BEYOND THE BOUNDARY Sydenham Cricket Club December 2019 issue Established in 1896 PRESIDENT’S I trust you will all have some quality time with your families and an enjoyable REPORT and safe holiday where ever your travels take you. Please take care and Graham Harris, President let’s do it all again in 2020! As our Christmas break Merry Christmas and best wishes, looms I trust that you are all enjoying your time on the cricket fields around CLUB CAPTAIN’S Christchurch. For our youth teams of course their season has ended as they operate under a REPORT calendar year programme as part of the high school curriculum. On the 14th December we Andrew Chisnall, hosted them at their prize giving awards night, Club Captain and it was pleasing to see so many parents and their sons and daughters at this event. It was also Well as we approach the pleasing to present awards to so many halfway point of the outstanding playing achievements with bat and season we find the club in ball…. More about that from Fergus later. We will a strong position in many of the grades entered. The lose some of our youth players as they move away Tamils, in their third season with the club, are leading from Christchurch, but many stay on and join our there Div 8 competition. They also recently won the adult teams at Sydenham, and as they are the Ara Institute of Canterbury All Nations Cricket future of our club, it is pleasing to see our Youth festival. Several other teams are also near the top of playing numbers grow. their competitions - Div 7 Allstars, T20 Cardinals, Presidents Cardinals and women under 16 are all As I move around the various playing venues I am second in their grades. The Premier men were pleased at the depth of player numbers we put knocked out in the semi-final of their one day on the park each week. We are a large club, competition. This coming weekend our Div 1 mens indeed the largest senior club in the South island, team who finished first in their one day round robin and I wish to pass on the thanks from our competition hold the final on Sydenham Park. We committee for the work our coaches, Convenors wish them the best of luck. and Captains do to make this happen on a weekly basis. In the afternoon grades, all of our The Christmas party was a great night and well teams are performing well, and in the Morning supported by many of the teams and where would grades our Premier Mens team made the semi- we be without beer pong!! A lot less can be said finals of the 50 over Competition, and as I write, about our recent quiz night in the clubrooms. our Div one side are preparing for the final to be Probably one of our lowest turnouts by the club with played on Saturday 21st December against only seven teams entered on the night. I’m open to Merivale Papanui CC on Sydenham number one. suggestions as to how we can increase patronage Please get down and support Kelvin and our boys for this great event. It’s very disappointing how in their quest for some silverware! many of the club sides don’t support our social events. It brings in much needed revenue for the I feel the club is in good heart and this is in no club as well as being great nights. I encourage all small part a measure of your participation and teams in the club to get behind the support. social events and get their teams down to them. Without these events you could see an increase in your subs. Beyond the Boundary December 2019 On the other hand the bar is enjoying a good variations at trainings have been some season so far with good turnouts on most Saturdays opportunities to train on the block and have the nights after cricket. All coming back for a drink and grades mixing in with each other for some healthy some food and a rift of stories of encounters with competition. the opposition and sometimes their own teammates!! There have been some really good performances put up by both teams & this has been rewarded We are again seeing the continued development with the Premier side reaching the One Day semi- of the youth section with many players again final where they lost to eventual winners Lancaster having the opportunity to play for the senior club Park. While the Division 1 team have qualified first for over the Christmas holiday period. We will also see the One Day Final to be played just before an increase in the number of youth teams Christmas and are a good chance to secure the competing in their own competitions when their club’s first piece of silverware for the season. new season starts in February. This is certainly proving a good stepping stone into the senior club. The Premiers have stuck together really well when things haven’t quite gone their way & have created This year we have a new groundsman in Tom Tamiti enough pressure to win a few more games of (a new Tom) who has come up from Dunedin cricket than the actual leaderboard suggests. They where he was involved with University Oval. He have shown some really good resilience to fight brings with him a vast experience in preparing back when they have been on the back foot with pitches and we are being rewarded with some no better example than the 2-day match versus excellent pitches and positive feedback from East Shirley where they started just over 100 runs teams. behind on the second day only to miss out on claiming an outright victory by 1 wicket. Thanks to everyone who has helped to get us through to this stage of the season - captains, committee and helpers. Remember to stay up to date with the club scene by following the club’s website and Face book page. The committee wishes you all a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year and look forward to seeing you all back in the new year for your continued battles on the field. PREMIER MEN’S SQUAD REPORT The Division 1 team have collectively performed with distinction and continually have players Matthew Bell, Coach stepping up when needed to get the team across the line. While they have had a couple of set-backs Premiers & Division 1 teams here & there, they have found a way to bounce have been working well at straight back and have had some emphatic wins to training during the week show for it. Testament to the way they have trained leading up to their respective matches on the and to their success on the park has seen several weekend. Training normally starts with a game of players promoted and contribute immediately to Sydenham Cricket Tag before breaking up into four the Premiers. groups to get some volume of catching completed. Then it’s a big team rotation drill of high catches, Heading into Christmas and looking ahead in the shying at the stump, backing up & flat throws to the New Year the teams will transition between T-20 and keeper. After this the teams will normally split up into 2-Day matches. Signs are looking good that the their respective lanes in the nets, however, some Premiers can compete with any team in the Beyond the Boundary December 2019 competition with the main challenge to start games The Kirsty Bond 8 a-side series provided valuable with better intent through good partnerships with learning for the team and a chance to rebuild. All bat and ball week in and week out. Division 1 are at our games in this competition have been close the top of the tree and need to be weary that they (two matches coming down to the last ball) and will have a target on their back from other clubs we are the only team to have beaten top of the chasing them down. Their main challenge will be to table OBC. We have won four of our seven keep getting some match winning individual matches in this format. performances while keeping their core players in the squad together fit and healthy and in form with In the new year we will welcome Erika Oda back bat and ball. from Japan. Erika showed herself as a dynamic batswomen last season and we look forward to her energy and drive. We also have Felicity Leydon- PREMIER Davis, captain of the Northern Districts team, joining us in January for the T20 competition. Felicity will WOMEN’S REPORT provide our young captain group some valuable on field support and bolster our batting capability. Linda Pettigrew, Many of our players appear in the top five premier Women’s Convenor women and are in the running for end of season Metro awards. Our premier women had a difficult start to the season BATTING BOWLING but have strung together a 1. Isla McKenzie 2. Jenna Waghorn series of wins to put them through to the semi-finals 4. Casey Liddington 5= Gina Aldersley in the Kirsty Bond series. 5. Eden Pettigrew 5= Boadicea Lynch MVP KEEPING Our team struggled through the one day matches 1. Jenna Waghorn 2. Casey Liddington early in the season. Key players were unfit to play or unavailable so these games were always going to 3. Boadicea Lynch be a challenge. With a young team it is important 5. Eden Pettigrew to keep development in mind.