‘Nursery’ in good heart

Press, 27 October 1982, Page 31

‘Nursery’ in good heart

The "nursery" of Christchurch cricket, the E grade of Saturday morning play, seems in good heart with clubs doing much to encourage youngsters’ confidence with a hard ball in competition play. At Sydenham Park on Saturday, there was much activity in the match between Lancaster Park and Sydenham. For Park. Matthew Reid and Stephen Jack show signs of developing technique with the bat. while Richard Casutt and Travis Lester are beginning to zero in on the target with the ball.

Chris Hammitt, as a batsman, and Mason McLean, as a bowler, show early promise for Sydenham along with Brent Nabbs, Bryce May and Bowen Cheat. Paul Ware, aged six, applies himself with gusto to all facets of the game.

In the D grade. Hoon Hay VI features a lot of players new to the game but there are signs of emerging talent in the likes of Darryn Neilson. Brent Fiecken. Todd Barberel and Stephen Owles. Glenn Tucker is building confidence and performing usefully in the field. The side’s top bowler is lan Stewart, a lad of fine promise who never shirks his duties in the field.

Hoon Hay ATI, in the D grade, has a fine bowler in Andrew Fortune, who featured prominently in the performances section of last week’s ‘Cricket Youth’. Lance Faafoi is also bowling well and scoring handy runs, too, along with John McCann and Stephen Wallace. The wicket-keeper, Peter Sharp, is performing well, snapping up the catches behind, while Bevan Mathie has improved a great deal. Scott Wilson comple-

ments the efforts of Fortune and Faafoi at the bowling crease.

Hoon Hay’s opponent on Saturday was Sydenham I, featuring mostly first-year boys in a wide age range from seven to 11 years. Dion Sheehan has a good eye and hits the ball hard but. interestingly, it is the younger boys. David Bluck especially, who show the soundest technique. They lack the strength to hit the ball much further than the area of the wicket block but they are keen to occupy the crease and develop their skills. They might find encouragement in reflecting that, not too many years ago. a slightly-built youngster named Glenn Turner was by no meafas a powerful striker of the ball. But he built on a thoroughly sound defensive technique and worked his way to the top in the cricket world. Hornby, in the B grade, has Stephen Hadley and Gavin Chappell to head the bowling attack with good support from David Swaddel. Grant Dawson and Stuart Rooney have had the pleasure of scoring a few runs early in the season. In A grade play, BurnsideWest. n found itself in a bit of bother on Saturday against the Hoon Hay attack headed by John Stuart and Kelly Wood. At one stage, Burnside was five wickets down for three runs, Stuart having the figures of three for one from five overs and Wood, two for one. Both bowlers took five wickets in the previous match. Stuart also came to light with the bat in that match, scoring 50 not out while Dean Thyne (14) supported him well. Geoffrey Huston does a good job as the wicket-keeper and Michael Owen always gives his best, particularly in the important area of fielding.

Burnside's opening batsmen, Jeremy Doherty and Royce Hartland, had problems with the pacy Hoon Hay attack on Saturday, but they are showing promise and the number three, Blair Sheat, is looking quite good, especially square of the wicket on the off side.

Mark Spicer is bowling his left-arm medium-pacers accurately. while Kyle Winslade is very keen to do well. Bumside has only one A grade side last year but the numbers have swelled this year to allow two top teams, split evenly on ability. In other A grade matches at Hospital Comer on Saturday. Old Collegians B met New Brighton, and Woolston Working Men's Club met Merivale-Papanui. For Old Collegians B, Guy Hillson is a small lad but very promising with the bat, and so. too, is Peter Burden. John Lee works very hard at his game, Nicholas Greenwood handles his wicket-keeping duties well, and James Ellis is developing steadily. In the New Brighton team. Tony Gibson is coming along well as a bowler, encouraged by steady success, and he was among the runs, too. in the first match.

Mark Wilson shows promise with the bat, Alan Jackson is 'keeping tidily, and Alan Hemingway is performing well in the outfield, getting the ball in smartly to Jackson. Hemingway forced a run-out on Saturday with a superb throw, from the boundary, right over the top of the stumps. Tim Maniti, from Woolston’s A grade side, is developing sharp pace with his bowling and has great potential as a batsman. Through instruction, he has

curbed his penchant for hitting across the line and in the first match swung fortunes back to this side with a dashing 46 not out.

Gene Hocking is a handy cricketer, Mark Idour and Glenn Lees useful all-rounders, and Matthew Elliott bowled three good overs on Saturday to take two wickets for six runs. In the Merivale side. Tim Capstick features strongly as an all-rounder and Chris Johnson is a promising lad. Kevin Fraher batted well on Saturday, scoring 20 of Merivale’s 92 for six, while Mark Kennedy contributed a good 23. Bryan Young scored 15. after his 51 in the first match.

There are other players in the A grade who have performed well recently. Kirsten Orchard is looking good with the bat for East-Shrley, Medbury's Michael Harrison took five wicekts for six runs last Saturday, while David Mills (Lancaster Park) scored 54 against St Albans. At the other end of the junior cricket scale, the Old Collegians club runs a “clinic" for raw beginners, in the south-east corner of Elmwood Park each Saturday morning. The boys play a brand of cricket dubbed "continuous," lining up baseball-style for their turn at a bat. They have plenty of opportunity, too, for bowling, ’keeping and fielding. The obvious keynote is involvement, and the use of a baseball rather than a sharp-seamed, hard leather cricket ball promotes confidence in this early stage of the boys’ development. Later, they often have the chance to watch cricketers like Vaughan Brown, Paul McEwan and Richard Leggat performing for the senior side, and to aspire to their considerable abilities.