Observations on Batting Techniques, Coaching & Fitness

Interview with ECB Coaches- Rupert Kitzinger and Alastair Maiden By Chris FergusonWhat are you doing here in NZ?So what differences have you seen so far,between what’s happening in the UK, andRupert: We are on ECB Coachingwhat is happening here?Scholarships funded by the Lord’s Tavernerswho are the biggest charity for recreational Rupert: The main difference with coachcricket in England and Wales. To be selected education is that here you’ve got what wewe had to be an ECB level 3 coach andthink is a very good well structured pathwaythen go through anfor coaches that mirrorapplication process.your player pathway.There were fourBack home in England wescholarships in all, twohave various developmentwere sent to Australiacourses for teachers andand two here to Newyoung leaders. We’veZealand. We havegot a Level 1 which isbeen asked to researchlike a Coaching Assistantvarious areas of Newqualification, a Level 2Zealand Cricket andwhich is a Coach, so theyshare ideas with peopleshould be able to run awe speak to, finding outstructured session, andwhat they’re doing andLevel 3 is a Head Coachthey can find out whatposition qualification.Rupert and Alastairwe are doing in the UK.This is not aligned withReally in effect I guess it’s like an official spy how players develop, you could get a Levelmission with the overall aim of sharing and 1 Coach working with a group of U17s forpromoting cricket between the two countries. example, you could also get a Level 3 Coachworking in primary schools which is obviouslya good thing, but it’s one of the mainWhat is the purpose of the visit here?differences between the coach educationAlastair: We’ve been asked to look into what programmes.New Zealand Cricket is doing in terms ofAlastair: We’ve also got a Level 4 course ontheir coach education structure. There wastop of that, which is a very elite qualificationa previous scholarship over here about fivefor people working in the professional game.years ago, Phil Relf came over and lookedat what was going on so we want to know Rupert: In light of the research that Phil Relfhow things have changed, what people are did five years ago, we transformed our coachdoing now. We are interested in looking at education system to be more focused on thefast bowling developments and what New ‘how to coach’ rather than the technical ‘whatZealand Cricket is doing with fast bowlers; we need to coach’, and that has been a bigtalent identification, so how you identify your difference for us over the last few years intalent; LTAD (long term athlete development) England. So far in New Zealand we’ve only– what the thought process is for that and how got out to see one evening of coach educationthat’s integrated into the system; women’s where the content was very good but wasand girl’s cricket, and what’s happening there; slightly more ‘what to’, than ‘how to’.and disability cricket.Alastair: The other big difference for us hasRupert: We are also looking at the coaching been an outside organisation taking over thestyles that coaches use over here, andprinciples of the coach education structureascertain the differences between Newin England. We’ve got a UKCC, (UnitedZealand and England.Kingdom Coaching Certificate), which is aThe maindifferencewith coacheducationis that hereyou’ve gotwhat we thinkis a very goodwell structuredpathway

Canterbury - Season SummaryCanterbury age group teams achieved muchsuccess over the past season. Apart fromthe U19s, all teams won their respectivetournaments.The team results are listed below. Whilst theresults of our age group representative teamsare not as important as the development ofour cricketers, it is nevertheless a reflection ofthe impact that the development programmeshave had on our young players.Wiseman, McCullum, Martin, Cunis, Stead)which has provided opportunities for formerage group players to make the step up tofirst class cricket. It is encouraging and acredit to the players and the coach, DaveNosworthy, that the team has performed sowell. Dave has created a very tight unit thathas worked extremely hard on fitness and skilldevelopment and fully deserve the successthey have enjoyed.I would emphasise that our ultimate goal is toprovide the finest opportunities and the bestenvironment for our young athletes to developtheir skills. We must continue to challengeour coaches and evaluate our developmentsystems to provide the ultimate learningexperience so that both coaches and athletescan both enjoy their cricket and reach theirpotential.Results of Canterbury age group teams forthe 2007-8 season:Canterbury ‘A’The Canterbury ‘A’ team were competitive butfailed to win any games. A large number ofplayers were used (24) which, whilst givingthem exposure at this level, was not idealfor team cohesion and continuity. All theirgames were played on the excellent batsmanfriendlyMainpower Oval in Rangiora. DarrenBroom and Michael Davidson were the mostsuccessful batsman and bowler respectivelyand were rewarded by selection for theTeam Tournament Position CoachU19 National 1st = 2 day Mike Johnston6th 1 day6th overallU17 National 1st 2 day Neil Fletcher1st 1 day1st overallI wouldemphasisethat ourultimate goalis to providethe finestopportunitiesand the bestenvironmentfor our youngathletes todevelop theirskills.Canterbury Black Zonal U15 1st Glenn HooperCanterbury Red Zonal U15 2nd Stephen CunisWomen’s Devt National 1st Mandie GodlimanU17 Girls Zonal U17 1st Nigel MarshCanterbury WizardsThe Wizards have generally ‘punchedabove their weight’ this season being verycompetitive in all competitions reaching thesemi-final of the State Shield, missing outon the State Twenty20 final on run rate andat the time of going to press having just wonthe State Championship. Canterbury haslost many experienced players in the lastcouple of years (Cairns, Astle, McMillan,Wizards later in the season. The team hadworked very hard over winter and remainedvery positive despite some disappointingresults.This continues to be a very valuabletournament that provides opportunity forpotential first class players to competeagainst quality opposition in first classconditions.

