'Choker' tag haunts Wellington (5 February 1999)

5 February 1999

'Choker' tag haunts Wellington

Geoff Longley

Bob Carter's Wellington cricketers want to bury their "choker" tag in tomorrow's Shell Cup cricket final against Canterbury at the Basin Reserve.

Wellington has played in three Shell Cup finals, two Shell Trophy finals, and a cricket Max final since 1991-92, but lost the lot.

Carter, 38, has coached Wellington in all but one of those games, having taken over in 1992-93 after spending nine seasons playing and coaching in Canterbury during the English off-season.

Tomorrow's match will be Carter's swansong with Wellington as he leaves the following week to become head coach at Northamptonshire, where he spent his English county career.

Wellington's players want to send their coach out on a winning note.

"Talk about choking does bug the boys a bit -- people don't always realise that you have to play well along the way to get to a final," said Carter.

He said the word was an emotive one and his squad had spent some time with a Wellington sports psychologist working at turning the term to its advantage.

"Rather than it be looked on as a negative label, it's more a case of getting another opportunity to prove it wrong. The breakthrough will come, it's just a matter of when."

While Carter acknowledged Canterbury to be the stronger side on paper, with its bevy of Black Caps, he felt Wellington was peaking nicely.

He said that started with its home game round-robin win against Canterbury and followed through with wins against Otago and defending champion Northern Districts (twice).

"The result last year (Canterbury was beaten by Northern) proved that anything can happen in the one-day game.

"It's up to us to produce a big game at home and I'm confident we can do that." Wellington has added Jason Wells to its squad, bringing it to 14 preparing for the match. But it is likely to stick with the winning XI from last Saturday's major semi-final.

Richard Petrie, whose fitness with a groin strain was in doubt right up until match day against Northern, came through the match well and Carter expects him to appear again.

Carter said he was heartened by his players having, after the win against Northern, to face Canterbury in the final.

"Perhaps as a coach I might have been rather wanting to play a team we had beaten three times this season but the boys feel they have some old scores to settle with Canterbury."

Carter said in the past Canterbury's strength may have given it a psychological advantage over some teams, but the players felt there was not that aura of invincibility now.

Carter has strong Canterbury ties, having played for Canterbury and scored 66 in a one-day final in 1982, ironically against Wellington.

Carter was a stalwart of the Sydenham club, with which he spent eight seasons until 1989-90. He was also heavily involved with youth coaching and had a leading role in the development of Stephen Fleming.

He married a Christchurch woman and will have a farewell function in the city before leaving New Zealand.

Meanwhile, Wellington officials are expecting close to a sellout crowd approaching 12,000 for the 50-over match.

"The phone's been going red hot all day," said a Wellington official.

Wellington squad: Matthew Bell, Chris Nevin, Tim Boyer, Roger Twose (captain), Phil Chandler, Richard Petrie, Mayu Pasupati, Carl Bulfin, Gavin Larsen, Mark Jefferson, Glen White, Heath Davis, Grant Donaldson, Jason Wells.

Source :: The Christchurch Press (https://www.press.co.nz/)