Cricketing brothers celebrate first rep match together

Spare a thought for the battling Buller cricket side this month, as there was no respite from Nelson’s Restieaux brothers.

Finn was captaining the Griffins for the first time in a Hawke Cup Zone 3 match, and he had his two fast-bowling brothers Ronan and Harry in the team as well. Eighteen-year-old Harry, Nelson College cricketer of the year in 2024, was making his Griffins debut.

Finn and Ronan’s cricket careers have followed very similar paths, both having played for Central Districts at Under 17 and 19 level.

“It was unbelievable to play together in the Hawke Cup. I looked after them, but gave them a bit of a hard time as well,” says Finn, who is a top order batter and leg spinner.

“It was really cool. A special feeling,” adds Ronan.

While Finn is 1.88 metres tall, his younger brothers are both 1.95 metres.
“I have been asking myself the same question, where did that extra height come from,” quips Finn during his lunch break at Saxon Oval, where he and Ronan are working for Nelmac over the summer.

“Our sibling rivalry is not as fierce as it probably used to be in school days. We have matured a little bit in that sense,” reveals Finn who graduated from Canterbury University with a marketing and finance degree.

There are other similarities. Ronan, 20, has just returned from his second stint with Belfast club side Woodvale CC and Finn is heading there in April. The luxury of having an Irish mother and the passports that go with that. An ankle injury restricted Ronan to a batting role in Ireland, and playing for the Griffins marked his return to the game after surgery.

With Finn managing his workload, Ronan bowled just two overs in each of Buller’s innings and finished with the remarkable figures of four overs, two wickets for two runs. Harry chipped in with two wickets in the second innings and, while Finn didn’t roll his arm over, he scored a half century as Nelson took first innings points from the match.

The Griffins qualified to face Canterbury Country in the Zone 3 final in Rangiora next month with the winner then getting to challenge Hawke Cup holder Hawke’s Bay in Napier.

That will be the last time Finn and Ronan team up together for a while.
Ronan is starting a surveying diploma in Christchurch this year, and Harry is heading to Canterbury as well, to study.