Canterbury U19Expectations were high for the young U19team but they were not able to defend theirtitle they won in the 2006-7 season. Theywon their first game outright, a three dayeragainst Otago, but the team then moved outto Lincoln for the rest of the tournament and,very disappointingly and surprisingly, did notwin another game, finishing 6th. The overallperformance was reflected in only one player,Corey Anderson, being selected in the NewZealand team to play in the U19 World Cup.Several players had been in considerationprior to the tournament but simply underperformed at the tournament.The team was young, with 7 of the 14players used available at U19 level againnext season. One significant factor in theteam’s performance was that only two playershad played in last year’s tournament forCanterbury. Experience at this tournamenthas proved crucial in the past with playersgenerally performing much better in theirsecond year.Canterbury U17The U17s won the national title with a fineall round team performance. Three playerswere selected in the national U17 team: TomLatham, Matt McEwan and Tim Johnston.Latham and McEwan won the ‘Best Batsman’and ‘Best Bowler’ of the tournament awardsrespectively. Tim Johnston was the leadingtournament wicket taker. The team’s successwas built around a ‘never-say-die’ attitude,contributions from all batsmen at crucial timesand steady bowling performances.Canterbury U15Two Canterbury U15 teams played theircounterparts in a zonal tournament againstOtago and both teams won convincingly.At school level Christchurch Boys’ HighSchool won the Gillette Cup for the third yearin a row reaffirming them to be the leadingsecondary school in New Zealand.Canterbury MagiciansCanterbury women’s cricket has enjoyedunprecedented success this season, winningall three national tournaments. The Magicianswon the inaugural State League Twenty20trophy, a competition that was thoroughlyenjoyed by all the players and a welcomeaddition to the women’s game. They alsoretained the State League title winning thefinal by 7 wickets. This proved to be a highlysuccessful first season for Gary Stead ascoach. Several new players were introducedto first class cricket and contributed well whichbodes well for the future.Canterbury Women’s DevelopmentThe Canterbury Women’s Developmentteam won their national tournament for thethird time in four years. This was a veryyoung team that played exceptionally well allweek. They beat Auckland in the final havingbeen soundly beaten by them in the roundrobin game.Three players (Frances Mackay, JanetBrehaut and Lizzie Rae) went on to maketheir debuts for the Magicians as a result oftheir performances at this tournament.This team was specifically selected witha view to the future, a young team whothe selectors felt could all progress to firstclass cricket within the next 5 years. Thisis particularly relevant as it is expected thatseveral Magicians will retire from first classcricket after the next World Cup in Australiain 2009.Canterbury Secondary SchoolgirlsThe secondary schoolgirls’ team played twogames against their Otago counterparts andwere convincing winners.The future of women’s cricket in Canterburylooks strong.SummaryOne of the most encouraging statistic to comeout of the season is that of the 21 playerswho have played for the Canterbury Wizardsthis season, 17 have come through our agegroup and high performance programmes.There are some areas of concern: qualitywicket keepers, top order batsmen andseam bowlers with genuine pace are all inshort supply. I’m sure that Canterbury is notthe only major association struggling to findtalented players in these areas. This problem

should be somewhat alleviated by theintroduction of the specialist skill coachesin all skill areas. On a positive note, thereare several spinners with real promisecoming up through the age group ranks inCanterbury.Richard HaywardMarch 2008

