Ellerslie Cricket Club Newsletter | Issue 4

ELLERSLIE CRICKET NEWSLETTER

ELLERSLIE CRICKET CLUB'S OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER | ISSUE 4

CHAIRMAN'SNOTE

On behalf of the Board I hope all of our members, families and friends have had a great first half of the season, our 100th as a cricket club It has been wonderful seeing so many cricketers playing down at Michaels Ave Reserve on Fridays and Saturdays Our playing population is growing and we hope we are serving your requirements as best as possible. If not, please let us know we are always looking to improve how we deliver cricket to our community

Unfortunately we have had some poor weather the last few weeks which has prevented cricket from being played across Auckland Our premier mens teams have had no less than four games either washed out or abandoned due to rain. The team will be playing away from home for the remainder of the season which will be a challenge, but the club fully supports Roy Goodyear, Dinesh Kharel and the wider squad and we’re sure the team will put up some good performances in 2023 If you have a spare moment on a Saturday afternoon I’m sure they would love your support There have been many fine team and individual performances across all grades so far this season and we congratulate all those who have contributed to them

Everyone will now have seen the clubrooms taking shape at Michaels Avenue and I am pleased to let you know that we are aiming to have them open by March 2023 This has been a significant undertaking in conjunction with Ellerslie AFC, and I would like to thank all those who have helped us with the project, in particular Grassroots Trust, NZ Community Trust and Auckland Council (and affiliates) who have funded the project extensively

In conjunction with the clubrooms development, you may have heard that our ground will be the training venue for the Argentinian womens football team for the Football World Cup next year The impact of this is the main wicket blocks (1 and 2) will not be played on from January to March, and part of the ground will be fenced off for redevelopment. I want to be very clear that this will not impact junior cricket, superstars/smashies or CricStars

On Sunday afternoon I was lucky to be invited to participate in the ‘Bombers Day’ exhibition game between past Premier players and members of the current senior squad The game was in memory of life member Frank Lancaster and will be an annual fixture going forward It was great seeing a number of former club members at the game reconnecting with us, especially our patron, ex senior player and ex first class umpire Barry Frost who umpired the game. Congratulations to the past players for taking a tight victory!

A reminder going into next year to make sure that all players, coaches and supporters are observing the Spirit of Cricket Across Auckland there has been a spike of unwanted incidents and, whilst Ellerslie has not been involved in any of them, we should ensure that we are all representing our club well when we put on our black and yellow shirts Our junior members are not playing test cricket (yet), so lets enjoy watching them play with respect for them and our opposition

To our sponsors, members, supporters and wider community, I wish you a safe Christmas and New Year break Travel safely and we look forward to seeing you at the club soon.

ROB HARMAN, CLUB CHAIRMAN

2022/23JUNIORCLUB

JUNIORSKILLSPROGRAMME

Despite the wild weather, our Junior Skills Programme kids have been having an awesome time working on new skills with our coaches on Friday afternoons at The Ave! Our Programme has seen great growth postCovid and we are excited to have so many new members keen to give Cricket a go

The kids have been learning fundamental skills through fun activities based on the new New Zealand Cricket Smash Play initiative

We were able to re-introduce our Christmas elf in the last session too - he wasn't quick enough to evade the kids in his lolly scramble though!

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STATSSTANDOUTS

We have had some outstanding stats come from our Junior Hardball grades in the first half of the season. It's great to see our U10s settle into the new format after graduating from softball cricket, while our U13 Girls team continue to show improvement with each game

We love celebrating our members' achievements but we also are massive fans of kids enjoying the sport! Regardless of whether you get 2 runs or 50 runs, our main goal is always to get kids playing cricket every Saturday morning

Auckland Cricket are pleased to announce that their first Dream11 Super Smash fixture on Monday 2nd January will have FREE entry for all Under 14 juniors that wear an Auckland club cricket top on the day

Process for collecting tickets:

Tickets will be available for collection for all Under 14’s on Monday 2nd Jan from the Flicket Ticket booth (located near Gate J entrance)

There will be separate queue(s) at the Ticket booth for all Under 14’s wearing a club top to collect their tickets (please follow signs on the day)

Ticket will only allow FREE entry for any U14’s in their club tops (not parents/guardians)

2022/23SENIORCLUB

Q&A:ROYGOODYEAR

What are you most looking forward to this season?

Our mantra for the season is: “No one wins alone” This needs no explanation, we will work and play as a unit We are looking forward to building on the momentum that was created towards the 2nd half of last season Belief within the team grew and should help us in moving forward this season Improved fielding performances will add significantly to the side being competitive this season

Are there any new/upcoming players we should keep and eye on and why?

