Suburbs New Lynn Cricket Club is relatively young, the season just finished being our 49th. We were formed in 1972 as a result of the amalgamation of the Suburbs and Blockhouse Bay – New Lynn Clubs, both old clubs with proud traditions.
In the early years, Suburbs New Lynn was based at the Rosebank Road (now Eastdale Reserve) ground. We moved to Ken Maunder Park in the mid-1970’s and together with the Western Districts Hockey Club built the pavilion which has been our headquarters ever since. The pavilion was built through club labour, a shining testimony to the commitment of the early members.
For 30 years the cricket and hockey clubs shared Ken Maunder Park with the Lynn-Avon Football Club which had its own separate clubrooms. In the 1990’s Western District Hockey moved its base away from Ken Maunder as all club hockey began to be played on artificial turf. Then in 2010, in a major joint venture between cricket, football and the council, the football clubrooms were demolished and replaced with a magnificent indoor training centre to be used by both clubs and the wider community.
At the same time the cricket clubrooms became home to both clubs and an independent Ken Maunder Park Trust was created to manage both the indoor training centre and the clubrooms.
Playing Success
Through the 1970’s and 1980’s Suburbs New Lynn fielded strong sides producing many Auckland representatives. Hedley Howarth, Geoff Howarth, John Reid, Peter Webb and Stuart Gillespie went on to play for New Zealand.
The club’s first ‘golden age’ took place in the 1980’s. We won the Premier Two-Day Championship in 1980-81 and then in 1984-85, in an amazing season, Suburbs won the Two-Day and One-Day Championships as well as the Grosvenor Cup for best fielding team. Suburbs also finished runners-up in the Two-Day Championship in 1987-88 and 1990-91.
The second ‘golden age’ arrived in the late 2000’s. In the 2008-09 season for the first time in 25 years the club won the Hedley Howarth Trophy for the Premier Two-Day Championship. This was the beginning of an amazing run for the club’s Premier side and was followed up with Twenty20 titles in 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2014-15, and 2016-17. Further Two-Day Championships were added in 2011-12 and 2013-14 and the Jeff Crowe Cup for the Premier One Day title was also won in the 2013-14 and 2015-16 seasons.
SNLCC was awarded the Club Championship for the leading Principal Club in Auckland in the 2011-12 season. This period has also seen a number of New Zealand representatives emerge, including Martin Guptill, Reece Young, Daryl Tuffey, Michael Bates and Jeet Raval.
Statistical History
In the early 1980s work was started on a Club Statistical History. By going back through the Annual Reports a profile on every player to represent Suburbs New Lynn was formed. Each year this file is updated from the latest Annual Report (we are dependent on the quality of statistics lodged on CricHQ by team captains). Each season new players join the “2000 Club” (batting); “100 Club” (bowling) and “50 Club” (catches). Record partnerships and season aggregates are also recorded. Most cricketers are statistically minded and the “Achievements Clubs” have provided a lot of interest.