'I look forward to this game every year': Jordie Barrett teams up with All Blacks stars ahead of annual cricket crossover match
Every offseason Jordie Barrett turns to his second sporting love, swapping boots for bat and ball to rekindle his cricketing passion.
Before he became the prodigiously talented All Blacks and Hurricanes outside back, Barrett hit the crease as a brisk new-ball bowler and handy lower order batsman. He captained Central Districts under-19s, played alongside Black Caps Will Young and Tom Bruce in Taranaki’s Hawke Cup side and was on standby for the New Zealand under-19 World Cup team.
“I was still playing cricket two years out of school – just before I made NZ under-20s,” Barrett recalls from his family’s Taranaki farm.
Given that pedigree, and the many backyard battles he shared with his elder brothers, it’s no surprise Barrett has been a standout in the Team Rugby versus Team Cricket Black Clash which holds its third, deciding edition at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval on Friday evening.
Barrett took 2-53 and hit 42 not out to propel Team Rugby to their five wicket upset win in the maiden Black Clash two years ago in Christchurch.
Last year in Napier, Barrett’s yorker stunned Stephen Fleming during an impressive four over spell that also claimed Black Caps batting coach Luke Ronchi to finish with 2-22, but it wasn’t enough to stop Team Cricket squaring the ledger with a two run win that went down to the final ball.
Despite enjoying his break, before rejoining the Hurricanes, Barrett is not about to rely on talent alone – instead linking with former Taranaki and Central Districts coach Debu Banik.
“I look forward to this game every year and try and put in a bit of work over the summer by having a few net sessions with my old Taranaki coach,” Barrett says.
“Every summer, regardless of whether this game was on I’d still go and hit balls with him. It’s a way of staying fit for me and another little challenge outside footy. There’s a few things that correlate with each other. He hits me a few high ball catches and still thinks that goes a long way to me catching bombs.”
In the past two weeks Barrett managed two 40 over second-grade hit outs with his local club side Pihama. While 82 against the Boys’ High second XI was the individual highlight, Barrett savoured winning the local “Ashes” – a traditional annual fixture – against Orua.
Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens hardly let the ink on his final high school exam dry before his professional rugby career took off, but it could have taken a drastically different turn had an NRL club had its way.https://t.co/JpUBE22EOn
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 19, 2021
“It was the first time I got to play in the Ashes and we got a win so that was bloody good.
“I’ve played a couple of club games to try get my body up to scratch so I don’t hurt myself and hit a few balls to get my eye in a wee bit.
“You certainly don’t want to go in cold when I know how many eye-balls are going to be on the TV. Last time we were at Hagley it was almost sold out so you don’t want to set yourself up to fail or embarrassment.
“There’s a wee uni contingent turning up. No doubt they’ll be there with bells on in a late sunny afternoon in Christchurch. It’ll be my first time under lights there.
“Cricket is one of those games you can prepare as much as you want and still get a good ball and get out early.”
Barrett hopes Kaylum Boshier, the former New Zealand under-19 cricket captain turned Taranaki and Chiefs flanker, can notch a half century and nominates Crusaders fullback Will Jordan as a dark horse for Team Rugby.
Westlake’s Jock McKenzie is another dual talent, having represented NZ under 19s in cricket and the NZ Maori under 18 rugby side in the same week two years ago.
“It’s Will Jordan’s first time playing and he was sharp at Christchurch Boys’ and it’s good to have Kaylum back he was a gun a couple of years ago and still got it.”
As for the opposition, a former Black Caps all-rounder could be targeted.
“They’ve got a few ring-ins – they know how important it is for them to win this one.
“Reading their team list I’m not sure where I can find too many weaknesses when you look at Grant Elliott, Daniel Vettori, Jacob Oram, Kyle Mills… maybe Scott Styris.”
TEAM RUGBY
Sir Graham Henry (Coach)
Israel Dagg
Ofisa Tonu’u
Jason Spice
Richie McCaw
Marc Ellis
Kaylum Boshier
Brad Weber
Jordie Barrett
Jock McKenzie
Will Jordon
Andy Ellis
WILDCARD – Mathew Sinclair
Scott Robertson (Team Manager)
TEAM CRICKET
Stephen Fleming (Capt & Coach)
Grant Elliott
Dan Vettori
Jacob Oram
Nathan McCullum
Hamish Marshall
Kyle Mills
Peter Fulton
Craig McMillan
Adam Parore
Scott Styris
WILDCARD – Jordan Watson
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments