Knights put youngsters in a spin

For most budding Western Bay of Plenty cricketers, going to the Bay Oval means stalking the boundary for players' signatures, but for two teams a Northern Knights coaching clinic exceeded all expectations.

Yesterday afternoon the WBOPCA's Year 7 teams got the chance to get up close with the domestic side in a specialised coaching clinic following a successful outing at last week's Hawkes Bay Riverbend tournament.


Northern Knights spinner Jono Boult watches on as a WBOPCA Year 7 player gives the ball some air. Photos: Tracy Hardy.

Between them, 10 wins and just two losses were recorded, with WBOP Blue producing an unbeaten six match record, and WBOP Gold registering two losses.

WBOP Year 7 Gold cricket coach Chris James says this is an exciting reward for the teams' success, with the 22 players keen to learn from some of the country's best cricketers including Blackcaps BJ Watling, Dean Brownlie and Anton Devcich.

The Knights are in town for today's Ford Trophy clash with the Auckland Aces.

'It's huge for them because all these guys with the Knights are their idols and they are getting to do some coaching with them,” says James.

'In the past the only contact they have had with the likes of these guys is asking them to sign autographs. So now they've had an hour to get right up close with them and getting to talk to them about how they play.”

Broken into specialised groups, the players learned spin bowling from Ish Sodhi, wicket keeping from Watling, pace bowling from Scott Kuggeleijn and batting from Brownlie, Devcich and Knights' skipper Daniel Flynn.

Despite the aura surrounding some of the game's superstars, James says the children had no nerves, and grabbed the rare opportunity with both hands.

He says: 'These kids don't know what nervous means, I think. They are very confident.”

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1 comment

awesome event

Posted on 21-01-2015 12:41 | By rotovend

great for the kids and for cricket


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