Otago Cricket - Season RoundupOtago’s win in the State Shield capped amemorable cricket season down south. Thevictorious one day side was met by a largecrowd at Dunedin Airport, and then treated toa Mayoral reception, hammering home to theplayers just how significant this result was fora province starved of major cricket trophiesfor more than 20 years.Particularly satisfying for the locals was thefact that most of the players learned the gamein Otago. Brendon McCullum’s heroics inthe final came as no surprise to those whohad watched him and his brother Nathansmashing tennis balls round Carisbrook asyoungsters when their father Stu was playingfor Otago in the 1980s. Brendon’s brilliant170 tended to overshadow the efforts of histeam mates but make no mistake – Otago’ssuccess was built on solid teamwork and a lotof hard work over the past few seasons underthe guidance of coach Mike Hesson.The work ethic established has seen playersblossom and the rewards are coming. BradleyScott, Nathan McCullum, Neil Broom, WarrenMcSkimming, Aaron Redmond and JamesMcMillan were selected for New Zealand‘A’, with Mike Hesson as assistant coach,while McCullum, Craig Cumming, Scott andBrendon McCullum made the BLACKCAPS.The season also saw the return of test cricketto Otago, and the picturesque UniversityOval became test venue number 96 in theworld, justifying the bold and forward thinkingdecision to shift Otago Cricket’s headquarter’sfrom Carisbrook to the new ground threeseasons ago.Not surprisingly there has been a real buzzaround Otago Cricket over the past year ortwo. The challenge for Otago Cricket is toboth foster and capitalise on the heightenedinterest.Already there has been an increase inthe numbers throughout the provinceplaying twilight or social cricket, a reminderof the need to cater for all levels of interestand ability.There can be no room for complacency. Thestandard of cricket in secondary schools isa concern, most notably because it seemsto be increasingly difficult for schools to findstaff willing to commit their time to the sport.New Zealand Cricket is attempting to redressthis situation by funding School CricketCoordinator positions, but getting the rightperson, someone who will actually make adifference, is critical.Otago Cricket was fortunate this season togain the services of new Southland CricketDevelopment Coordinator Ian Mockfordwhose drive and enthusiasm is starting tomake a difference in the deep south Withexperienced CDCs in all its other districts,Otago is well served by its developmentpersonnel.A big focus early in the season was theOtago Cricket Roadshow which had theVolts players out in the schools throughoutthe province promoting the game. TheKeeping Cricket Strong in Schools campaignfollowed closely, and cricket had a high profilein early October.Performances and results in nationaltournaments have shown that the provinceis continuing to produce some verypromising cricketers.The Otago Sparks enjoyed a very goodseason under the tutelage of player/coachClare Taylor. The side achieved some verygood wins and came close to gaining a placein the final. Outstanding were wicketkeeper/batsman Katey Martin and allrounder SarahTsukigawa, and their places in the NewZealand White Ferns were well merited.Otago ‘A’ competed strongly at the nationaltournament, with Jordan Sheed’s outstandingbatting form (two centuries) winning him arecall to the Volts later in the season.The U19s overcame a slow start atthe national tournament to pick up fourconsecutive one-day wins and storm intothe final against Auckland. It set Auckland288 to win, a target achieved seven wicketsOtago’s successwas built onsolid teamworkand a lot ofhard work overthe past fewseasons underthe guidanceof coach MikeHesson.

