15 October 2003 Wahine Cricket XI turning out and on board for Lincoln Anniversary Match

The "Wahine Survivors" are members of the old Lincoln College 1st Cricket XI who were travelling to a New Zealand universities North Island tournament on the inter-island ferry Wahine when, lashed by a storm, it sank in Wellington Harbour on 10 April 1968, claiming 51 lives.

The record shows that amid the chaos of the storm and the foundering of the ferry the members of the Lincoln College Cricket XI "acquitted themselves with bravery" and "bolstered morale with their guitars, helped old people and children and did not enter the lifeboats as many able-bodied males did".

With their cricket gear and personal belongings at the bottom of Wellington Harbour and everyone too shaken by the tragic events, the Lincoln team never got to play its scheduled match.

Matters were eventually put right 30 years later – Easter 1998 – when, after much contact-tracing and organisation, all 15 original team members came together in Blenheim and took the field at Marlborough Boys College under their old captain Kerry Armstrong to play a local XI, the Woodbank Wanderers.

Kerry Armstrong, who lives in Brisbane, is again flying over to lead the team in the 125th anniversary match and all the old members of the team except one will be playing.

They are – Kerry Armstrong, Brisbane; John Blatchford, Christchurch; Doug Crombie, Wellington; John Glasson, Kaukapakapa; Dave Hamilton, Ashburton; Pete Jerram, Blenheim; Digger McCulloch, Glenavy; Ted Marshall, Rotorua; Brian Patchett, Christchurch; John Ryan, Christchurch; Dick Shrimpton, Taupo; Bruce Thom, Kaitaia; John Wauchop, Tokomaru Bay; and Andy Welch, Rotorua. Unable to attend is Keith Thompson of Marton.

The Lincoln University Invitation XI will be captained by the University's Acting Vice-Chancellor Roger Field, and members of the team are – John Clark, Lincoln University; Dayle Hadlee, NZ Cricket High Performance Centre; Richard Hayward, Canterbury Cricket; Peter Jarvis, Lincoln University; Karl Johnson, NZ Cricket; John Lay, Lincoln University; Peter Magson, Lincoln University; Geoff Ormandy, Lincoln University; Richard Reid, Canterbury Cricket; Brian Spear, HSOB Cricket Club; and Sir Allan Wright, past President of NZ Cricket.

The match starts at 1.00pm on Lincoln University's Oval 3 ground, off Calder Drive on the Lincoln campus, and admission is free.

Lincoln University is very much on the New Zealand cricketing map these days as the home of New Zealand Cricket's High Performance Centre, directed by former New Zealand representative Dayle Hadlee, and the associated New Zealand Cricket Academy.

Current Lincoln students and recent graduates include several members of the New Zealand Women's Cricket team, the White Ferns – Aimee Mason, Sara McGlashan, Louise Milliken and Kate Pulford.

The University has also hosted three major world tournaments in recent times on its outstanding Bert Sutcliffe Oval – the CricInfo Women's World Cup Tournament in 2000, the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in 2002 and a Women's International Quadrangular One-Day Series between New Zealand, Australia, England and India, in January/February this year.

Cricket has been played at Lincoln University since the 1880s when the first director of its ancestral institution, the School of Agriculture at Lincoln, enthusiastically captained a mixed student-staff side and arranged for the preparation of a cricket pitch on the campus.

In 1999 Lincoln introduced sports scholarships in cricket, in collaboration with Canterbury Cricket Association, as part of the University's pioneering Sports Scholarship Programme, which now covers six sports.

Last year Lincoln University signed an agreement with Christchurch's High School Old Boys Cricket Club paving the way for a Lincoln University team to play in Canterbury Cricket Association matches under the University name but through the auspices of the HSOB Club.

 
Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand