Where is the Borton Cup? | Oamaru News | Local News in Oamaru

Last year's Borton Cup celebrations should've been a night to remember for Union cricket captain Thomas Shields, but instead it became a party he'd rather forget.

The Union seniors were  celebrating after becoming the first North Otago club in 23 years to win the 50-over final, the Borton Cup, three years on the trot.

The  party began at the Union clubrooms, but by 11pm on April 2, the team was ready to take the party to The Globe nightclub. As the star attraction, the Borton Cup came along for the ride.

It was a great night by all accounts, especially for Shields, who, in his rookie year as captain, had led Union to the triple title. But by mid-afternoon the following day, an uneasiness came over Shields as he realised the treasured Borton Cup was missing.

"It got to about 3pm on Sunday, and I began to think, 'Where's the Borton Cup?' I didn't have it, so I sent a text to all the boys asking if they had it, but none of them did either," Shields said.

And so the search began for the 92-year-old "first lady" of North Otago cricket. Shields headed back to The Globe later that week, where he even checked through the security tapes from the night.

Nothing turned up. Word soon started spreading that another club had stolen the cup as a practical joke, but the joke wore thin pretty quickly.

"Originally, we thought it must be someone from one of the other teams trying to embarrass us. After about 10 days, I thought it couldn't be a guy from club cricket, because they would know how important the cup was," Shields said.

At the start of the 2011/12 season, Shields went to the Oamaru police hoping someone had dropped it into the station. No such luck.

The rich heritage of the Borton Cup hasn't been lost on Shields and his team. They knew it had been almost 100 years since former Waitaki Boys' rector Frank Milner gifted the replacement cup to North Otago Cricket, after the original was lost in the 1920 fire that tore through the Waitaki Boys' main block. WBHS 1st XI held the cup at the time.

With the end of the season approaching,  Shields wanted to make a plea for the cup's return. "I keep it out of my mind most of the time, because I know how important this cup is to the club cricketers, and at the end of the day, I'm responsible for it going missing.

"I just want the person to come forward. What makes this cup so special is the history behind it; that's why we want it back," Shields said.

With the business end of the season drawing near, North Otago Cricket chairman Peter Cameron hadn't wanted to think about replacing the cup. He is still holding hope for its return.

"It's a hell of a thought to think of replacing it. I don't want to have to think about it, we just want to have it back. We won't be pressing charges. At the end of the day, it will be a committee decision if we have to replace it.

"The look on the [Union] boys' faces shows how they are hurting. They're disappointed that it happened on their watch," Cameron said.

The cup was insured, but because it was lost rather than stolen, the excess would be around $2000, Cameron estimated. Given the state of Union's finances, it was unreasonable for any one club to be expected to replace the cup, he said.

Long-serving Albion Mungas cricketer Pete Cartwright said Union should supply a replacement if the Borton Cup wasn't recovered.

"Those [Union] guys know how much the other clubs are disappointed about it. We just want to know what we are playing for. Union should come up with a replacement if it doesn't turn up soon," he said.

Union life-member Ted Tempero  questioned why the cup had been taken to the nightclub to start with.

North Otago Cricket says  if anyone has the Borton Cup or knows where it is, they can drop it off without question or charge at the Oamaru Mail office