The Otago Daily Times counts down the 150 greatest moments in Otago sport
No 19: Sutcliffe's battling knock in Tangiwai test (1953)
It is a love story, a tragedy and a gripping sports yarn.
And one of the key people involved is our Bert.
You can't mention "Tangiwai" to a New Zealand sports fan without seeing a slight clenching of the chest, or even the beginnings of moisture in the eyes.
It was 1953. Boxing Day. And a cricket match like no other was about to resume, after a day off for Christmas, at Johannesburg's Ellis Park.
New Zealand was playing South Africa in the second test. But the action on the field had been utterly overshadowed by devastating news from back home.
A train had plunged into the Whangaehu River at Tangiwai, 10km west of Waiouru, after damage done to a bridge carrying the main trunk line minutes earlier by a lahar from Mt Ruapehu.
Of the 285 people aboard the train, 151 died.
One of the casualties was a young woman, Nerissa Love, the fiancee of 21-year-old New Zealand fast bowler Bob Blair.
The news arrived at the team hotel, and a distraught Blair was left to grieve while the New Zealanders returned to Ellis Park, chasing South Africa's first innings of 271.
On a lively pitch, Otago batting kingpin Bert Sutcliffe was poleaxed by a bouncer from South African fast bowler Neil Adcock. Sutcliffe was knocked out, and collapsed again at the hospital. Team-mate Lawrie Miller was also hospitalised.
New Zealand was 81 for six when Sutcliffe returned to the crease, his forehead swathed in bandages. He took the attack to the South Africans, smashing boundaries while his dressings seeped blood.
When the ninth wicket fell at 154, all of the players began to leave the field.
But then a figure emerged from the tunnel. It was Blair, who had been listening to the radio commentary and resolved to join his mates.
Sutcliffe greeted the young man, and put an arm around this shoulder. Both had tears in their eyes.
What followed was a remarkable show of spirit as the pair smashed 33 for the last wicket in just 10 minutes. Sutcliffe finished 80 not out.
The New Zealanders then restricted South Africa to 148 in its second innings. Chasing 233 for a historic first test win, New Zealand reached 75 for three but then collapsed to be 100 all out.
But few bother about the result of the game. It was about Bob and Bert, and their show of courage in unimaginably adverse circumstances.
The Tangiwai test drama was made into a widely acclaimed television movie, which screened earlier this year. It also features prominently in former Otago Daily Times reporter Richard Boock's superb book on Sutcliffe, The Last Everyday Hero.
