SPORT Cricket
Cricket was in a fantastic space as College approached 2021 with 38 new entrant players and an exciting group of Year 10s who had won the Year 9A competition in 2020. The Year 10 group consisted of two Colts teams and 10A. To add to our junior programme, College introduced Ben Williams, a professional coach from Melbourne who worked with many high- performance and international players over the past 15 years in Auckland and Australia. Ben worked with all the Year 9 teams and, together with George Anderson and Michael Flatman, the new Year 9 squad system was very effective. For the first time, College introduced a development team of Year 11 players who played in the Queenstown Festival in January under the guidance of Jono Brent, Stephen Dods and Black Caps coach and College parent Gary Stead. Unfortunately, bad weather intervened, and the team did more tenpin bowling than cricket, with just two cricket matches played. However, it was a fantastic trip, with the team learning so much from Gary and Jono. These lessons ultimately got the side to the top of its own competition, with College winning the final. At the same time, the College Year 12s and Year 13s were in Auckland with Rob Clarke, Keryn Ambler, and Andrew Levenger. Taking the 1st XI and 2nd XI on a pre- season tour was again a first for us. College was hosted by King’s College and Auckland Grammar. The tour replaced the traditional trans-Tasman quad event between King’s College, Christ’s College, Shore School, Sydney, and Canberra Grammar School. It was postponed because of Covid-19. The emphasis on these tours is to build cricket
depth and give more boys the chance to tour with their friends. After a series of trials, matches and pre-season festivals, College began the season with 14 teams, four of which were T20 Teams. With the new training wicket now well in place, College was able to manage all the teams on grass training wickets each Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The boys also enjoyed a fortunate run of good weather through until April. The Year 10 Community Trust team beat St Andrew’s College in the final of the regional competition and travelled to Palmerston North in summer tournament week. After some magnificent performances against the best teams in New Zealand, College finished 3rd – a great result. In Term 4, the new Christ’s College Cricket Grounds playing facilities project got under way. College is renovating and irrigating all the wickets and junior training block in stages. This will take a year so that College can ensure there are always at least three playing wickets available. Thanks to a kind donation from an Old Boy, avid cricket follower and current father, College will have playing facilities among the best at this level in New Zealand. It is hoped that the new wickets and outfields will complement the new Hagley Oval and Nursery Ground and become a Christchurch cricket hub. Our cricket students and winter sports students who use this ground will be the major beneficiaries. The 2nd XI and Development XI teams were in the same competition after the Development XI was promoted following its Term 1 one- day competition success. To have two teams in section two is rare, creating a lot of interest in our cricket community. That the team finished
by playing in the final and the 2nd XI won with a six in the penultimate over were testimony to the coaching and determination of both teams. The 1st XI continued its good form in Term 4, reaching the final of the regional Gillette competition before narrowly losing to St Andrew’s College. The College side then won the Metro Schools one-day competition final against St Andrew’s College, showing how far the boys had come. Sports coaching at College is our major point of difference. Placing excellent coaches in front of excellent boys will always create good results and maintain high standards – on and off the pitch. We were blessed with another stable of fantastic coaches throughout the teams, which had so much to do with our recent success. Thank you to all our coaches who continually go above and beyond for our cricket students. To provide excellent facilities and coaching requires sponsors and we have been fortunate with Archibalds and Jaguar. Archibalds has a major presence at College, with its support helping us towards excellence in these two areas as they are all about high performance. Sadly, we said goodbye to several Year 13s. This group has been integral to a resurgence in cricket at Christ’s College. I would like to thank them all for staying with the game and being great role models for our younger players. They have proved that Year 13s can have just as much fun, even if not selected in the 1st XI, and I am sure our 2nd XI Year 13s will remember that final for the rest of their lives. Stephen Dods MiC
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