down in a very good demonstration of limitedovers cricket played in beautiful conditionsat Lincoln. Three Otago players – left-armspinner Nick Beard, wicketkeeper/batsmanMichael Bracewell and opening bat HamishRutherford – won selection in the NewZealand team which finished a highlycreditable third in the U19 World Cup inMalaysia.The Otago U17s competed doggedly and thenational tournament would have been a biglearning experience for most of them whichis great. The team’s only win came at theexpense of the tournament winner Canterbury,which says a lot about the evenness of teamsat this level. It was also a reminder of theneed to be careful when judging the successor otherwise of a team. The cricketers in thisside derived huge benefits from playing onfast, even wickets with quick outfields andagainst good opposition. This was evident inthe more thoughtful way many of them wentabout their cricket on their return. From thatpoint of view, a successful tournament for thisgroup of players.up matches, catering, running players around.They deservedly share the satisfaction of thisseason’s successes.Finally, it has been exciting to see theprogress up the umpiring ranks of two formerOtago cricketers, Derek Walker and ChrisGaffeney. Derek is now an established firstclassumpire and his elevation to four in therankings is well-merited. Chris is in his firstseason at first-class level and he has createda very favourable impression.The experience of our U15 cricketers whostruggled to compete with their Canterburycounterparts was another reminder of theneed to create some depth in our cricketby offering quality playing and coachingprogrammes. Given the standard of play indistrict and locals competitions, it is often ahuge step up to representative cricket formany of our players.The same is true for our girl cricketers. Thereis a lot of enthusiasm, and the challenge isto provide meaningful competitions at a locallevel, and opportunities for coaching, to pushthe players along.Otago Cricket has moved in the right directionby targeting suitable candidates to undertakethe NZC Level 1 coaching course. Twentyfivecoaches, many of them current players,were put through the course this season.Several have already helped coach districtrepresentative squads.Cricket in Otago has always been well servedby volunteers. It is humbling to see thenumber of people who give back so willinglyto the game, be it coaching, scoring, setting

Central Districts - Season SummaryAs a coach I like to see players develop overtime, and teams create plans and successfullyimplement them, but winning and seeingyoungsters perform up to their potential are,for me, great examples of instant gratification.Central Districts has worked industriouslyover the past few years and to have playersperforming at all levels and age groups is areassuring return for these efforts. We haverecently had pockets of good performers butconsistency across the board is what hastranspired this season. However, in sayingthis, teams have not won competitions anddominated tournaments so our work is notcomplete!Having 4 of the top 6 test batsmen fromCentral Districts has placed strain on ourbatting resources but Greg Hay has hardlysuffered from ‘second season blues’ and musthave forced his way into consideration forthe BLACKCAPS tour to England. The gapbetween international cricket and first classcricket was highlighted when with the returnof ‘the big boys’ the Stags won the Twenty /20 competition. With their departure the Stagsfailed to make the semis of the State Shieldbut at least they were the masters of their owndestiny and failed to qualify after losing theirlast two games rather than relying on otherresults. The State Championship has been abattle.New players have been exposed at first classlevel but injury and an inability to bowl teamsout has made for a tough season. GeorgeWorker is one of these new players. It hasbeen a very good reward for him after anexcellent season at school, district, age groupand New Zealand U19 level.He and Andy Dodd were selected for theU19 World Cup in Malaysia. Andy did not getto play but it was a great trip for them both.Numerous others made quite an impressionat this year’s U19 tournament.The emphasis, at Lincoln, for the U19 andProvincial ‘A’ tournaments, was on one daycricket. For the first time coloured clothingand the white ball were used and even thoughsome associations entered into the spiritof it all more than others, by dressing theirteams in full colours and pads, it was a hugesuccess making these players feel special.The tournaments, each with a pre-tournament3 day game, were shorter than they havebeen in the past and both were moreenjoyable. In my opinion it is so important toplay 3 day cricket at this level as it is in thesegames that real learning about the gametakes place. Why is that bowler bowling?How can the field be manipulated to attacka batsman? How should the bowlers bemanaged as the new ball approaches? (fromboth a bowling and batting point of view).When should the spinners bowl? What are thebatting targets? How can they be achieved?Can the batting momentum be changed? Howlong until lunch? tea? stumps? Where is thegame going?The Central Districts v Northern Districtswas a great advertisement for ensuring thatby giving the opposition a good chance towin your own team is provided with a betterchance too. Central Districts won by 6 runsand all involved enjoyed the experience whichcannot be said of some games at this level inthe recent past.Seeing the fifty overs of a one day gamebeing bowled in two and a half hours was asight to behold. Lunch was very early –almostat a normal lunch time – and there was noneed for a second drinks break. 