Gary Francis Awarded Life Membership

This season, we were proud to award Gary Francis (Gaz) a Life Membership at Bloomfield Cricket Club.

Gaz joined Bloomfield back in 2014, when our lone team was captained by John Murrie. It was a bit of a turbulent time — the player pool was low after a few long-time members moved on. But Gaz came straight into the starting XI, dragging a couple of randoms with him. That first game in Dannevirke kicked off what’s now 188 matches in Bloomfield colours, during which he’s claimed 209 wickets and knocked 1387 runs. In that time hes also won the clubs bowling award 3 times and he somehow even managed to get his name on the batting award.

Gaz became vice captain in 2019 and quickly found out how hard it is to convince 11 people to spend their Saturday standing in a paddock, getting sledged by marginal blokes — from your own team.

That same year, Gaz also joined the committee and took on the role of club coach. With only one team, it was more of a laugh than a job — especially since Glennis is uncoachable.

But Gaz’s passion and commitment paid off in 2022, when Bloomfield added a second team in P4, followed by a third team in 2023. Although he was only voted Club Captain in 2024, he’s spent his summer evenings for the past five years making sure teams are named each week and last-minute pull-outs get replaced and he spends countless hours on designing and planning the clubs social media. He runs club trainings and puts in the time coaching a bunch of young fellas who come through.

Gaz was also a big driver behind the Bloomfield Omanuka Team this season — a team full of young guys (and some not so young) who came a long way in just one summer. #UpTheNuka

Gaz is known throughout Manawatu Cricket for his banter, and the club culture he’s helped build is second to none. Let’s be honest — Bloomfield’s growth probably isn’t thanks to our stellar win record over the years. It’s because of guys like Gaz and Craig, who give up their time to make sure every player who pays subs gets it back in spades.

Congratulations on the Life Membership, Gaz. It’s been a long time coming and is thoroughly deserved.