Cricket Blitz is coming to Auckland
It only took one game, but now Sam Bonnici wants to join a club and play cricket.
The Three Kings School student took part in Auckland Cricket’s newest form of the game, Cricket Blitz.
‘‘I liked fielding and bowling the most,’’ he says.
‘‘It was quite hard but we got used to it and we won our game 90 to 58.’’
Cricket Blitz is an eight-aside game with simple rules and minimal equipment that can be played after school in just 90 minutes.
Auckland Cricket has set up local competitions all over the city with schools taking on each other on a weekly basis.
Close to 160 schools have registered for Cricket Blitz as support for cricket reaches fever pitch with the Cricket World Cup starting tomorrow.
Three Kings School sports co-ordinator Brian Keith says the Blitz version of the game makes it more accessible.
‘‘The whole point of it is to get people who wouldn’t usually play cricket involved with the sport. It’s like a proper competition and proper T-shirts.
‘‘It’s nice and accessible and simple for the kids.’’
Black Caps opening batsman Martin Guptill is also sold on the idea and thinks it is a great way to encourage young players into school cricket.
‘‘It’s something different and provides kids who might not have given cricket a go or who’ve given it away, an easy way of getting out there and having a hit.
‘‘These kinds of ideas are what we need to make sure that we have that next generation of cricket-lovers and supporters coming through.’’
Cricket Blitz will have age groups from year 5 to 13 and rules have been tweaked to make sure everyone gets a go.
The games will consist of 16 overs per innings with players batting in pairs for four overs then swapping regardless of whether one of them gets out.
All players bowl a minimum of two overs, there are no lbws and the batting side loses three runs for each wicket taken.
‘‘It’s really fun and it’s cool to play other schools,’’ Sam says.
‘‘I like getting wickets, but I also like having a bat and hitting the ball.’’
Auckland Cricket Club development manager Adrian Dale feels that Cricket Blitz is coming at the right time to provide an attractive alternative to get children playing cricket.
‘‘We have to think of ways of making our game more accessible and more attractive for kids to play and Cricket Blitz is a great way of doing that,’’ he says.
‘‘We’re pretty confident that it will be successful and it’s fantastic to have Martin Guptill give it his backing.’’
The tournament runs throughout February, culminating in a finals day in March.