Sideline Sid Sports correspondant & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

A visit to a B Grade cricket game at Pemberton Park on Saturday brought back visions of the first time that Sideline Sid laid his eyes on a current Black Cap.

Around seven years ago Otumoetai College was playing Greerton Reserves.

After the Otumoetai students had posted a defendable target, no-one could have imagined the mayhem that would be inflicted when the Otumoetai bowlers let rip.

In a innings where the Greerton batsmen spent more time coming and going to the wicket than facing the opposition bowlers – the home side was ripped out for just 15 runs.

The main destroyer with the ball was current Black Cap Trent Boult, who faces Zimbabwe in Napier in the in the first (and only) test later this week.

While Trent hadn't then grown in to the impressive physique necessary to be a modern quick bowler, he always has had pace to burn.

Six wickets for eight runs saw the Greerton batsmen fighting for survival each time the Otumoetai express bowler roared in to bang the ball down with real venom.

It is testament to Trent's determination and spirit that he has gone on from the humble beginnings of the Otumoetai Reserves to earn Black Cap selection.

On his journey to the New Zealand first XI, the Western Bay youngster has set a couple of memorable milestones.

In his final year at Otumoetai College he came from nowhere to win the national secondary school fast bowling contest.

In the final he made plenty sit up and take notice when he hurled the ball down the wicket quicker than the pace bowlers from the country's established cricket schools.

On Sunday, December 17, 2006, Trent set some sort of record when he took two hat tricks in a single innings in an Attrill Cup match against Eastern Bay of Plenty.

The then 18-year-old was almost unplayable, achieving two-hat tricks in his dismissal of seven Eastern Bay batsmen.

In a frightening display of pace bowling, Trent removed the Eastern Bay top order with successive balls.

Less than 20 minutes later it was the turn of the Eastern Bay middle order to fall to three successive thunderbolts unleashed by the Tauranga representative quick bowler.

The Trent Boult journey to the Black Caps has been more about hard work with the head down for the Northern Knights rather than bursting on the scene with trumpets blaring.

One of the things that impresses Sideline Sid about the local Black Cap is his sense of loyalty.

Last weekend Trent didn't hesitate to return to his roots and turn out for Otumoetai Cadets in back-to-back weekend club cricket encounters.

On Saturday he blasted out two Rotorua Central batsmen as Cadets annihilated the Rotorua side by 350 runs in a Baywide match – while on Sunday Trent showed he can bat as well as bowl, smashing a quick fire 71 off just 53 balls in a ND Club Championship semi-final against Eastern Suburbs from Hamilton.

Another former Otumoetai College pupil and first XI team member has also made his Black Cap debut in the current season.

Graeme Aldridge, who has been amongst the best first class bowlers in the country for over a decade, finally received his New Zealand call-up on the Black Cap tour of Zimbabwe.

The Western Bay B Grade game, between Otumoetai College and Greerton last weekend, could have seen another star of the future in action.

Vaughan Wilson smashed a sparkling 138 runs to set up his side's easy victory.

Seeya at the Game