Can we check the ball tracking, please, because the Otago Sparks have been robbed.
They were the standout team in the province, and they should have won the team of the year at the annual Otago Sports Awards at the Edgar Centre on Friday night.
The decision to award the title to the men’s 4x100m relay team pitched outside leg stump. It was a howler.
That is not to disparage the achievement of the runners.
They collected a fourth consecutive national relay title and beat the Australian state teams at the Australian championships in a record Otago time.
It was a wonderful result. And the other finalists, the Stampede, have long set the benchmark in the New Zealand Ice Hockey League. They were worthy finalists.
But can anyone name a single person in the triumphant relay team?
Thought so.
Their glorious victory barely registered. The word count in the Otago Daily Times the next day dipped under 180.
Athletics flies under the radar at that level.
The Sparks do not.
Their victory in the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield was perhaps one of the best games played at the University Oval.
Eden Carson’s heroic and match-winning effort with that bat made the front page, and for good reason.
She soldiered on with a chest infection and thumped an undefeated 59 from 43 balls to help the Sparks collect back-to-back titles.
They overhauled Auckland’s massive tally of 291 for five with a record run chase for the team.
Carson had to take a knee several times during the match to recover, she was so short of breath.
Somehow she gasped her way through the innings and managed to scamper back to the non-striker’s end to seal the last-ball win.
The game had everything.
The Sparks had been utterly dominant in the competition — winning nine of their 10 round-robin games.
But they had to make do without some star power in the final.
White Ferns duo Suzie Bates and Bella James were ruled out through injury, and a third White Fern, Hayley Jensen, got injured during the warm-up and was unable to play.
They were also making do without inspirational coach Craig Cumming, who left midway through the season for an opportunity in the UK.
It was an inspiring, backs-to-the-wall effort.
The Sparks made the final of the Super Smash as well and probably should have won it.
They were the top qualifiers but had to play Wellington at the Basin Reserve, which hardly seemed fair.
Finals ought to be hosted by the top qualifiers, not where it is more convenient.
They rolled Wellington for 104 and were halfway towards victory but produced their worst batting performance all season and were dismissed for 96.
It was a tremendous season all the same.
I cannot help but think that, had the Otago Volts achieved a similar victory, they would have been named team of the year.
Three of the five Otago Sports Awards judges are female, so there should not be any unconscious bias. (The Otago Daily Times is represented by sports editor Hayden Meikle.)
But it is hard to understand how anyone who knows the difference between a googly and a doosra could spin the decision the other way.
Note: Hayato Yoneto (Queenstown), Jackson Rogers (Aspiring), Felix McDonald (Taieri) and John Gerber (Hill City-University) formed the Otago team that won the senior men’s 4x100m relay and broke the Otago record.