As far as personnel amongst the top sides; we have had Tom Leggat join us, Tom is a good leg-spinner and top fielder His bowling could also be a match winner for us Last year ' s new lad in the Prems, Henry Drillien will, I am sure, go from strength to strength this season and hopefully push his case for an Auckland A side game later in the season

Any goals you would like to achieve with the team?

MENSTHIRDSUPDATE

Even the weather couldn’t dampen the spirits of the ECC Thirds who have got off to a strong start being undefeated for the first half of the season.

Standout performances from Prathik Kumar (84, 51, 73), Ajay Balaraman (75, 78*), Shaun Singh (67*, 122) and Anand Gajelli (14 wickets with best bowling figure for the club 8 wickets for 18 runs) should be recognized as key performances that have helped ECC stay undefeated

The team is currently top of both the one- and twoday competitions and hope to continue the winning ways to achieve a promotion

On the behalf of the team we would like to thank JB, Hollie, Dion and other club administrators who support and provide us an opportunity to play cricket on a Saturday.

TOTO CHARLES, MENS THIRDS

We have set a goal to attempt to move in to the premier section above us This can only be done on a step by step basis and winning “clutch” moments Following from this, a table top finish in any of the formats will be positive for the club

Shop the latest ECC Gear at cricketexpress.co.nz

CLUBNEWS&ACHIEVEMENTS

SENIORWALKAROUND

SANTAPARADE

We were finally able to participate in the Ellerslie Santa Parade after a Covid-19 hiatus! Luckily the weather held out and a bunch of our ECC kids were able to walk the parade dressed to impress. With Santa hats, that lovely ECC black and gold uniform and decked out with balloons you couldn't miss our group

A fun morning for all those involved and an awesome way to stay connected with our community Can't wait to do it bigger and better next year!

At Ellerslie, we are a community club that values every player, coach and volunteer representing our club. On Sat 2nd December players from our Premier and Reserve squad walked around to watch and support our juniors to help inspire them to be the next generation of cricketers

The senior players enjoyed seeing the juniors enjoy the game, building relationships with coaches and parents as well as reminding them how they had started their cricketing journey. We hope one day these players will get to play alongside us in the senior club

JOSH ALLAN, PREMIER BATSMAN

ACHIEVEMENTS

JOSPEHWILKINSON-PREMIERBAGGY

Premier bowler Joe Wilkinson was presented with his baggy this season This marks a milestone number of Premier Two Day matches for the club, a feat even more impressive due to the disruption from Covid in previous seasons

DINESHKHAREL-AUCKLANDA

Congratulations to our Premier Captain Dinesh Kharel to being named in the Auckland As team We continue to support DK as he develops as a cricketer and we are pleased to have him with us.

ADAMLOVE-U17DISTRICTTEAM

Congratulations to Adam Love on his selection as a top order batsmen into the U17 Auckland Central District team The team are currently competing in the U17 District Competition at Waikaraka Park

CRICSTARSPROGRAMME'23

We are incredibly grateful to be offering our CricStars Programme once again in 2023 Our CricStars Programme focuses on enhancing gross and fine motor skills for kids with disabilities through participating in cricket-based activities in a fun and family-friendly setting at our home at Michaels Avenue Reserve

We are super excited to have our registrations open now! You can register using the prompts here:: https://www ellersliecricket co nz/ /junior /cricstars/

Dates: February 12th 2023 - March 19th 2023 Time: Sundays 10:00am Location: Michaels Avenue Reserve

We are so excited and we hope you are too! Email manager@ellersliecricket co nz for more info

BOMBERST20S

TEAMGOPALSUNSETSMASH

Congratulations to Ioane Bros Vet & Kennel Services who took out this season ' s Sunset Smash! They met the Ellerslie Strikers in the final, which shaped up to be an interesting game as their Round Robin match had been abandoned previously, making this their first meeting of the season!

It was a close game that saw the Sunset Smash (formerly Twilight) veterans take home the silverware. The game was played in good spirits and both teams enjoyed each other's company in the Clubrooms afterw seas

Outcasts

2022/23MEDIADAY

At the beginning of the season we launched our inaugural Media Day Campaign where we aimed to give our members the full Match Day experience. A range of our Seniors and Juniors filed through the Clubrooms to have their profile shots taken so that we could elevate our Social Media and Communication look and feel We wanted to be able to have our members in their best light when celebrating their successes!

It was a fun event that we hope to continue each season. Check out some of the cool results!