After an impressive 17-year career in New Zealand Domestic cricket, former CENTRAL STAGS opening batsman and BLACKCAP GEORGE WORKER has closed the chapter on his playing days.

An aggressive left-hander from Palmerston North with a crisp and potent pull shot, Worker played the majority of his career for the Stags - and also had spells for Canterbury and the Auckland Aces, winning national trophies with all three sides.

Worker had earlier this month accepted a contract renewal with the Aces for the forthcoming season, but has withdrawn following a new career opportunity.

“I would like to extend my gratitude to all the people who have supported me throughout my career, including my coaches, friends, family, and my fiancée, Laura," Worker said in a statement from Auckland Cricket today.

“I also want to extend a special thanks to Auckland Cricket for the last three seasons and, of course, CD Cricket, where I started out as an 18-year-old and spent most of my playing career.

“Throughout the course of my career, I’ve forged some great friendships that will last a lifetime and memories I will cherish forever.

“As I close this chapter, I am excited to embark on the next phase of my life with Forsyth Barr who have offered me a fantastic opportunity. I look forward to bringing the same passion and dedication to my new role with them.”

As Worker alludes to there, he began as a fresh-faced teenager, already a New Zealand Under-19 rep from CD, making his Stags debut on the Plunket Shield scene as an 18-year-old in 2007.

Soon afterwards he would add his one-day debut, and that format in particular would see him win legions of admirers across CD as he plundered big runs at Pukekura and Fitzherbert Parks.

He also holds a unique place in the Central Stags statistical records as the only player who has both a T20 century and five-wicket bag in the Dream11 Super Smash.

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As a part-time left-arm off-spinner who used his height to good effect, Worker was a handy option for any captain and when the Stags played at the old Yarrow Stadium in the Super Smash in November 2015, he cashed in with the Stags' best ever T20 haul of 5/10 in a four-wicket win against the handy Otago Volts.

The makeshift wicket at the old rugby ground was proving a good one for bowlers, but the Volts were left seriously smarting as he reduced them from 58/0 to 90/5 with his four overs.

Worker's T20 century was also against the Volts, a brilliant 106 in Dunedin in the 2021/22 season. He smacked it off just 58 balls, and it remains the Stags' fourth highest T20 knock to date, in a format where both centuries and bags are relatively rare.

Batting against the West Indies in a 2017 ODI in Christchurch | PHOTOSPORT

Worker made his BLACKCAPS debut on tour in Africa in 2015, and immediately earned a Man of the Match award on T20 International debut for New Zealand with a 38-ball 62 in Harare.

He would ultimately get to play 10 ODIs and two T20 Internationals between 2015 and 2018, adding three One-Day International half centuries to his record from his limited opportunities in black, as well as representing New Zealand A for a period - scoring two NZ A centuries.

In all of New Zealand's men's Domestic one-day history, only one man has hit a double century and that is Central Stags alumnus JAMIE HOW.

Worker is the next best on that list with 194, and between them, How and Worker, the powerful top-order firm, still own the top six Ford Trophy scores all-time for the Stags.

He was instrumental in the Stags owning and lifting The Ford Trophy while for Auckland, his greatest on-field achievement was leading the Aces to The Ford Trophy title in 2021/22 with 672 runs at an average of 84, including four centuries.

Worker played the bulk of his career in his native green colours, from his 2007/08 debut to 2010/11, initially, before heading to Canterbury as a young man looking for more playing opportunities during a strong era for Central.

He lifted the Plunket Shield with Canterbury then came back to the Stags for a prolific period in his prime, between 2014 to 2021, and did it twice more.

Having travelled from his home base in Auckland through this period in order to play for Central, he later saw out his career with the Auckland Aces, and continued to show how it’s done - instrumental in a Ford Trophy championship win for the city.

Worker won trophies with every team he played for, and with the Stags, he won multiple national titles, and in all three formats.

He was Man of the Match in the 2016 Ford Trophy Grand Final at Pukekura Park with a memorable 159, against Canterbury - a record day for the Stags.

Man of the Match after scoring 159 in the 2016 Ford Trophy Grand Final

v Canterbury at Pukekura Park

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It's a testament to his longevity, class and passion for batting that he ends his career, at almost 35, with two overall national records across all teams: his 5,583 one-day runs and 3,196 T20 runs.

While the business of opening in first-class cricket is a more fickle affair, he also totted up seven first-class centuries for the Stags, among 11 in his overall Plunket Shield career, and his odd-couple pairing with another experienced fighter in GREG HAY at the top of the order proved highly effective.

Defending the Plunket Shield with Greg Hay (left) | PHOTOSPORT

Even as a spotty teenager on debut he had showed he could cut it - scoring 71 on debut, not all that long after having been captaining the Palmerston North Boys' High First XI.

He finished with 3,730 first-class runs and 74 caps for the Stags as red-ball cap number 252, and 3,566 one-day runs from 81 Stags caps in The Ford Trophy - breaking the Stags season record for one-day runs in 2016/17, and holding the record for the most one-day Stags tons (10) and the second wicket partnership record of 224 with BEN SMITH.

One-day wonder | PHOTOSPORT

He also set the Stags' T20 record for most runs in a season with 424 in 2020/21 and is the equal most capped Stag in the T20 format, with 89 appearances - equal with KIERAN NOEMA-BARNETT, with DANE CLEAVER poised to join them in his next match.

But now there will be no next match for Worker, and after a splendid two decades, that might take some getting used to. Fellow MANAWATŪ scion Cleaver led the tributes from his former teammates today, congratulating Worker on an "amazing career".

All the team at Central Districts Cricket is proud to join the chorus of appreciation for 17 summers of watching George Worker at his craft, and we sincerely wish George the very best for a successful and happy life after cricket.

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Article added: Tuesday 13 August 2024

Author: Margot Butcher

All images: Photosport | Published under licence or ©️Margot Butcher