Old Collegians’ Cricket Club
Old Collegians’ Cricket Club (OCCC) was established in 1924-25 and recently celebrated its 75th anniversary. OCCC was established by old boys from Christs College, and for many years was a closed club for ex-pupils of the College. Only in the 1970s did the club vote to become open. Initially this move was opposed, but it became obvious that the club could not survive unless it became open.
OCCC is based at Elmwood Park where it has Club Rooms, practice facilities (both artificial and grass), and four wicket blocks. The Club usually fields between 7 and 9 teams in the Men’s competition, and has recently entered a very successful Women’s team which won 3rd Grade in the 1999-2000 season. In addition, OCCC has a very active Junior Section which fields around 30 teams in Kiwi, Junior Average and Junior Traditional grades, and a very popular Nursery for younger cricketers.
The OCCC Senior team have won the 2-day Trophy competition 3 times. These wins all occurred in a period of 5 seasons with wins in 1979-80, 1982/83 and 1983/84. The first of these was achieved under the Captaincy of Rod Fulton, and the later two wins under the Captaincy of Richard Leggatt, who lead a strong side which also included Canterbury representatives Vaughan Brown, Paul McEwan, and Lyndsay Forde. Peter Sharp who coached this side was also instrumental in its success. Since then the best result has been second in 1988/89.
Although OCCC had not won the competition in the preceding 54 years it fielded a very competitive side in the late 1950s with very strong players in club including Tony MacGibbon who played International Cricket for 11 years, and six other Canterbury representatives. MacGibbon and Paul McEwan who played 14 years of first class cricket for Canterbury are the best known players who have belonged to Old Collegians’. Warren Wisneski last season became the 7th OCCC player to attain International status with games for New Zealand A which lead to his selection for a One-Day International against Australia.
New Zealand Representatives from OCCC
R.O. Talbot (1931), I.M. Hamilton (1927-28), C.K.Q. Jackman (1935-36), A.R. MacGibbon (1949-60), J.G Wright (1978-93), P.E. McEwan (1980-81 & 1984-85), V.R. Brown (1984-85), W.A. Wisneski (1999).
Canterbury Representatives from OCCC
R.O. Talbot (1927-33), I.M. Hamilton (1926-30), S.G. Lester (1929-36), G.L. Talbot (1929-30), L.R. Dunster (1932-33), C.K.Q. Jackman (1934-37), H.E.H. Denham (1945-46), A.R. MacGibbon (1947-62), D.W. Crowe (1957-58), J.H.M. Dawson (1957-58 & 1961-63), J.E. England (1958-59 & 1961-62), R.T. Hunt (1959-60), J. St. J. Parson (1960-61), J.D. Riley (1968), R.W. Fulton (1972-73 & 1984), D.J. Gatenby (1972), D.W. Bracewell (1974-76), J.G Wright (1975-93), L.J. Forde (1976-77), P.E. McEwan (1977-91), J.G. Phillips (1977-78), V.R. Brown (1978-87), R.J. Leggat (1980-84), C.W.H. Lawrence (1987-88), W.A. Wisneski (1996-2000).