Cricket: Back Yard Cricket's just the ticket

Action in the Back Yard Cricket finals at Queen Elizabeth Park. Photo / Supplied

Last week the Queen Elizabeth Park oval in Masterton hosted the inaugural finals day for Back Yard Cricket in Wairarapa, featuring junior secondary school teams from Makoura College and Wairarapa College.

The concept of Back Yard Cricket was devised to try and alleviate the decline in playing numbers at the junior secondary school level within the district. Funding came from the Wellington Regional Kiwi Sport Fund, allowing skills sessions and the playing of Back Yard cricket within Wairarapa schools.

With the funding received, the WCA were able to buy equipment to help set up a back yard at school, including fences, rubbish bin wickets, and a heap of tennis balls for when they got slammed over the fence. Rules were devised to mimic playing in the back yard, including adding a one-hand, one-bounce catch dismissal, losing runs for getting out, and six and out over some of the fences.

In this, the first year of the programme, both Wairarapa and Makoura colleges received cricket skill sessions in October and November.

Wairarapa College had five teams of six players (minimum of two girls per team) attend the day, and Makoura four teams of six. Three round-robin games were held, and the top scorers across those qualified to play in a four-team final. In the end, 10CE from Wairarapa College emerged as champions, with 10RW from Makoura second, after qualifying first for the final.

Next year it is hoped more Wairarapa schools will pick up on this concept, and that finals day will be attended by at least four schools. The WCA would like to point out that there were no windows broken playing their version of the game.

Meanwhile, this month has seen the completion of the 2015 seasons of junior secondary school competitions, the Trevor Martin Trophy (Saturday morning 30 overs), Thursday T20, and the Lone Star Trophy (college girls second grade). The move to an annual season and a revamp of the competitions back in January were initiatives instigated to try to revitalise junior college grades and increase participation numbers. Over the course of the year 16 separate teams from seven different schools took part.

To further incentivise the competitions, Lone Star Masterton kindly sponsored restaurant vouchers for MVP's in both the Trevor Martin and Lone Star girls grade. Only students from those schools that utilised the CricHQ system for scoreboards and results were eligible for these awards, as data and statistic collection via CricHQ created automatic leaderboards.

The Trevor Martin Trophy was played over 13 rounds, plus a finals day. A high standard of cricket was seen every weekend, with the standout side being Rathkeale Red. They qualified first for the final, winning nine of their 10 games played, and were drawn to play second qualifier Rathkeale Green. In the third versus fourth play-off Wairarapa Junior Gold were matched up against Wairarapa Combined Secondary School Girls. Unfortunately, weather intervened and finals day was unable to go ahead, making Rathkeale Red the inaugural winner of the Trevor Martin Trophy. MVP for the competition went to Oliver Bunny from Wairarapa College, while the award for runs scored was won by Josh Nelson (Wairarapa College) and that for most wickets, by Olivia Roseingrave (Combined Secondary Girls) who took 19 wickets in nine matches at an average of 10.11.

The Thursday T20 grade had a redesign for 2015 to encourage more participation, particularly from schools struggling to previously field teams. The grade was very closely fought with fluctuations in results across the whole year. Eventually finalists were found, with Kuranui boys playing Wairarapa College 1st XI girls for the title, Chanel (who entered a new team for 2015) met Rathkeale White in the third vs fourth play-off, with St Matthews 1st XI playing Wairarapa College juniors for fifth and sixth. Kuranui College played a dominant hand in the final, amassing a fine 133/3 off their 20 overs, led by Jonty Ariell with an unbeaten 73. In reply Wairarapa College could only put together 65 all out, making Kuranui boys the T20 champions for 2015.

The end of 2015 saw the establishment of a new nine per side Hardball grade for secondary girls. Four teams played various round-robin fixtures, utilising pink Kookaburra balls. The final saw Solway College versus Masterton Intermediate A while third and fourth were respectively Wairarapa College 2nds and St Matthews 2nds. The final was a close-run affair, with Solway making 73/4 off their 16 overs. In reply MIS reached 61/6 to lose by 12 runs. MVP was Cherish Alafotoia from Solway.