Manawatu men grab final spots on CD list

MCA swings back into the good books

Manawatu cricketers Bevan Small and Mitch Renwick have been announced as the last two on the Central Districts contract list.

CD named 13 players in their first round of contracts two weeks ago, and named the final two on Wednesday in pace bowler Small and top-order batsman Renwick

Small was contracted last season, but had surgery in October to fix a dislocated left shoulder, the fourth time it’s popped out, and didn’t play for CD at all over summer. He started playing club cricket at the end of last season just as a batsman.

Renwick had his first full season with CD last summer, but wasn’t contracted.

Renwick has been playing club cricket in England for Bamford Fieldhouse near Manchester in the off season and has recently played three games for the Marylebone Cricket Club Young Cricketers against the Lancashire second XI. The Manawatu Cricket Association’s finances are looking more healthy this year.

Manawatu announced a $22,174 surplus at an uneventful 123rd annual meeting at Fitzherbert Park on Wednesday night, an improvement from their $16,292 deficit a year ago.

MCA operations manager Dave Meiring said there is still a reliance on funding, which isn’t ideal, so they will use the surplus to build their cash reserves.

‘‘To build our reserves back up following the completion of the indoor centre, it’s great to know we can do that,’’ Meiring said. ‘‘The reason for that is we really put some hard time into the gaming funding this year.

‘‘I’ve probably been a little bit relaxed [in the past] and we missed out one some.’’

Funding was up by $40,000, Meiring said.

Chairman Don Cleland said it was a solid year and things were looking positive.

Cleland and Meiring both mentioned the $150,000 they received from the Palmerston North City Council, which will be going towards the re-development of Fitzherbert Park.

They will be working on building the grass practice wicket in the car park at the river end of the ground, opening up the pavilion for better viewing, widening sightscreens and building a scorers and officials box in the grandstand.

The upgrade of Fitzherbert park will put some pressure on their

funds, Meiring said.

They were pleased with how the Manawatu Centre of Cricket Excellence, which is a partnership between the MCA, Massey University and Palmerston North Boys’ High School, was bringing people into the region and also helped with the cost of running the indoor grassed practice facility at Boys’ High.

Meiring said the last season will be remembered more for things off the field because poor weather meant they didn’t play much cricket. Having all club finals at Fitzherbert Park last season was well received and Meiring hopes to continue it.

Board members Cleland and Paul Gibbs stood down by rotation and were re-elected. The rest of the board is: Derek Dilks, Paul Gibbs, Craig Rowe, Rachel Wenham, Carla na Nagara and Jamie How.

Patron Vern Chettleburgh died in December, so the long-serving Ian Brookes was elected as the association’s new patron.