Cricket: Focus turns to development programmes for Whanganui youth

The Awa City club has been formed for children who don't have a school team to play in. Photo / Supplied

The stumps have been pulled for Cricket Wanganui's summer of transition and the focus is already turning towards October.

Pete Bowman, who is less than two months into his role as general manager replacing the departing Jordan Healy, plans to use the coming winter to implement development programmes to help foster youth interest in the sport.

"It was a pretty successful season, given the fact we got tapped pretty hard by Covid in the junior rounds," Bowman said.

He recently attended a meeting with Central Districts, where he was informed Whanganui's playing numbers had actually trended upwards despite the issues brought about by Covid-19.

"We've had a positive, want-to-play mentality in CD. People are really keen to get into it in Term 4."

It's been helped by an increase in playing numbers at Whanganui High School, along with the implementation of the Skills and Drills Academy, as well as the formation of Awa City Cricket Club for children without a school team available to them.

In Colts cricket, the Awa club merged with Marton Saracens after both sides were short on numbers.

In the Kiwi Cricket competition there were two or three new teams to take numbers to 15 in total, despite a couple of schools not entering sides due to Covid issues.

For Bowman, the end of the season means he will now have the time to finalise the direction of the association.

They will look to appoint a director of coaching, the role he initially came to Whanganui to perform, while visiting local schools to organise in-school cricket introduction courses to begin in Term 3.

"That gives us more opportunity to plan ahead, as the rest of this was done on the fly as I was getting the lay of the land over the last two months."

In the latter half of the season, the junior representative cricketers had fixtures against Horowhenua-Kāpiti, where one of the highlights of the summer occurred when 6A bowler Joey Keenan took a hat-trick.

For the Year 7-8 club season, Thomas McMurray of Awa City finished top of the MVP statistics, scoring 119 runs and taking seven wickets to lead both standings, as well as three catches, a stumping and a run-out.

Riley Symes of Hunterville headed the Year 5-6 grade MVP list, scoring 78 runs and taking nine wickets, plus three catches and two run-outs.

Saturday Colts cricket MVP was Awa's Peter George, who scored 143 runs including a season-best score of 70 not out, and took five wickets while making three catches and a run-out.