“Poverty Bay as a district association has dropped off in skill level over the past 10 years or so, and you can see that in the men’s team results.”
Castle is committed to his vision of making Poverty Bay a strong player in the regional cricket scene, selling his house in Havelock North to buy in Gisborne.
While his background is primarily in coaching, with batting and spin bowling his specialities, he says his vision is to grow the game from the ground up.
“Gone are the days of standing out there for six to seven hours . . . you’re not going to change people into loving five-day cricket overnight.
“You miss a straight one early on, and you sit down for a long time. We want to change that.”
He says it’s exciting to come to a region where he believes he can share his knowledge of the game, but he comes to Gisborne also looking to learn.
“When you’re green, you grow . . . working in different environments will broaden my horizons.”
As part of his coaching, he wants to incorporate the wealth of local knowledge of coaches like Lance Cairns, Ben O’Brien-Leaf and Mark Jefferson.
“Coaching as a pool is better than a one-man show.”
One thing Castle is excited about is the opportunity of having a shared services agreement with Northern Districts.
Through engagements with schools around the region, it will be his job to translate that enthusiasm into club registrations or more schools having teams again.
Another goal is to promote the women’s game locally. Last year, only one women’s game of cricket was played in Gisborne all summer, when Poverty Bay women’s representative team played host to a young development squad from Hawke’s Bay.
He is investigating driving engagement by hosting cricket festivals, where teams play several shortened games in one day.
“It’s one thing that I’ve gathered already. There are some really passionate people in the fold and it’s all about getting them moving in the same direction.”
