Chances are you have never heard of the team that never played. In 1968, the Otago University cricket team was aboard the Wahine when the inter-island ferry capsized in Wellington Harbour.
The Otago players missed the Easter tournament in Palmerston North but counted themselves lucky not to be among the 51 dead. Bill Francis, the co-author of a new book detailing the team's story, provides the background.
Among the spectators at the University Oval during the England v New Zealand test will be 12 players from the Otago University cricket team of 1968, getting together for the first time in 45 years.
But for a chance conversation one day in Sydney, the reunion may never have happened.
Former New Zealand fast bowler Richard Collinge was lunching with a friend, Australian publisher and author Ronald Cardwell, and they were recalling the Wahine shipping disaster of 1968.
Collinge happened to mention that there were cricketers on board and one had remarked to another: ''If we get out of this alive, we'll play cricket for New Zealand''.
Cardwell immediately saw the potential for a story, and then another chance meeting with myself at a test last summer at the Basin Reserve gave the idea further impetus.
We agreed the story was worth telling and so a project was hatched: co-authoring a book in which we would find out who the players were; whether they survived the tragedy that claimed 51 lives; and what unfolded for each of the players in the subsequent 45 years. And, of course, if any of those players went on to play for New Zealand.
What we found out in our research was that 11 Otago University cricketers had embarked on the Wahine to play in the University Easter tournament in Palmerston North.
Tracking down the players was no mean feat - one was in London, very few resided in Dunedin and most were scattered to various parts of New Zealand. But what Ronald and I discovered, when we found the players, was their willingness to relive the horror of that trip and how it affected them, and to tell us what they'd done with their lives since.
The 11 players on board the fateful journey were Ray Hutchison, the captain, Rick Ellis, Murray Webb, Murray Parker, Keith Lees, Alan McDougall, Stuart Hunt, Chas Recordon, Russell Stewart, Murray Leach and Gary Murphy.
Along with another player, Sandy Ross, who was originally selected but did not travel, all 11 tell their stories in an often poignant and moving way. At least one couldn't swim, another rediscovered his place with God, and months later a missing batting glove of one player was returned to its owner, the only piece of cricket equipment to survive the voyage.
And what of the two players discussing their possible fate and the chance to one day play for New Zealand?
The statement came from Murray Webb and was made to his team-mate, Murray Parker. Both survived to fulfil Webb's prophecy and play cricket for New Zealand.
The book will be launched during the test at the University Oval. There will be a reunion dinner for players and their wives tomorrow night, and the players will get plenty of opportunity for reminiscing and catching up with old friends during the test.
The Team That Never Played - Wahine and the 1968 Otago University Cricket Team, by Ronald Cardwell and Bill Francis, will be available at various Dunedin bookshops and also at the University Oval. The price is $40.
