Pair's commitment as good as it gets

I REFER ... to the SportToday letter on Tuesday (page 13)  from Dellwyn Broadmore, of New Plymouth.
As I was referred to in the article, I assume I have the right of reply _ especially as there
were inaccuracies in her letter that appear to question my and my players' integrity.
Firstly let me say that I consider the New Plymouth Girls' High School (NPGHS) 1st XI
cricket team to have been a champion side over the past six years. Any team that can boast a record  of six straight national titles is outstanding.
 I also consider Kate Broadmore to be a class cricketer who will more than
likely deservedly go on to represent New Zealand. Her absence from this year's National
Secondary Schools' (NZCT Cup) tournament was a blow for the NPGHS team but, as
most followers of sport know, life goes on even when key players are not
available and, in fact, to use their absence as an excuse for losing just undervalues her teammates.
That said, I wish to correct some inaccuracies in Ms Broadmore's letter.
In 2007 when Havelock North High School (HNHS) shared the national title with NPGHS, we actually played two of three scheduled round robin games. Not one, as  Ms Broadmore states.
 We were the only team in our pool to win both games   and were assured a finals berth no matter what happened on the rained-out third day when we were scheduled
to play the win-less Westlake Girls' High.
In the other pool, NPGHS and Epsom Grammar were unbeaten but were scheduled to play on day three but that game did not eventuate; it was not played due to the poor weather.
 NPGHS advanced to the final after a calculation of run rates and wickets taken but the final was also rained out.
The tournament rules stated  the title was to be shared.
After the tournament, NPGHS approached  me and   the Epsom coach to see if we were interested in games in the New Year.
 We were very keen but  we  indicated,  as we were not teachers at our respective schools,  that the teacher in charge of cricket at NPGHS contact his counterparts  to
organise the games for February 2008. NPGHS did not approach  HNHS.
  I spoke with the Epsom coach at the December 2008 tournament and he  confirmed  NPGHS had not contacted them either.
I had spoken to the CD Hinds coach Doug Bracewell about the availability of our two Hinds players, Sanika Rangnekar and Olivia Gregory, for this tournament some weeks ago.
Bracewell felt  the pair  should play for their school rather than the Hinds as they had committed so much time to their school team.
I understood from that conversation that  NZ Cricket had asked Kate Broadmore to play
first-class cricket that weekend  as she was about to leave for Australia with the NZ Emerging Players team the day after the NZCT Cup tournament.
It was the same applied for Natalie Dodd of Northern Districts. 
Ms Broadmore's insinuation that Sanika and Olivia were not ``as committed'' to the Hinds as her daughter is in my opinion offensive.
You will go a long way to find more committed team players  than  the HNHS pair.