KEVIN PIKE - Wheatons XI, Armidale, NSW

Our latest winner of the Love of the Game Award is a special Australian who will be making his 4th visit to a Vintage Cricket Carnival. Winning a Vintage Cricket Carnival Presentation Pack at the Carnival will be Kevin Pike, organiser of the Wheatons Cricket Team from Armidale in New South Wales, Australia.

Kevin played his "competitive" cricket for the St Peters Cricket Club in beautiful Armidale in New South Wales, Australia between 1975 and 2001. His personal achievements as a player are described (by Kevin) as modest and he was considered to be “sometimes useful” though he was a member of 2 premiership winning teams in Armidale Club Cricket: 1979 B Grade; 1994 5th Grade.

Kevin first became interested in cricket during the 1960-61 Australian v West Indies Test Series. For a young person listening to Alan McGilvray, Johnny Moyes and company on the ABC Radio was a magical experience and has had a passion for the great game of cricket ever since.

On completing accounting qualifications in 1975 Kevin was coerced into playing cricket by Ian Watts and Brian Gream, the main recruiters for St Peters Cricket Club. Both Brian (71) and Ian (66) will be participating in the Vintage Cricket in the Cotswolds Classic in August 2008. Just like old times!

The Cotswolds Classics will be Kevin's twelfth tour with Wheatons, stalwarts and great mates: Mike Muldoon; Garry Griffith and Phil Allen will be making their tenth tour with Wheatons to the UK.

Kevin served on the New England Cricket Board (later Armidale Cricket Board) as Treasurer for 12 years and President for 4 years., whose greatest achievement was hosting in Armidale the West Indies side against Country NSW on 3 January 1992. This was a huge coup for Armidale and pre-match excitement was amazing. Christmas-New Year of 1991-1992 was incredible, in that it rained non-stop for days! Our cricket board members had spent months preparing the ground and facilities to a suitable standard. All this hard work looked like being flooded out!

The West Indies management were keen to stay on the Gold Coast and were bringing some pressure to bear to abandon the match. As Treasurer of the organising committee for the match Kevin had managed to oversee the sale of over 3000 tickets at $20 each and refused to contemplate refunds. The weather forecast for Match Day forecast was not great - “Storms weakening to occasional showers, late afternoon mainly fine.” This was amended to “mainly fine” when relayed to the West Indies Management!

The match proceeded with fine weather prevailing and a record crowd in attendance enjoyed the wonderful spectacle of seeing Desmond Haynes, Curtley Ambrose and Brian Lara in action. A wonderful day still referred to as a cricket highlight in Armidale’s history. The contribution by the Armidale Organisers in changing a flooded field to international standard in 48 hours was just incredible.

In 1999 with several fellow enthusiasts Kevin helped start up a Vintage Cricket competition in Armidale. The playing numbers have ebbed and flowed, but the highlights have been Wheatons XI – Armidale team tours overseas to attend carnivals in South Africa, New Zealand, Canada and within Australia.

Vintage Cricket has provided a great niche for Wheatons XI who have enjoyed the philosophy of “Fun and Friendship” and have made great friends in Adelaide, Perth and Rotorua. The highlight of Wheatons vintage experience has been facing the awesome bowling of Winston Chase and Joel Garner in Perth and the boisterous celebrations after that great match.

Photos: (top) Kevin firmly on the front foot in Stratford; (middle) The Wheatons XI and partners at Stratford; (bottom) Kevin with Joel Garner