Cricket: Awa City club giving young Whanganui players a path

Awa City's six clubs are made up of cricketers from year five to year eight. Photo / Supplied

Young Whanganui cricketers without a school team now have the chance to join a local hard-ball club called Awa City.

It's run by Cricket Whanganui, whose chairman Mark Lithgow said the number of cricket programmes at primary and intermediate levels had dwindled in recent years.

"There are still quite a lot of young players out there, but if schools aren't going to run anything we've got to get in there and drive it."

A lot of the kids who were already signed up came from Whanganui Intermediate School, which was without an in-house cricket set-up at the moment, Lithgow said.

Another school with numbers is Westmere.

Lithgow himself has been in charge of cricket there for the past six years, but his children have now left.

"I'm not sure if someone else will step in there, but if they don't those kids would have to flow into Awa City as well."

Jordan Healy, who left the role of Cricket Whanganui general manager this week, said Awa City had already formed six teams since "the plan was put into action" six months ago.

"Unless it's a private school, things tend to stop after Kiwi Cricket. There was a gap that wasn't really being filled."

Kiwi Cricket involves two innings of eight overs, with eight players on each team - generally a softer ball is used and the pitch is shorter.

Healy said they figured they could put it all under one umbrella, run by Cricket Whanganui.

"The kids have somewhere to go, and if it gets marketed well hopefully it will bring more in who have never thought about cricket before."

New gear bags were supplied with the help of funding from Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa, Healy said.

There are currently three Awa City teams each for years 5/6 and 7/8.

Years 7/8 play on a Thursday afternoon, with years 5/6 taking the field on Saturday morning.

Pete Bowman says more facilitators are needed in the junior grades. Photo / Supplied

Incoming general manager Pete Bowman said boosting junior player numbers was a major focus for him.

That required "boots on the ground", something he would be working on with local schools in the coming weeks.

In his short time in charge, he said he had the impression the Whanganui community was passionate about the game, and about sport in general.

"Cricket is a funny one, because when you ask someone if they want to coach, they think they've got to be a technical expert in the game," Bowman said.

"That probably comes from when I was a kid, that mentality of taking a kid out and throwing 1000 balls at them, and teaching them all the ins and outs.

"I don't think that's where we are at with cricket at the moment."

Parents and adults were required in facilitating roles, Bowman said.

There wasn't a lack of people out there, it was just about letting them know what was needed, Bowman said.

"It's the people who get can get kids from home or school to the ground, they're managers in that sense.

"Once we can get into schools and have conversations, I think that's going to give me a good idea of the direction we need to head in with volunteers and the likes of the Awa club."

Lithgow said some Awa City players in year 7/8 would also have the chance to play on a Saturday in the 35-over secondary school colts competition.

"There would be a combined team there, which means the kids can play a bit more cricket.

"We've got to make sure that every kid who wants to play has a place to go."

For more information on the Awa City Cricket Club, email Pete@cricketwhanganui.co.nz