45 oversof spin were bowled. The use of spinners ispossible very early in an innings and theseU19 lads showed that it is possible to utilisepower plays with slow bowlers and a littlethought. (Question – When defending amediocre total why are the 2nd and 3rd powerplays even taken? To win, the fielding sidemust bowl the opposition out probably before45 or 40 overs are even up).After leading the tournament early the CentralDistricts “A” side slipped to fourth while theU19’s finished 3rd in the round robin and lostto Northern Districts in the play-off.The Hinds led from the front throughout theseason but after losing momentum in the final

ound of pool play lost the final to CanterburyMagicians on a below standard McLean Parktrack. Aimee Mason and Sara McGlashanboth had an excellent season and dominatedmost games either individually or together.However, it was the support play of NicoleThessman (until injury curtailed her season)and Zara McWilliams and the bowling ofAbby Burrows and Rachel Candy that werevital to the team. Aimee, Sara, Rachel andRachel Priest were all selected for the WhiteFerns while Abby and Kate Broadmore wererecognised with NZ ‘A’ selection.Congratulations are extended to Nicolefor becoming the first Central Districts’women’s cricketer to play 100 games for theassociation. This significant milestone wasacknowledged at an end-of-season function.New Plymouth Girls’ High School andHavelock North High School shared the NewZealand Community Trust Cup. A numberof these girls stayed on in Christchurchand played in the women’s developmenttournament. The team struggled here butremained competitive and all involved had avery enjoyable time.Rain curtailed a competitive Central Districts’U17 tournament but a potentially strong sidewas selected to represent our associationat the national U17 tournament at the samevenue - Napier. They did everything right upuntil the last two days when they narrowlylost both one day games. If they had wonone of these they would have won orshared the tournament. The highlights wereconsistently batting a full day in all of the twoday games, bowling Wellington out for 25and the selection of Ben Smith and BevanSmall in the national U17 side named at theconclusion of the tournament.‘money end’ of our game and it has a placeat the enjoyment end of the recruitment andretention of cricketers, but the fundamentalskills of aspiring representative cricketersmust be developed over time to ensure thatthe longer version of the game remainsvibrant. It is my belief that the skills of thelonger version of the game are transferable tothe shorter versions but not vice versa. Skillwill always dominate the longer version of thegame whereas shortening the game is likemud in rugby, the great leveler.Thanks are extended to all those involved inCentral Districts related activities this season.These activities include a huge numberof roles such as coaching, administration,managing, ground preparation and one of themost important parenting. These days it isdifficult to get people to give consistent timeand effort to a cricket side over the durationof a season. This coupled with the multiskilledrole of being a coach, mentor, adviser,psychologist and at times disciplinarian andjust plain grump mean that youngsters are notalways provided with a sound cricket learningenvironment. We must continue to developourselvesas coaches and also aspeople toensure thatthe traditionsof ourgame arecontinued.Weather also intervened in the U15 selectiontournament at Rathkeale. The team wasdifficult to select and battled somewhat at theNorth Island U15 tournament in Rotorua. Theyhad mixed results and hopefully will havelearned from the experience. William Young’shundred was a highlight.Two day cricket is vital in the developmentof our representative youngsters. Twenty /20 cricket looks like it is here to stay at the

Auckland - Season SummaryThe Winter Academy 2007 was aptly titled‘The Top Two Inches’, a direct correlation tothe previous seasons representative teamsperformances where a majority of teams hadfinished second due to last day ‘jitters’; the‘mental’ aspect of the game was clearly anarea that needed attention.Thereby seven squads (U14, 15, 17, 19 menand U14, secondary schoolgirls and-women’sdevelopment) were put through a 12 weekprogramme between June and Septemberwhere each squad were only together forthe first two weeks and thereafter split intospecialist skills squads in pace/spin bowling,batting and wicket-keeping. The specialists’skills squads were split into small numberswhere Master Skills coaches Dipak Patel/TimLythe (spin), Tony Sail (pace), Tony Blain(wicketkeeping) and Mark O’Donnell (batting)along with other assistant coaches workedon the mental aspects of each skill as well asthe technical and tactical aspects. However,rather than just ‘netting’, copious amounts oftime was spent on the areas of concern andthe feedback from cricketers and coacheswas encouraging.Summer 2007/08A magnificent summer with excellentweather produced some very good cricketin and around Auckland as well as for itsrepresentative teams. In August last yearit looked like a tough season ahead witha number of personnel changes