Luke Ronchi Excited to rejoin the Warriors

New Zealander Luke Ronchi is excited to be back once again to play for the Guyana Amazon Warriors as they head into the Hero Caribbean Premier League.
Ronchi was born in New Zealand and brought up in Australia and would have represented both countries on the cricketing scene. The wicket-keeper-batsman migrated to Perth, Australia at a very early age and played First-Class cricket for Western Australia. Even during the early part of his career, Ronchi was known for playing powerful shots.
With an impressive 2007-08 domestic season, he was called as a replacement for Brad Haddin against the West Indies. In the four ODIs Ronchi played, he showed his skill with the bat and behind the stumps. Ronchi scored the third fastest fifty for an Australian in the fourth match of the West Indies series. His fifty came off just 22 balls. However, after a fine start to his ODI career, his form with the bat declined and subsequently, was dropped from the state side as well.
After Ronchi was overlooked by Western Australia’s think-tank, he shifted to the country of his birth. The Wellington set-up gave him a contract and he immediately made an impact, scoring runs and having a good time behind the wickets. After qualifying to play for New Zealand in 2013, he was called up for the series against England.
Ronchi has been considered as a specialist in the shorter formats of the game. He has been a regular member of the ODI and T20I squads since his New Zealand debut. He has played some crucial innings coming down the order. He scored back-to-back fifties against South Africa at home in October 2014, before doing reasonably well against Pakistan in the UAE.
He and Grant Elliott also ripped apart Sri Lanka’s bowling attack to stitch a record sixth-wicket stand of 267 in the fifth ODI of the seven-match series in Dunedin. Consistent performances made him a certainty in the squad for the 2015 World Cup. New Zealand had a historical World Cup in 2015 as they finished runners-up, the first instance of the Kiwis making the finals in the showpiece tournament’s history.
In 2017, the team management decided to push Ronchi to the opening slot in ODIs in a bid to create momentum at the top. The plan was with an eye on the Champions Trophy in England the same year and Ronchi did start to get his touch back. Ronchi has been a superstar in T20 leagues and continues to enjoy himself there.
Nicknamed “The Rock”, the 36 year-old made a sudden impact in last season’s CPL immediately following his late arrival to the Guyana Amazon Warriors squad. Despite playing just four games for the Warriors after being drafted in for adopted Kiwi country-man and teammate Martin Guptill; the right-hander carved 172 runs at an average of 57.3 with two fifty plus scores including a best of 70.
The wicket-keeper/batsman racked up 14 fours and 9 sixes during his brief run but played a crucial role as his 70 helped knock the then defending champs Jamaica Tallawahs out of the tourney.(Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)