Haysie lends a helping hand

Avid surfer Greg Hay was probably beginning to wonder if he would ever catch a break on his return to the Central Districts cricket fold.

The outstanding provincial batsman retired last season and has pretty much travelled the world since before fielding a call from a former CD teammate turned high performance manager, Dave Meiring.

“They wanted someone to offer a bit of support to the Central Hinds T20 coach Deepak Joon, so I rang BJ Barnett who had that role two years ago and he said it was good fun,” says Greg.

“I thought ‘why not’? I didn’t have anything else planned for January, so it was a good time to get back on tour. I love CD cricket.”

He is also passionate about his surfing and traded his bat for a board since pulling stumps last March.

“I have been a bit all over the show. I went to Bali and then San Diego and caught up with another Nelson cricket personality, Marty Kain. Been over to Adelaide as well and then spent the last few months in the Far North, about 40 kilometres from Kerikeri, just chilling and doing a lot of reading,” reflects the player they called “Haysie”.

The Waimea College product returned to Nelson at the start of the month as the Central Hinds assistant coach, observing they had a “good vibe going”.

But the side just couldn’t establish many batting partnerships and lost its first six matches to languish at the bottom of the Dream11 Super Smash table.

“Any time in a run chase, you need those partnerships. As a coach, you have to keep it pretty level.

“We know, when we get it right we can beat anyone,” declares the 40-year-old.
And they finally did last Friday at one of their home grounds, McLean Park in Napier.

After Nelson bowler Claudia Green delivered the perfect inswinger to claim the opening wicket, the Hinds cast their own spell over the Canterbury Magicians.

Despite conceding a staggering 32 extras, they restricted the visitors to just 119 and then produced their best batting partnership of the season to chase that down and win by eight wickets.

English import Hollie Armitage batted through the innings for the third time this season and finished 72 not out.

Greg Hay would have appreciated that, as he played his final CD match at that ground 10 months ago and also top scored, with 179 runs.

He faced more balls than would be sent down in an entire T20 game, in an innings that stretched more than 10 hours.

As for his future after this competition finishes at the end of the month, he is unsure.

“It is always nice to be here in Nelson but, there are no waves, so that is a bit of a dampener,” concludes the cricketing nomad.

“I have moved out of the beach house up north, so I am not based anywhere.”