for therepresentative teams, however, this wasunfounded as the ‘new’ personnel allenjoyed a successful campaign for theirrespective teams.The pleasing aspect of the ‘new’ personnelis that they have graduated from theAuckland Cricket district tournaments, thisis where we select Auckland representativeteams and therefore there is a fairly clearcoaches pathway whereby prospectiveand keen coaches start at club and school,make their way to District teams and thenonto Premier Club teams and /or Aucklandrepresentative teams.The flagship team, the Aces once againdominated early season and were easily thebest team throughout the round-robin StateShield games, however, the dreaded rebelIndian Cricket league then robbed us ofkey players Adams, Tuffey and Vincent andalthough the side that played Otago in thefinal was full of promise and class and evenafter scoring a very respectable 300+ battingfirst the in-form Brendon McCullum singlehandedly destroyed the Aces hopes ofholding onto the trophy they had won theprevious year.Thereafter with the loss of the players aboveand then to lose Mills and Martin to theBLACKCAPS, Scott Styris’s unavailabilityfor four-day cricket, pace bowlers Shawand Bates injured, the State Championshipcampaign which we were also sitting on top ofhas been severely hampered and at the timeof writing although we are sitting second inthe table the last two games before the finalare going to be very testing!The men’s ‘A’ team had an excellenttournament in which they had one bad dayand it was this alongside their two three-daygames being heavily affected by rain (81and 43 overs lost respectively) both of whichthey were well on top that finally decided thewinning margin of 5 points from the winnersNorthern Districts. Interestingly enoughAuckland beat Northern Districts convincinglyin the one-day game and had them 9 wicketsdown in the second innings of the three-daygame! As per the previous season althoughwinning the tournament would have beengood to see the continued development ofkey players, namely Andrew de Boorder,Anuru Kitchen, Colin de Grandhomme andGareth Hayne was very encouraging. It’s notall about the players either, as Matt Horne’sdevelopment as a coach at this tournamentwas also of huge benefit and the way he isprogressing I am fairly confident we will seehim coaching at higher levels in the verynear future.The men’s U19 team who have hadunprecedented success at this tournament inA magnificentsummer withexcellentweatherproducedsome verygood cricketin and aroundAuckland aswell as for itsRepresentativeTeams.

the last few years had a lot to live upto. Afterspending five seasons with the U17 team inNapier the coaching team of Randall Toddand Nick Craig were given the envious taskto coach the U19 team and early on theymust have thought they were on ‘honeymoon’as the team dominated proceedings earlyin winning both their three-day games andstarted positively by winning the first two onedayer’s, however, the team then lost the nexttwo one day games but were still comfortablyahead on the points table. This counted fornothing as the top two teams in the tablethen had to play a final to decide the winnersand therefore the Auckland team met Otagowho they had lost to two days previously, inthe final on the Bert Sutcliffe Oval. Aucklandwon the toss and then amazingly sent Otagointo bat on a wicket which looked tired andold and to make matters worse, Otago set aformidable target of 287-9 off their 50 overs.Most of the people at the tournament wouldhave given the Auckland team no chance towin this game, however, somebody forgot tomention this to the Auckland team as theyset about to knock the runs off and win thegame by 3 wickets with one over remaining.This truly was an amazing run chase whereat least six of the batsmen contributedheavily. This final day heroics clearlyepitomised the work done in the winter hadpaid dividends! Add to the win the selectionof Jeet Raval (who subsequently pulled outdue to residency/qualification issues), GregMorgan and Michael Guptill-Bunce into theNew Zealand U19 team for the World Cup inMalaysia as well as Rory Christopherson asa non-travelling reserve, the entire campaignwas a success.The boys’ U17 Team performed admirablyat the national U17 tournament in Napierand finished a very creditable 2nd, quiteremarkable considering the new coachingteam of Pat Cole as coach and Ryan Scivieras manager/co-coach, neither of them hadcoached representative teams for Auckland atany level and both were called in at the ‘lastminute’ after other interested coaches pulledout late in the piece. Pat is an avid coach whocoaches the North Shore Premier team andRyan coached a district U17 team pre-xmas,astonishing considering he’s only just turned21 years of age. On the field the team wereprobably surprised at the finish considering apoor middle part of the tournament, however,in the last two one-day games againstWellington and Central Districts they pulledof two marvellous wins chasing down bigtotals (254 and 224 respectively) which atthis age group shows lots of mental aptitudeand once again highlighted the ‘The TopTwo Inches’ philosophy worked upon duringthe 2007 winter. Craig Cachopa and JimmyNeesham were rewarded for their consistentperformances by being named in the nationalU17 tournament team.The boys’ U15 team travelled to Rotorua topartake in the North Island U15 tournamentand with a new coaching team of HaydenGardner and Keryn Carberry