WG Greatbatch

Who says cricket attracts only Bollywood stars? Cricket in New Zealand gets its fair share of “local” movie stars too. Russell Crowe, for one, but that interest could have been because of his cousins and former New Zealand captains, Martin and Jeff Crowe. Matches in Napier attract a movie star whose interest in cricket comes from inside, he doesn’t need his cousins to bring him to the cricket.

Well if not a star in the real sense of the word, Mark Greatbatch did play a cameo in the movie version of The End of The Golden Weather, a book from the seventies, and one of the most enduring theatre in New Zealand - the story of a New Zealand summer in the thirties. One of the characters in the book is a dreamer. In one of his many dreams, he is bowling, and in one instance, to WG Grace at Lord’s. Grace hits almightily into the air, the kid runs all the way, and dives and catches it.

That’s where Greatbatch comes in, because the film producer needed a real cricketer who resembled the good doctor. Greatbatch was the closest bet. He still had to put a pillow under his shirt, and obviously the beard. Then there was another problem: Greatbatch bats left-handed, Grace batted right. The shots were flipped to make Greatbatch look right-handed, and the shooting went fine.

But there was a heartbreak to follow. “They told me it was great, they were really happy with it,” says Greatbatch. “And the producer rang me three months later, when they started editing. He said there were two things to say. One good and one bad. ‘You were wonderful in the movie. Brilliant. Unfortunately, we have got to shorten the movie by eight to 10 minutes.' And I got the boot. So that’s what happened to my movie mate.” The end of the golden weather.