Taranaki cricket legend honoured for lifetime in the game
Congratulations to TCA’s latest life member, Ian Snook! The stalwart is pictured here with TCA life members, from left: Neil Sulzberger, Neville Frampton, Kerry O’Neill, Ross Landon-Lane, Ian Snook, Don Stewart, Ralph West and Ali Jordan at this week’s TCA AGM.
Former Taranaki centurion and Hawke Cup-winning captain Ian Snook has been awarded life membership of the Taranaki Cricket Association for his contribution to the game.
At the association’s 129th AGM this week, Snook became the 24th recipient of the honour.
Fellow Life Member Kerry O’Neill presented the award and said it was richly deserved for a man who had spent a lifetime giving to the game as a player, coach, administrator and volunteer.
Snook played in 103 matches for Taranaki, including 72 as captain, enjoying a better than 70 per cent success rate in the role. His debut came in the 1967/68 season while still a pupil at Stratford High School, with his final match was more than two decades later in the 1988/89 season. He won the Hawke Cup twice with Taranaki in that time and won it on a further occasion, while playing for Wairarapa from 1976-79.
He played 62 games for Central Districts, with 30 of those as captain.
Snook paid tribute to his Dad, who had introduced him to a love of cricket at an early age, and said it was a passion that had never left him.
“From the age of six he took me with him every Saturday to his games in Dunedin. By the time I was nine I was fielding occasionally if a player had to leave early.”
Snook said the game had been kind to him since his arrival in Taranaki aged 14.
His Taranaki playing career included spells with Stratford High School, Eltham Cricket Club, and as a player-coach at Stratford Cricket Club, and the New Plymouth Cricket Club.
There were also additional roles on committees with the Southern Division association and Eltham.
Following his playing career, Snook has served as a coach, a match manager at Pukekura Park matches, and was a TCA Board director for three years.
He continues his work in the game as a consultant with the Whitaker Civil Taranaki Men’s Furlong Cup team this year and is leading a project around connecting the current squad with the proud history of Taranaki Cricket, and bringing together former Taranaki players as part of that.
“Of all my sporting involvement, playing and coaching rugby in nine different countries, and playing and coaching cricket which included a season in England, my favourite memories are associated with playing cricket for Taranaki,” he said.
“Some of my closest friends like Ali (Jordan) and Gary (Robertson) were met when I played with them for Taranaki. These are friends for life.
“It is a privilege to become a Life Member, and thank you to everyone from 1967 onwards who has played a part in me achieving this award.”
