Cricket makes impressive resurgence
Five years or so ago it seemed the writing was on the wall for cricket.
Junior cricket numbers in Southland were falling at a rapid rate as participation numbers in New Zealand’s major summer sport dwindled to scary levels for those involved.
Southland Cricket Association general manager Jason Domigan said the playing numbers in the year 1 to year 4 school age-group had reached zero.
They were reliant on kids taking up the sport at year 5 and 6 and beyond – a formula which wasn’t working. Fast forward the clock to 2017. On Tuesday over 400 year 1 to year 4 Invercargill kids took to Queens Park to play cricket.
Cricket’s ghost town was once again filled with kids and onlooking parents.
‘‘We actually wondered whether we could fit them all on Queens Park when we got all the registrations.
‘‘It is amazing how successful this has been in recent years, we’ve seen really good growth year to year,’’ Domigan said.
Domigan suggested there were various reasons behind the cricketing resurgence.
Four years ago Southland Cricket embraced a new New Zealand Cricket programme targeted at five to 12-year-olds called ‘Superstar Cricket’.
They went away from the traditional form of cricket by introducing a modified eight-a-side game format which is played over an hour to 11⁄ hours.
The success of the 2015 World Cup in New Zealand also helped fuel the interest, Domigan said.
The 410 they had at Queens Park was a big jump from the 270 kids they had involved last year.
A major factor in the increase from last year has been through the introduction of a new Girls Smash Cricket format.
It is a flow on from a damning independent report which suggested New Zealand Cricket had neglected women’s cricket.
‘‘It is trying to get girls against girls cricket going. We had about 26 girls teams on Tuesday night which is great,’’ Domigan said
‘‘We’ve always had a few girls playing the Superstar Cricket but they were about 10 percent of the numbers, now is is up to 40 percent based on that new competition.’’
‘‘To see the growth shows we are on to a winner with these modified games.
‘‘I suspect we will see some more of that with modified versions being adapted to secondary school cricket as well.’’
To help with the dramatic increase in girls numbers a group of Southland secondary school female cricketers have volunteered to help run the Girls Smash sessions alongside SCA staff.
The hope is the influx of cricketers in the year 1 to year 4 age-group will filter through to the secondary school grades.
Domigan said they had already seen some growth in that area with secondary school numbers last year the best in 12 years.
‘‘This year we’ve got 10 year 9 and 10 teams for the Colts grade, four years ago that competition was dead.’’
Domigan said the key now was to not be complacent, something which he felt had probably hurt cricket in the past.
‘‘It is a really positive time at the moment but we don’t want to be complacent which we probably have been in the past thinking it is New Zealand’s summer sport.
‘‘We need to continue to expand and be innovative.’’