P4 fielding against some aggressive batting.
The new cricket season for the Dannevirke Sports Club has started in outstanding fashion.
All six teams scored wins – a feat not achieved for several seasons.
There are three adult teams playing in the Premier Three, Premier Four and Women’s grades.
Playing in Palmerston North, the P3 side dismissed Marist for 108 and followed it up with a win of 109 for two wickets.
The P4 side playing at Dannevirke Domain scored 203 of their 40 overs and managed to dismiss Bloomfield for 190 bowling well to contain the tail after a dramatic start by the openers of 75.
The ladies playing at Dannevirke High School scored 88 in their 25 overs and dismissed PNGH Blue for 77, Holly Henricksen sitting on a hattrick against their openers.
The juniors all scored wins in the Junior Incrediballs, years 5-6 and years 7-8 all outscoring their opponents.
Last month, the Dannevirke Sports Club (DSC) held their prize-giving for the last season’s play.
There were many personal performances of note with the Premier Three team finishing highly ranked in their section of play.
This coming season they plan to finish better and are looking good to do so with the younger members of their team developing strongly.
Starting with the Women’s team, the three “Earnslaw One” trophies were contested last season. The Most Valuable Player was awarded to Jacqui Boustead. As captain and a consistent performer over the whole season, Jacqui was the leader on and off the field who extracted the best from the team.
The other two Earnslaw One trophies were won by Ella Hogan for the most wickets taken and the most runs scored over the season for the team.
The Women’s team were very fortunate to be coached and mentored by Karen Gunn.
Karen was a regular member of New Zealand women’s cricket as a bowler in 1988-93. Karen’s statistics show she has played 45 ODI matches, taking 53 wickets at 21.0 runs each.
Our young cricketers are able to seek advice from the best via Karen. Tararua cricketers are fortunate we can tap into this knowledge.
The three men’s team’s trophy winners were:
Premier One MVP - Thomas Kuggeleijn (captain and second-best wicket taker). Most runs – Thomas Kuggeleijn (including two centuries), Most wickets – Jayme Knightly with 23 wickets.
Premier Three: Mangatera Hotel Shield – MVP is Graeme Harris (most runs, catches and great bowling when called on). Most runs – Graeme Harris, Most wickets – Eden Chapman-Peters, Most improved cricketer – all teams – Kayden Ball.
Premier Four: MVP trophy - Awarded to Nishinbar Singh – all-round performances, bowling, keeping and catching. Most runs – Nishinbar Singh. Most wickets – Blair Moynihan. Outstanding bowling performance – Finn Eggleton, took four wickets for 37 runs in his first senior men’s match as a year 9 student from DHS. Finn has the ball mounted to keep – the Captain’s Trophy.
Our plans for the coming season are to maintain three teams only. The Men’s Premier One team folded at the end of the season and the residue could not field a team strong enough for Premier Two.
To maintain a top-level team in Premier One we have the problem that our younger, keen and talented cricketers find career options outside of Tararua District as they grow up.
So there will be Men’s Premier Three and Four plus the Women’s team.
The Dannevirke Sports Club also has this problem in soccer and rugby. This is the nature of all the sports codes in Tararua District.
We are focusing on providing a pathway from juniors through the grades up to the Premier Three level. We have cricketers playing now in age group representative teams for Manawatu Cricket. Ella Hogan, Taj and Eden Chapman-Peters to name just three at present.
At senior level Thomas Kuggeleijn is representing Manawatu at the Senior Men’s level. This shows we can foster our summer game through the levels from juniors up to the top level, all from Tararua District.