WHILE other players were battling the recent Hamilton and District Cricket Association finals series out over the past three weeks, Hamilton A grade and Victorian Over-50s opening batsman, Nic Cullinane, undertook tour of New Zealand with the Spirit of Cricket squad.

The Spirit of Cricket squad was made up of those players who just missed selection in the national Over-50s team for the quad-series that was staged at the same time.

Cullinane has made every post a winner since being introduced to Veterans cricket (the fastest growing sport in Australia) four years ago, representing Victoria at the national titles with success.

His efforts on this recent tour must put his name further in the sight of the Australian selectors, scoring 228 runs across five games and was dismissed only twice to finish the carnival with a Bradmanesque average of 114.00.

“The Spirit of Cricket tour is like an Australia A team which is made up of players that performed at the nationals but missed selection in the Australian side,” Cullinane said.

“Former Australian tennis player, Mark Kratzmann was our skipper, and he made a ton in the nationals for Queensland and is a very good player.

“There were teams from Australia, New Zealand, the United States of America, and the Rest of the World competing in the carnival.

“Rodney Hogg was the tour ambassador and he’s a lovely man who had plenty of tales to tell with a very dry sense of humour.”

Cullinane said the tour offered valuable experience for players in their pursuit of selection in the Australian team.

“Six players in our team were knocking on the door of the Australian team and this was promoted as a way we could put even more pressure on those ahead of us in the national team,” he said.

“The opening bowlers for our side were roughly the same pace as Carl Joyce (Grampians opening bowler) to give you an indication of the speed, while the Australian bowlers were around Jack Beaton (Pigeon Ponds) pace.”

While many players are of the same standard with their batting and bowling, it’s the fielding where the get sorted out with those with agility and a good throwing arm getting the nod from the selectors.

“The wickets were green, but they were very hard, although as an opening batsman I had to deal with some very good seam bowling,” Cullinane said.

“Playing against these players from here and around the world I’ve seen that it’s the mental side of the game that separates the good players from the very good players and I’ve been working on this all summer long both in the Over-50’s and here for Hamilton.

“The US team was made up of ex-pat Indians, Pakistanis, and their skipper was a Sri Lankan, which we thought would be a good thing considering how Indians and Pakistanis get on.”

The Over-50’s Veterans national titles will be staged in November in Newcastle, NSW and that is the next event on the calendar for Cullinane, and he will get match practice with Hamilton A grade when the new HDCA summer begins the first Saturday in October.