NZ selection bowls teen
A Timaru Boys’ High School student is the latest South African-born player to represent New Zealand in cricket.
Ross McCulloch hasn’t yet reached the full Black Caps status that other South African-born players like BJ Watling, Colin Munro, Glenn Phillips, Neil Wagner and Grant Elliot have, but the 15-year-old has shown he’s possibly on the path with selection in the New Zealand under-15 indoor cricket team to play a triseries against Sri Lanka and Singapore, in Singapore, in April.
He mixes both indoor and outdoor versions of the game and the right arm leg spinner is already in the TBHS first XI, picking up two wickets in a recent win over Roncalli College with a mixture of leg breaks, top spinners, sliders and wrong’uns.
‘‘Indoor and outdoor are two completely different games ... indoor is so intense ... outdoor is almost more social.’’
His goal at this age is selection in the New Zealand under-17 team for the Indoor World Cup in South Africa in 2021, and Indoor Cricket NZ says the Singapore tour is the first step towards that event.
‘‘To make that team would be a dream come true,’’ he said.
Ross and his family moved to South Canterbury in September 2017 from Johannesburg where he began playing cricket when he was about six.
‘‘Granddad gave me a bat and I had pads that I think came up to my chest.’’
He has also played football and badminton but gave them up to get into indoor cricket.
‘‘Indoor cricket is fast . . . you do everything, bat, bowl and field.’’
The problem was South Canterbury doesn’t have an indoor competition and that has meant travelling to Christchurch every Monday for seven months.
Ross admits that when he got back into indoor cricket, it was initially only on a social level but once he ‘‘got back into the swing of things’’ he found himself in the Canterbury team for the national championships and they were surprised to win the title.
‘‘Auckland normally wins everything. They smashed us in the round robin game but we worked hard and beat all the others with the exception of Wellington.’’
The team then beat Northern Districts and Wellington in the quarters and semifinals to make the final against Auckland, a game they won by just one run.
That was followed by national trials held in several places around the regions and a four-five day wait for the naming of the New Zealand under 13, 15 and 17 teams, chosen from more than 80 players.
‘‘That was so stressful. When I heard I was sitting in the lounge and mum stood up and shrieked ‘you’ve made it’.’’
He is now on a training regime which involves five kilometre runs three times a week, plus batting, fielding and bowling skills and strengthening work.