The ups and downs of building a solid club
Two years ago the North City Cricket premier side was runner up in the Pearce Cup but last year fell close to being relegated down a grade. North City Cricket Club captain Bruce Pepperell says the experience has been a ?good lesson? on how fast things can turn around. ?It?s difficult to say why we were nearly first one year and then dropped. ?It shows you need more than one year to build a team with the structure and culture to perform at a high level consistently,? says Mr Pepperell. The side has seen four players go to the Firebirds side, which is ?tremendous that we are growing the right sort of talent?. Their premier side is third equal in the Pearce Cup after getting off to a slow start in round one, and the reserve team is first equal in the Hazlett Trophy grade. A ?gulf has opened up? in the premier division with four teams stacked at the top and four at the bottom. Michael Pollard has performed well for North City with the bat and an ?excellent pace bowler? from the side is Frazer Cortume. ?A number of players are standing up and perfuming, the team is gelling well,? says Mr Pepperell. Cricket Wellington has seen an increase of seven percent in teams this year with the popularity of the 20/20 social league. Last year ten 20/20 sides played and now 22 are registered and waiting for the good weather to arrive, with Onslow the only club not fielding a side. Petone Riverside Cricket Club senior team captain Mark Hewson says their premier side are looking to topple Johnsonville from their pedestal atop the Hazlett Trophy. ?Johnsonville is the big one; they just lost out in the final last year, and beat us both times we played them,? says Mr Hewson. Petone is placed fourth with training woes non-existent this year as the guys are ?on the track and keen to play?. ?One strength has been having more experience with two or three guys coming back to the side. ?We are a younger side and having a few old heads has helped out.? They have played some close matches and recently toppled Karori is a stunning one-day match. ?Versus Karori B we batted up 230 runs on a good Petone wicket, [Karori] then batted well but we bowled them out with 20 runs to go. ?Leigh Kelly played very well, notching up 80 with the bat and bowling out the last wicket to win the game,? says Mr Hewson. Jacob Stirling is a ?young guy that has done well? proving effective with the bat and notching up some 60s and 40s early in the innings. Andy Corliss and the ?young pom? Kelvin Snell are both bowling well.
