to download - Part 2 - Wellington Cricket

Chris Nevin practises catching with 11 year old Shaykanah Te Rei from Russell School during
the Hooked on Cricket campaign at Ascot Park in Porirua
Photo courtesy of The Dominion Post
Junior Cricket
Junior cricket numbers increased slightly, with the real value
in this area being supplied by the strong administrative
structure through the Junior Convener’s forum, and the
efforts of the many volunteer administrators and coaches
whom support junior cricket. Our junior club cricket remains
strong, with small incremental changes such as the newly
established zone tournaments.
Wellington intermediate schools continued to achieve well
at the national level, with Tawa Intermediate winning the
girls’ MILO Shield tournament and repeating the success
enjoyed by Raroa Intermediate the previous year. Having two
national winners in two years is a wonderful achievement
for junior cricket. In the boys’ MILO Cup competition Raroa
Intermediate fought its way to the national finals, where it
finished a highly creditable third.
Our thanks go to the extremely hardworking Junior Conveners
at the clubs, no doubt equally supported by the many parental
administrators and coaches who continue to help deliver and
progress the game in Wellington.
Youth Cricket
Many will be aware that Cricket Wellington’s major connection
with college cricket in the past has been through the funded
coaching programme, which sees club coaches assisting
college teams (the “CDO programme”). However, Cricket
Wellington’s involvement runs much deeper and the plan is to
continue that influence by contributing heavily to the college
cricket environment. In a nutshell, we want to continue to
strengthen our relationship with College Sport and add real
value to the college environment.
At the governance level Cricket Wellington is a member of
the College Sport Cricket Committee, the governance body
of the college game. Of particular note this past year, Cricket
Wellington and College Sport embarked on a fundamental
review of schoolboy cricket, the previous review having been
conducted over ten years earlier. Recommendations from
the Committee established to review the game are expected
before Christmas.
A further exciting initiative
has seen Cricket Wellington
establish a “college cricket
coaching academy”, which
targets and trains senior
college students as cricket
coaches. The benefits for both
the students and the game are
significant, and include more
qualified coaches; improved
coaching at both junior college
and junior club level; personal,
leadership and technical
development of the students;
and, in time, a progression of
a coaching ethos and practice
into senior club cricket.
This initiative, grounded in a
Kiwisport partnership entered
into with Sport Wellington,
has a very real potential
to provide a foundation for
cricket coaching in Wellington
for many years to come.
Our thanks are extended
to John Hornal at College Sport Wellington, the College
Sport Cricket Committee, chaired by Rodney Moore and our
Kiwisport partner, Sport Wellington, led by CEO Paul Cameron.
Club Cricket
Once again the spring weather contributed to a very stopstart
beginning to the club season, with both the weather and
grounds not performing to any agreeable level until well after
Christmas. While several days play were completely lost, the
scheduling of some Sunday play and reserve days (also on
Sundays) made up for lost ground and ensured an acceptable
amount of cricket was enjoyed by our local club players.
The damp start reduced the momentum somewhat from
significant changes to the cricket points structure, which was
introduced as a means to improve the quality of senior club
play and in doing so enhance the cricketers’ enjoyment. It
was pleasing to see that initiatives initially raised by clubs
and senior players could be progressed through a transparent
process and ultimately adopted. Certainly the strong feedback
throughout and at the conclusion of the season was that the
changes were welcome and positive overall.
At the Pearce Cup level the modern club rivalry between
Eastern Suburbs and Karori continued, with both teams
booking their final spot well before the end of the regular
season. Ultimately it was Easts who triumphed, bagging
their ninth successive championship with a ruthless final
performance.
It was particularly pleasing to see the increased acceptance
and participation in Twenty20 cricket, with the Wellington
grade increasing from 10 to 21 teams, and a 4 team grade
being established in the Hutt Valley. Whatever one’s personal
taste for this format, there is little denying that it has an
important role to play at club level, and perhaps particularly
so at the lower recreational level, where the abbreviated
timeframe and constant action make it such an attraction for
many grassroots cricketers.
Elsewhere a cricket stakeholder survey conducted in March
provided rich information for Cricket Wellington to consider
Cricket Wellington Inc Annual Report | 65