Former New Zealand cricketer Bryan Young is among a bevy of former Northlanders keen to reignite the traditional summer code in the region amid fears the sport is sliding to ignominy here.
Young, who played 35 tests and 74 one-day internationals for New Zealand, is joining forces with Northland cricket identities
such as Barry Cooper, Karl Treiber, Ross Kneebone and Robert Anderson to try to revive the game at club and junior level.
In Whangarei yesterday to play in the annual Cobham Club match against a Northland Secondary School selection, Young says he still feels an affinity to Northland and hopes to help the game flourish in the North once more.
"From what I gather the club scene is struggling a bit from what it was like in my day. Clubs are really struggling to stay afloat and the whole scene is not quite what it was, "Young said.
"If I can do anything to help that then I am more than willing."
Young played almost all of his cricket out of the City club in Whangarei at first flourishing as a wicketkeeper for both Auckland and Northern Districts before transforming himself into a test opener of some repute.
He says there is no reason why another league of Northland cricketers cannot follow in his footsteps and make it all the way to test cricket status by playing in Whangarei, an opinion he thinks is even more relevant after playing at the new Cobham Oval at the weekend.
"That ground is the best, by far, in the country in terms of the wicket and how it plays," he said.
"If I was a young guy playing cricket I would want to make every Northland team I could just so I could get the chance to play there as often as possible.
"The job that is being done with the facilities up here is awesome, now we need to make sure we get the cricketers to use them."
Young, who is now based in Auckland after spending several years working in Australia, says he is now in a position to give something back to the game in Northland, a province he stills feels a strong affinity to.
"Where I can I want to help out, even if that is getting in a room with some young cricketers and telling them what is possible if they stick to the game and apply themselves," he said.
