Jesse Ryder, Lou Vincent, Jordie Barrett, pitch invaders take centre stage in Black Clash
Sunday, 18 January 2026
You couldn’t escape the big hits at the Black Clash. Be them off the bat of Jesse Ryder, Kaylum Boshier or Jordie Barrett, be them out of the loud speakers for the rocking packed-out crowd in Mt Maunganui, or be them from the security staff on some scantily-dressed, ‘over-enthused’ punters.
Indeed, while there is currently no incumbent All Blacks coach to impress, some Red Badgers did a decent enough job trying to, in a frenzied three-peat of pitch invader defensive duties during the second innings at Bay Oval.
Saturday night’s annual match-up between Team Cricket and Team Rugby, the eighth edition of the hit-and-giggle game, did yet another splendid job of stirring up all sorts of emotions, and raising all sorts of questions.
Like, should I applaud or lament the fact Ryder, at age 41, and in even bigger shape than his playing days, could still so effortlessly flick off those pads, to and over the boundary, in an innings of 86 off 48 balls that wound back the clock to his unfortunately short international career?
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Like, should I laugh or cry that two guys who can seriously hold a cricket bat ‒ Lou Vincent and Grant Elliott ‒ were each done for ducks thanks to balls from Kieran Read and Jordie Barrett?
“Let’s face it, I can handle embarrassment,” a good-sport Vincent quipped on the TVNZ broadcast, after being carried off to the boundary by two big duck mascots.
It all just continues.
Like, who is William Waiirua, and what is that rather, err, flexible warm-up routine? Oh, right, it’s his signature social media move. As you were.
Like, what on earth does a yellow card mean from umpire Billy Bowden?
Like, didn’t some of those lbws look rather plumb that weren’t given out?
Like, is it more than a coincidence that Team Cricket have batted first every single year?
Like, which blokes have pulled up the least dusty after the huge night before?
Like, on how earth does the TAB allow betting (multiple live markets including top run-scorer, over/under runs for the next over) on this thing?
Like, how simple but fascinating is a ‘Doubly Wubbly’ (an over where the batting team chooses to have the runs they score count as double), and could it be brought into proper cricket? And, yes, with that same name.
Like, is this a charity game? The respective rugby and cricket players associations are understood to benefit, but nowhere is it mentioned. All we know is Surf Lifesaving New Zealand got a $26,000 boost when Nathan McCullum hit 26 runs in the mid-innings fundraising over.
Like, should we be concerned that a frivolous fixture draws in a bigger crowd, at higher ticket prices, than a Black Caps T20?
Like, given the fun-looking festival atmosphere, highlighted, not literally, when the floodlights were suddenly shut off while the YMCA song started up, isn’t this just a real midsummer night’s dream for promoters Duco?
But, like, are some of the participants getting a little bit samey and do we need an injection of more fresh faces?
Or, like, am I thinking too much?
Indeed, the grey hair on the park is symbolic of the grey area this game falls into. Perhaps we take a leaf out of Ryder’s book of ‘see ball, hit ball’ simplicity, and just take it all for what it is.
“I loved it, eh,” he told TVNZ. “Being back out here playing in front of a New Zealand crowd like this is pretty awesome, so I’m just thankful to have a go at this event.”
For what it’s worth, it’s not like there weren’t some ‘wow’ moments. After failing with the bat, Vincent responded in the field with two rip-roaring catches off captain Nathan McCullum (3-26 off 4), first over the head to dimiss Aussie import Mike Hussey, then launching himself full stretch for a one-hander at cover to get rid of David Hill.
There was Ryder bowling effortless off-spin, and Boshier belting a six straight into a boundary-side spa pool very next ball after the second round of game-halters had literally invaded the pitch, one surely left sporting some grazes in awkward areas after landing on the deck on a good length.
While skipper Read was again to the fore, with 2-18 off 2 with the ball, then 50 off 40 with the bat, Barrett was Team Rugby’s star, until the last ball.
Having had his bowling figures blow out to 3-56 off 4 thanks to the Doubly Wubbly, the towering second-five then had the game on his bat in the last over, needing 8 off 3, then 6 off 1, but Elliott got his revenge, as Barrett moved outside off and swung hard, only for the ball to go under his bat.
“Yeah it’s brutal,” the All Blacks vice-captain told TVNZ, after a five-run loss which consigned Team Rugby to a sixth defeat, and their fourth-straight.
“I went back and across expecting pace off, and he went pace on. It was probably there to hit, too, I tried to hit it too hard, out of the ground.
“It’s just a great honour to play in this game, it’s a great crowd and some good energy around.
“But the competitiveness in me, I wanted to hit that onto the bank. It was a bit of a bummer.
“At least it went to the last over and put a spectacle on for the fans and people on the tele.”