as co-coachesthere was a fair amount of frustration amongsteverybody at the batting performancesthroughout the tournament, however, thisdid not hamper the boys enthusiasm as theybowled and fielded exceptionally and althoughthe batting line up boasted some good playersthe consistency was never quite there and theteam finished up in 3rd position.The primary schoolboys’ teams were leftin the cold this season as their traditionalrivals Northern Districts decided againstplaying Auckland for reasons of their own.However we thought it important to selectthe usual two teams from our district primaryschoolboys’ tournament and decided uponplaying each other in a round robin formatwhich saw the ‘White’ team appropriatelycoached by Nick White winning one gameversus the ‘Blue’ team (which was coached byShoruban Pasupati) and the 2nd game endedin a dramatic tie!. Late in the piece NorthernDistricts offered each Auckland team a gameversus a selected training group they hadidentified at their district tournament whichwas much appreciated and both Aucklandteams managed a win against their NDcounterparts in Hamilton. A standout at thistournament was David Winn from the HowickPakuranga CC/Manukau area as he notchedup one century and another score of 86 in thethree innings he had.The women’s game has prospereddramatically in Auckland and it is by no

coincidence that Auckland Cricket’s Women’sDevelopment Coordinator Maia Lewis hashad a lot to do with it and should take a hugepat on the back for this as she has beenable to put time into this area with a ‘handson approach’ rather than having numerouscontracted people to do ‘bits and bobs’.The Hearts in Wayne Mackey’s secondyear finished the season a respectable 3rdin the State League and can be proud oftheir season after they had beaten eventualfinalists Central Districts in both of theirround-robin games. Still in rebuilding phasethe team was ably led by new captain IngridCronin-Knight, and she led not only withcaptaincy but also with her batting. Thepositive development of the young playerswas recognised by New Zealand Cricketselection panel when Ingrid Cronin-Knightand Ros Kember were selected for the WhiteFerns and adding to this, Ingrid Cronin-Knight(Captain.), Prashilla Mistry, Saskia Bullen,Megan Murphy and Katie Perkins beingselected for the NZ Women’s ‘A’ team.The Women’s Development team had anoutstanding tournament only to be undone inthe final by Canterbury and thereby finishingin their own eyes a disappointing 2nd. Thesuccess of this team can be pointed at withoutdoubt to the coaching of Maia Lewis whoas coach gelled the team together reallywell and got the best out of the players. In atournament where they dominated, the lastday ‘jitters’ certainly got the better of them,however, a number of ‘young’ players wouldhave taken a lot out of this tournament andthat’s good news for the future!The Secondary Schoolgirls’ teams (Elite andDevelopment) travelled to Wellington andback by van, an ordeal in itself to take on aWellington team and a Hawke’s Bay teamplaying 50 over as well as Twenty20 games.Young coaches Sarah Hopkins and JussaraBierman respectively coached the teamsand both can be extremely happy with theirteams for differing reasons. Sarah’s Eliteteam went through the tournament unbeatenand Jussara’s Development team notched upa couple of good wins which was satisfyingconsidering the team had a number ofyounger players.The girls’ U14 teams partook in a tournamentin Auckland comprising of a team each fromWellington and Northern Districts. Aucklandput in an Elite team and then had producedseven other players for a composite team thatwas completed with players from Northland.The results for this tournament were verymuch alike their older counterparts where theElite team coached by Anthony Bowler wentthrough the tournament unbeaten and wereclearly streets ahead of all the others. Thecomposite team also managed a couple ofwins and credit must be given to their youngcoach Katie Perkins who was playing at thissame tournament only four years ago!SummaryWe are finding more and more in the ‘instant’society we live in that cricketers are nowexpecting to play at a high level with as littleamount of hard work as possible. Matt Horneis a huge advocate of this problem and we aregrappling with ideas on getting the messageacross to cricketers at all age group levelsincluding first class players the amount ofhard work and quality practice each individualmust do to succeed, gone are the days whentraining twice a week with your team willsuffice, thereby if players want to succeedthey must make sacrifices and ensure copiousamounts of extra work outside of their teamtrainings must be taken to ensure success.A number of us ‘older’ cricketers take forgranted that cricketers of this age ‘know’the game but lets not be fooled asthe ‘instant society’ ensures thereis plenty going on that will detractthe players from finding outabout the game, whether thatbe the history, on field gameawareness, skill developmentand understanding, therebywe as coaches in our positionmust design programmesthat integrate the learningmentioned earlier within allthe cricket specific skills weteach.With the loss of class pacebowlers (Adams, Tuffey,Mills, Martin) either forshort-term or long-term forvarying reasons Auckland hasnow got to concentrate ondiscovering and nurturing pacebowlers in a very short period of timeand therefore priority must be given tothis area.

