Bright future for H-K’s Te Tomo
He grew up watching his dad bat. Now, Bailey Te Tomo will have the eyes of the Horowhenua cricket community on him.
The 17-year-old left-handed batsman made his HorowhenuaKapiti debut in the first-innings Furlong Cup defeat to Wairarapa earlier this month.
He is in the squad for this weekend’s final Furlong Cup match, against Wanganui at Weraroa Domain, starting on Saturday. It will be his first H-K match on home soil.
The Levin Old Boys player still remembers his introduction to the game, watching father Riki play for the same club most weekends.
He said he was happy to break into the H-K squad.
‘‘It felt good. I’ve been training hard and working hard to get there.
The Horowhenua College student scored 24 and 18 batting at number six in his debut.
‘‘It was pretty good. A change from what I’m used to. More disciplined,’’ he said.
‘‘I adapted pretty quick. I became more patient and waited for them to bowl to me.’’
H-K player-coach Ramesh Subasinghe was particularly impressed by Te Tomo’s mentality - it took him about 20 balls to get off the mark during his first innings in Masterton, but he didn’t panic, he said.
‘‘He’s got a very calm head on his shoulders.
‘‘The boy didn’t look fussed at all. He’s very calm for a kid ... a kid may have thrown their toys out and kicked the ground, but this kid has got calmness in him.’’
He said he wanted to ease Te Tomo into the side after they had played powerhouses like Hawke’s Bay and Manawatu, and he could see Te Tomo making the full Stags side one day.
‘‘He’s got huge potential. In Horowhenua he’s one of those rare batsmen coming through.
‘‘We’ve got a lot of bowlers but he’s one of the batsmen climbing the ladder.’’
Subasinghe said Te Tomo had a ‘‘lazy elegance’’ about his batting, and was a strong driver and cutter of the ball.
He said he needed to work on rotating the strike, decision making and playing spin to aim for a Stags under-19 spot initially. Te Tomo narrowly missed this year’s Stags under-17 team, he said.
Ben Strang and Andre Halbert are also back in contention for this weekend’s game. The first ball is on Saturday at 11am.