Levin cricketers benefit from coaching from a former Black Cap

Former Black Cap Jacob Oram teaches budding young Levin player Gabrielle Read some of the finer points of bowling.

A former Black Cap cricketer seconded to help grow the game in Levin is keen to see it flourish for both boys and girls.

Jacob Oram, once rated the best allrounder in the world and current bowling coach of the New Zealand womens team, has been a regular at the Basil Netten Pavilion at Donnelly Park in recent weeks at the invitation of a local club Weraroa.

Oram is passing on his knowledge and skill to budding young players and is open to growing the game for all genders, especially with a spike in the growth of the women's game nationally.

"I probably didn't appreciate it fully myself when I was playing because I was immersed in the men's game," he said.

"Now that I am highly involved in my role with the White Ferns you realise there is another half of the population that plays and are highly skilled cricketers."

Oram combined his coaching with his role as Sports Advancement Manager at Wellington University.

While in Levin last week, Oram spent time with promising young player Gabrielle Read while at the nets, and like all players, she was put through a solid training session.

"Her bowling was pretty good. She stayed there the whole time and will be quite sore tomorrow," he said.

Oram said in his experience when one or two girls became involved it encouraged more to join and then numbers would flourish.

"It snowballs," he said.

Meanwhile, Weraroa was putting a women's team together to compete against three other teams from neighbouring clubs in Palmerston North this year.

Women's Community Cricket Co-ordinator Amy Johnson said it was the first time a club competition had been put together for women.

Johnson said the women's game was growing in popularity all the time and pathways were being created to make sure that in younger grades players enjoyed their experience and kept playing.

That included competitions for youngsters where there was music playing and every player had a turn at batting and bowling to ensure their cricket experience was a positive one.