitions. BWCUCC lost the toss and were inserted (a common theme). Struggling at 33/4, Scott Janett played an incredible innings scoring 124. He was greatly assisted by Jackson Latham at number 10 who put on 50 together and got BWC through to 196. After a slow start BWC got into the contest with Oscar Jackson ripping through LP’s middle order taking 5/24 and restricting the hosts to 137. A strong top order display in BWC’s 2nd innings Gibb (53), Janett (70) and Hay (61) advanced BWC to 221/9 dec setting LP 280 in 60 overs. BWC could only manage 8 wickets, with LP finishing 208/8 and the game finished as a draw, keeping LP’s hopes alive in second place.

Round 6 was back at Burnside Park and against East Shirley. ESCC won the toss and elected to bat. ESCC got off to a strong start being 100/3 before Matt Hay took 4/15 and Alex Tait picked up 3 wickets in his second spell to bowl ESCC out for 135. In response BWC got first innings points 2 wickets down and batted aggresively to advance the game. Scott Janett continued his incredible form scoring 110 as BWC were bowled out for 235. In the 12 overs remaining on day 1 BWC managed to take 4 wickets leaving ESCC reeling. Jackson Latham was the hero taking 5/49 and ESCC were bowled out for 112 leaving 13 runs to win which were done none down. This large victory left BWCUCC in the box seat to win the competiton with a 17 point lead.

The final round against Sydenham at Burnside Park saw a delayed start on Day 1 due to Friday rain. A 36 over a side first innings was started with BWC winning the toss and batting. Unfortunatley, BWC were bowled out in 33 overs for 136, leaving Sydenham 38 overs to bat the rest of the day finishing 176/4. BWC arrived on day 2 knowing 200 runs would be enough to seal the title. Digging in batting 91 overs and making 266 the competition was secured. Nick Gibb made 71 & Jake Jonas 41. Sydenham were set 227 in 38 overs, which they did 6 down relativley comfortably. Matt Hay took 5 wickets. The loss had no impact on the competiton and BWCUCC were Two Day Champions for 2023/2024 securing the historic double.

You can watch a video of the presentation and celebration that we have uploaded to You Tube.