Whanganui East School, Huntley School and cricket in general were the winners at the end of an extremely popular and positive junior season in Whanganui.
The Cricket Wanganui junior 2015/16 season ended with the McDonald's Kiwi Cricket and The Pak'nSave Intermediate tournament finals.
Whanganui East emerged a dominant force atKiwi Cricket level and won this term's tournament again by beating a young Marist side. Both teams showed good skills and played in the spirit of the game.
Players and coaches were awarded prizes from McDonald's and Pak'nSave.
Cricket Wanganui development officer Dilan Raj said Kiwi Cricket was the starting point of the New Zealand Cricket pathway and numbers have grown in Whanganui since the success of the Black Caps and White Ferns in the World Cups.
"Kiwi Cricket encourages girls and boys to develop their cricket and ball skills in a fun and supportive environment on Friday nights on the Tasman Tanning pitches at Victoria Park. Cricket at Whanganui East dominates the summer sports and the values and characteristics of the game have helped the students in other areas of their school life," Raj said. "The Pak'nSave Intermediate tournament is a competitive tournament that has very good development outcomes as well with four games played over two days."
Pak'nSave and CCC presented awards and prizes for the most improved player, best batsman and bowler. Huntley were the eventual winners and will represent Whanganui in the Central regional finals aiming to qualify for the National where they came third last year.
"Both competitions were well supported and played in a fun, but competitive atmosphere. A huge thanks needs to go to umpires from Tech, Marton and Collegiate and to McDonald's, Pak'nSave, CCC, schools, coaches and teachers that enabled the young cricketers to play."
