CRICKET: HOWZAT? DAVID BOON WINS BOONY'S TEST SHIRT
David Boon has won a cricket club's raffle for David Boon's last Australian test shirt.
But Boon, who has brushed shoulders with great names like Richard Hadlee and Craig McDermott, isn't who you think he is.
The David Boon who won the Seddon Cricket Club raffle on Friday night, isn't the 107-test batter known for his moustache and prolific drinking ability.
No, the raffle winner is Tauranga born David Boon, who now resides in England.
David Boon, the cricketer, was the guest speaker at a gala dinner at Seddon Cricket Club in November to raise funds for junior cricket in the Northern Districts region.
The 63-year-old brought along the long sleeved, bone coloured test shirt he wore during his last match for Australia in 1996, and during the last of his 21 test centuries a year earlier.
Kent Currie, who runs Seddon Cricket Club, said it was a boon to get Boon.
"We sold it out with about 300 guests, and at these types of events you need a high quality keynote speaker, and David Boon was available. We got him to Hamilton, and he was a real hit with the audience. A magnificent speaker, actually."
An auction on the night saw the shirt, which Boon wore in his final test, against Sri Lanka in 1996 and also during the Boxing Day test at the MCG in 1995 when he scored his last test century, sold for more than $3000.
But the winner never claimed his prize, so the club decided to launch a raffle instead.
More than 280 tickets were eventually sold at $20 each, and the jersey was presented in a large frame with information about Boon's test career.
Two of the tickets were purchased by David Boon, through the club's website.
"I looked and I said, 'David Boon, David Boon has bought two tickets. I thought geez that's nice of him, to buy two tickets for his own shirt," Currie said.
"I sent it off to the committee and said, hey look at this, Boonie's bought two tickets'. They said, 'oh, what a great man. It just shows the quality of him'."
Only, it wasn't David Boon the test cricketer.
Instead it was the David Boon who grew up in Tauranga, and now resides in the United Kingdom.
Fast-forward to Friday night, and MP Ryan Hamilton, of Hamilton East, drew the raffle.
"He looked at it, and he had a blank look on his face, then gave it to me," Currie said.
"Then I saw who it was, and I had a blank look on my face. And I just went, no one is probably ever going to believe this, but David Boon is the winner of the David Boon test shirt."
David Boon wins raffle for David Boon test shirt (3 min 28 sec)
The Kiwi Boon, said he was almost the polar opposite of his famous name sake.
Asked if he also had 7400 test runs and 21 test centuries to his name, he said: "Definitely not, unfortunately.
"Middle name's not Clarence. And I still think he's got a better moustache than me, as well. I'm over six-foot tall, so there's not a lot of similarities between the two of us."
That said, David Boon of Tauranga has brushed shoulders with some of the biggest names in cricket.
Well, sort of.
"I went to Napier Boys' High School, and at one point we had a Richard Hadlee, a Craig McDermott and a David Boon all at the same school," he said.
"And every time I turned up to play cricket, I copped a fair bit."
Dave, as the Kiwi Boon prefers to be known, said he would be putting the Boon jersey in his home office, when he figures out how to get it to England.
And as for David Boon, the cricketer, he said he was "amazed and delighted" that the jersey will end up hanging in David Boon's home.
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2024-04-16T18:55:07Z dg43tfdfdgfd