Central Stags look deep within to turn fortunes around
Winning titles doesn’t matter to the people tasked with running the Central Districts Cricket Association.
No, their focus is on seeing their players, born and bred local players from the likes of New Plymouth, Carterton or Blenheim, representing New Zealand at the highest levels of the sport.
‘‘The crux of our high performance strategy is based on producing players of international quality,’’ Central Districts high performance manager Lance Hamilton said.
‘‘We want them to have the skills to succeed when they arrive in that international environment. We believe that if we can produce enough guys of that quality, we’ll win competitions as a by-product.’’
The Central Stags host Auckland’s Aces today at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth in the final of the Ford Trophy. It is their second final of the season, having reached the Twenty20 Super Smash final only to lose to the Northern Knights in Hamilton.
They are also right in the race for the Plunket Shield, just three points back from leaders Wellington.
Rewind a couple of years and Central were wooden spooners struggling to perform in all three formats. They were going through a period of change, with players like Matthew Sinclair, Jamie How, Kruger Van Wyk and Michael Mason ending their careers.
‘‘Four years ago we basically decided it was best to try and develop and retain our own players rather than looking outside the region.
‘‘We developed a high performance strategy that was based around that. We were upskilling our coaches all around our region, which is ongoing, it doesn’t happen overnight, but we incorporate our district association coaches in the Stags environment when we can.
‘‘What New Zealand Cricket try to do with the Major Association coaches, we’re trying to do with the next tier down, with the district association coaches, and the aim is to close the gap on what was being delivered in the past on the doorstep of the Stags to having players much more capable of succeeding when they come into our environment.’’
Look at the Central Stags squad, and it’s hard not to be impressed with their homegrown policy.
The only real outsider in the contracted squad is Ryan McCone, the former Canterbury seamer who moved to the region in 2016. The rest are players who have been around for a long time, playing Hawke Cup cricket for their local associations before slowly moving up to the first class game.
‘‘We don’t approach players at all really, unless we have a particular hole and a particular skillset that needs to be filled that we think we might be three or four years away from filling from our own succession plan,’’ Hamilton said.
‘‘[McCone] was the right sort of character. He was a great bloke and very well regarded and has a lot of experience. We were looking at our youngsters who were quite injury prone, and the fact that we’d be without Doug Bracewell and Adam Milne a lot of the time, so someone like Ryan certainly fitted the bill.
‘‘He’s been awesome since he arrived. He’s a great trainer and a great example, both on and off the field, for our guys.’’
With the success the Stags are having, Hamilton is expecting some of their players to leave in the off-season just to get playing opportunities.
Some players have had offers in the past from other districts, with more money on the table, but choose to stay because of the way the Stags go about their business.
The simple fact is that some players who deserve game time can’t crack the Stags squad, such is their strength in depth.
That’s why players like Matthew Bacon of Otago have had to head away to get opportunities, and Hamilton said the door is open for players from the region to return down the track.
George Worker was one who left but later returned, and that’s the path Hamilton sees Central going down.
‘‘If we can’t offer them game time but other regions can, we’d like to think we get into a position where we can understand that situation and even help them out as they look at their options.’’