An Interview with Blair FranklinBlair Franklin is theCommunity CricketCoordinator forCanterbury CountryCricket. He is one ofover 40 CCC’s that areemployed either full orpart-time around NewZealand.Describe for us what your job as a CommunityCricket Coordinator for Canterbury CountryCricket entails?I look after the 5 to 19 year olds within theCanterbury Country District. I run the MILOinitiatives through the primary schools, whichinvolves school visits, and delivering MILOCricket Skills Awareness Lessons to the clubs,setting up MILO Have-A-Go and MILO KiwiCentres in clubs, running holiday programmes,and trying to get as many 5 to 13 year oldsplaying cricket in primary schools. I alsoencourage them to become involved in theMILO Cup and MILO Shield.Do you have involvement with secondaryschools and clubs?Yes, my time at secondary schools is spent withboth boys and girls and ranges from year 9 toyear 13. My involvement ranges from practicesessions with teams to leadership courses withyear 12 students. I encourage the schools toenter the following tournaments:NZCT Cup junior boys’ year 9/10NZCT Cup girls’ 1st XIGillette Cup boys’ 1st XISuper 8’s (boys and girls)Why did you decide to become a Coach?Because I love the game and if I have towork for a living then I would rather be doingsomething I really enjoy rather than sitting in anoffice all day. Getting out and about is reallyenjoyable and you feel like you are actuallyhaving an impact on the game.So when did you decide that you wanted tomake cricket and the development of cricketyour career?When I decided that I wasn’t going to be goodenough as a player to succeed in the game,and it was a good way of being involved in thesport that I have a great passion for.How would you describe yourself as a Coach?I am a Coach who encourages respect anddiscipline and I enjoy the history of our greatgame. I encourage people to play the game inthe right spirit.How does the approach you have to Coachingchange as you work your way through thedifferent ages that you work with?With the younger kids it’s more aboutparticipation, fun, having a lot of patience andgetting kids involved and enjoying the sport.With the 12 to 15 year olds it becomes a lotmore skill based, and then the philosophychanges as they get older still so it’s basedmore on game plans. So my approach changesfrom active participation to game scenarios as Igo up through the year groups.Do you have Coaching Mentor?Yes I do, when I first started coaching cricket Iwas fortunate enough to meet Greg Hills. Gregused to coach the Canterbury Women’s teamfor about 10 years and the New Zealand ‘A’women’s team and I was lucky to be involvedwith him through our children, I use him as asounding board.Do you have a Coaching philosophy?My coaching philosophy is very similar to myview on life. The same aspects of respectand discipline as I said earlier are huge partsof the game, and I base my whole coachingaround having those qualities in a cricket team.I feel that if players respect each other andthe game, they will start to appreciate and getthe best out of themselves. If they don’t haverespect, it’s a pretty tough game.What do you enjoy the most about your jobas a Community Cricket Coordinator?Getting out and about and meeting differentpeople. It’s varied and exciting every day, thedifferent range of people you meet from schoolkids to school teachers, to coaches, to eliteplayers, the range is huge and there is never adull moment.And finally, what’s the best advice that youcan give your average grassroots Coach?Enjoyment - enjoy the experience, and upskillas much as possible. The more knowledge youhave the more enjoyment you get from puttinga good message across, and you have moreconfidence in what you are telling people.

Source: This article is reprinted courtesy of Cricket Australia’s ‘Overview’ newsletter, Issue 8, March 2007, p 6-7

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