Umpire title for Sprowson

HOWZAT: Solway College bursar James Sprowson is enjoying giving back to the sport he loves. PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA

Wairarapa cricket umpire James Sprowson has been named the most promising umpire in the Central Districts region.

Sprowson was accorded the honour at the recent annual meeting of the Central Districts Cricket Umpires Association and became the latest recipient of the Hugh Stratford Trophy in the process.

Originally from Zimbabwe, Sprowson arrived in New Zealand in 2000 and is bursar at Solway College. While swimming was his main sporting pursuit growing up, he always had a "great passion" for cricket and stood in his first game about two seasons ago.

"Umpiring has always appealed to me and it's a great way to give something back to a sport you love," he said.

"I enjoy the challenge of staying focused every ball, it never worries me."

Sprowson is hopeful of being named to officiate at Hawke Cup level during the 2013-14 season and has ambitions of making it to the top of the umpiring tree.

"Yes, I am in it for the long haul, it's just a matter of getting the breaks and making the most of them," he said.

For that to happen, Sprowson will have to follow in the footsteps of two other current Wairarapa umpires in Mark Elliott and Johan Fourie, both of whom have been named on the New Zealand reserve panel for the coming season.

This means they will be eligible to officiate in national age group tournaments, provincial A games and men's and women's first class matches.

In other local cricket news, Wairarapa senior men's selector, Sam Curtis, has been named assistant coach-manager of the Central Districts under-17 men's team for their national tournament to be played in Wellington in January. Curtis has also been placed on the Central Districts identified coaches programme by CD director of coaching Craig Ross.

Wairarapa's inter-club competitions for 2013-14 have been renamed. The senior grade will now be called premier grade and the open grade has become second grade. And when the second grade is divided in two, the resultant competitions will be known as second and third grades.

Club cricket here is scheduled to start on October 12 with a six-team Umpires Cup one-day series in which Red Star, Lansdowne, Turkey Red Greytown, Wairarapa College, Rathkeale College and Copper Kettle Kuranui Old Boys will be the participants. This competition will be played in its entirety before the Christmas break and the same six sides will also contest the More FM Twenty20 competition, which will run from November through to February.

The Bidwill Cup two-day competition will, however, have a slightly different look with Rathkeale College dropping out due to their busy inter-school fixture schedule.

On the representative scene, the Wairarapa senior men's team kicks off their campaign for 2013-14 with the Chapple Cup tournament in Napier from October 18-20. Their first game is against Hawke's Bay and the result there will decide whether Wairarapa continue in the Chapple Cup section or play off for the Cave Cup, a trophy they have won five times in their last six attempts.

The Tararua Shield competition is played by Wellington, Hutt Valley, Manawatu and Wairarapa with Wairarapa drawn to play Wellington on October 27, Manawatu on November 3 and Hutt Valley on November 24 and the Hawke Cup campaign for Wairarapa will start with a match against Hawke's Bay on November 16-17.