I hope you all enjoyed the PSB tournament, despite the weather. I think we were fortunate to get in three days. It was great to be able to walk around and see the teams competing, boys enjoying their cricket and the positive atmosphere that existed around the teams.
For those of you who have not read the previous blog entry: North Harbour Tournament Statistics, Jim Kelly Cup I encourage you to do so in conjunction with this blog post.
Team Results
The North Harbour team results have been very strong. The two “A” sides this season have finished second (Black A) and fourth (Burgundy A). By comparison the two “A” sides last season finished fourth and fifth. Black A was due to play Manukau on the last day on what would have effectively been a final.
In the development section, Burgundy A is fourth and Black A sixth out of eight teams, comparable results to last year.
The results should also be considered in the context that North Harbour has similar junior playing numbers to both Central District and Eastern District and that we field four teams in total thereby diluting our strength particularly across the “A” division.
Convenor's Special Moments
Black A game v Central Districts
In the Black A game v Central Districts the Black team bowled and fielded exceptionally. It was the best bowling and fielding performance I have seen from our boys, absolutely outstanding from fielding positions to walking in, to commitment, to good fielding technique, to bowlers bowling a good attacking line and length consistently. I was very proud of you.
Gray’s 100
The other highlight for me was Gray Hardy’s century. His century was only the second North Harbour century in the tournament since 2003. His batting was outstanding for an opener, a solid start that provided the platform with his run rate picking up through the innings with good solid attacking cricket shots. Gray was part of a 170 run partnership for the second wicket with Gray’s batting partner assisting him by turning the strike over and providing sound and positive advice.
Individual Performers
Cricket is not a particularly fair game. Some boys in a team get placed in positions that are “better” positions than others, for example, a number three batsman is in a better position that a number six. By the same token boys have often earned these positions. In many cases our “leading boys” took their opportunities at the tournament.
I know the Coaches were planning changes in the last two days to give other boys more opportunity until the weather intervened, and there are boys particularly in the mid to lower order in Black A who did not get as much batting as we'd have liked.
The following eight boys have been selected for Auckland Primary School Boys:
Angus Mckenzie
Keegan Russell
Benjamin Beecroft
Gray Hardy
Grant Celliers
Matt Fenn
Giles la Ville
Non travelling reserve:
Asher Robb
Update: Due to a withdrawl, Asher has been pulled into the Auckland Blue team. Well done Ash!
Well done boys, many congratulations, the boys above are some of our hardest working young cricketers. The eight boys selected for Auckland surpasses the six from last year.
It is easy on one hand to say that for those of you who did not make the Auckland team this year, and a number of you must have been close, not to be too disappointed. The reality is that I’m sure that some of you having set the goal or target of making the Auckland team are very disappointed.
I do stand by what was said at the capping ceremony – this is only one step in your cricketing journey, set yourself the goal again, work really hard on your game and you can get there.
For those boys who have made Auckland, it is also time for you to step up and work harder at your games in the coming year, there will be a bunch of determined boys after your positions from all the Districts.
Many Thanks
We are fortunate in the group to have excellent Coaches, and it can become a cliché to continue to thank them. The boys should though be very grateful for the work put into them by hard working and dedicated coaches.
So to Peter Schierhout, Grant Mckenzie, Amita Weerakoon, Marcus Williams, Layne Young and Daryl Quinn, many thanks again guys from us all for your efforts over the past three years and in particular the lead up to and including the tournament.
It was also great to see so many parents out at the tournament, supporting your own boy, supporting their team, and helping with all of the things that make it a success. I thought we had an excellent parent group at each game I got to.
From Here
Finally it has been a privilege to be the North Harbour Convenor for this age group over the past three years. The Year 8 age boys now move into one age group - Year 9/10, and the Year 7 boys move into Year 8.
The Year 9/10 Convenor, who will be a parent usually drawn from the Year 10 age group, will be in contact with you regarding North Harbour representation over the coming year.
In terms of my own ongoing involvement, I will be able to assist the Year 9/10 Convenor with information on the boys in our age group.
In the meantime boys continue to enjoy your cricket.
Best Regards
Craig Beecroft
NH PSB Convenor 2011
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