Bert Sutcliffe's ashes were buried at Carisbrook in Dunedin, where he played some majestic innings for Otago and New Zealand. With Carisbrook being superceded by the new Dunedin Satdium, the plan was to relocate them to University Oval in Dunedin, the new home of cricket in the deep south.
Plans however have hit a wee snag, as the Herald reports:
When cricket legend Bert Sutcliffe was alive and digging in at Carisbrook, he was almost impossible to get out. It seems the same is true in death.
The great New Zealand and Otago batsman died in April 2001, aged 77.
Some of his ashes were scattered at the Carisbrook ground in Dunedin, and the rest were buried there in a private ceremony.
It was a fitting resting place for one of Otago's most revered sportsmen.
But Carisbrook is being replaced by a new stadium, and its future is uncertain.
So the Otago Cricket Association asked the Sutcliffe family if it could move the ashes to its new headquarters, at the University Oval.
The family agreed, and Otago Cricket had a plaque installed and planned a ceremony to mark the occasion today.
But one thing is missing - Bert Sutcliffe's ashes.
"Dad's ashes are proving as elusive as bowlers found taking his wicket," son Gary said yesterday.
Oh dear! So it seems as though Bert's final resting place will indeed by Carisbrook, as even a sonar device borrowed from Otago University has been unable to find the missing urn.
Fortunately, his family is relaxed about the situation; his son is quoted thus:
"Maybe there is a message here. Dad's wishes were that he would love to have his ashes scattered at Carisbrook.
"Carisbrook was his home ... Even though he played quite a bit of cricket in Auckland and Hamilton after we left Dunedin, it was always Carisbrook."
Bert Sutcliffe was one of the true greats of New Zealand cricket, and we were privileged to have seen him play, and to have been coached by him on a couple of occasions. The "where's Bert?" saga will not detract from a wonderful career in the game he loved, immortalised by his bravery at Ellis Park in Johannesburg in 1953; a day which will be forever etched in the history of New Zealand sport.
Rest well Bert.
3 comments:
I too had some coaching from Bert Sutcliffe. A gentleman of the game.
Indeed he was pdm - as I remember, he used to tour schools etc courtesy of Rothmans doing coaching, which was how I came under his tutilege. My lack of success as a cricketer should not be taken as a criticism of Bert's coaching ability!
Leave him to rest where he desired to be.
Yes a plaque at the new ground is appropriate as a mark of the man but perhaps Karma is at work here and rightly so.
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