Wellington Cricket Ready for a Long Hot Summer
A dry late winter and sunny start to spring has Wellington Cricket Chief Executive, Gavin Larsen, in high spirits just under a month out from the beginning of the new cricket season. Local cricket grounds have been able to get a head-start on bedding-in pitches for the season and this will be the first time the shortest form of the game, Twenty20, is included as part of the intercity competition. "I think there's a really positive mood out in our clubs at the moment. The good weather has given them a real boost of energy and anticipation of the upcoming season. Among the other new initiatives is the awarding of first inning points in two-day matches. Onslow Cricket Club is expecting an improved season after last year?s underwhelming fourth place in the premier mens grade, the Pearce Cup. "We've managed to secure Stuart Rhodes for a second year at the club. He's was certainly our star performer last season, batting as an opener and as part of our bowling attack," says Club Captain, Greg Pike. "The Twenty20 will be a big change for us. We've tended to perform better in the one- day matches so we we're looking at this season as a building and development time for out club in Twenty20 cricket. We do have big-hitting Jamiar Khan in the side and he's got plenty of firepower," enthuses Greg Pike. Meanwhile, the Johnsonville Cricket Club appears to have adopted the Twenty20 game quickly and they've experience a growth in club registrations this season. "Twenty20 is seems to be bringing young men and former players back to club cricket, attracted by the fact the games only take three hours to play and they can utilise the rest of their afternoon for other activities." suggests Club Captain, Rick Mudgway. Johnsonville are likely to field two senior mens Twenty20 teams this year Johnsonville's senior one mens team are also keen to improve on last year?s second place, after losing the final three-day match to University and missing promotion to the premier grade. "Our Achilles heel has been out top order batting. I'm expecting big seasons from Sam Hutchison, Matt Judge, Mark Pulley, Chris Leach, Scott Mudgway and Gareth Powell to support Luke Woodcock." says Mudgway Johnsonville are currently recruiting an import from the UK of the sub-continent.
