Youth development the New Zealand way
04-16-2010 6:42 am

Leading up to the start of this cricket season, there have certainly been many fascinating evaluations and discussions on the development (or lack of development) of Dutch youth players.

As might be expected, the recruitment of young, overseas Dutch passport holders to strengthen the national side provoked some passionate reactions within the Dutch cricket community. The comment ‘why should our young players be motivated to turn up for trainings if their place in the 1st XI gets snapped up by an overseas player who obviously did not make it in their own country?’, prompted one New Zealand based Dutch parent, whose children also played cricket in Holland for some years, to explore the pathway an elite youth player has to follow to develop their cricket career ‘the New Zealand Way’.

Not much unlike Dutch players, most Kiwi kids follow the ‘five step player development pathway’ from a young age onwards: step 1 the MILO have-A-Go Cricket competition (5-9 years old); step 2 Milo Kiwi Cricket (7-10); step 3 Junior Cricket (9-13); and steps 4 and 5 Youth and Adult cricket (13-18).

One of the major differences between the two countries is the numbers of young players participating in the age group levels. Throughout these age groups, the emphasis of youth development foremost focuses on enjoyment, participation and skill development and once players get a bit older, further development of their tactical awareness, umpiring, scoring involvement and leadership possibilities are offered.

To give you an understanding of how much time and effort elite players put into their career development along the way, I will try and describe the journey they would most probably travel from primary age level if they make it to the ultimate top in New Zealand cricket, the Blackcaps or White Ferns. I will focus here on the Auckland, and more specifically the North Harbour region, as that’s the one I am most familiar with.

The sheer scale of the operation is clear from the number of players in the Auckland region: 5-9 – 2900 (mainly club – ‘midgets’), 10-13 – 5000 (mainly club, some school teams), 13-18 – 4500 (mainly secondary school, 960 in club youth teams which play on Saturday afternoons), in total some 12,400 youth players in the Auckland region alone. Add to this the other five NZ associations (Canterbury, Northern Districts, Central Districts, Wellington and Otago) and you’ll find that in your age group you are competing with quite a number of promising contenders for the highest honours in representing their country.

Most players start their cricket career playing for a club at a young age, and from about the age of 13 move into secondary school cricket and represent their school, first at junior level and later on at senior level. Pre-season Secondary merit team (top junior and senior teams) training starts in September with indoor training and fitness sessions and sometimes even early morning yoga sessions as an injury prevention education for merit players.

The merit school competition is divided into Premier A, B and C Grade, each with a pool A and B, each with 6 teams and starts in the last term in October and finishes at the conclusion of term 1 of the new school year at the end of March, with a break over Christmas. Senior school boys might fill in for holidaying senior club players over the summer break, adding some more mature club cricket experience to their already busy playing schedules.

Most cricket is played on grass wickets in a one-day and two-day competition, played on Saturdays. To represent your school in the 1st XI is a top honour. To make the 1st XI, you will have to be one of the best 12 players at your school, which at one of the largest cricket schools in the country, Christchurch Boys High School which fields 26 teams, is an outstanding effort. 1st XI players train twice a week and throughout the season often play during school time outside the regular Saturday school competition. For example they might travel and play in school sports exchanges, overseas (pre-season) tours (mostly organised during school holidays) and if the school team is strong enough, play in the prestigious Gillette Cup competition to become the best school team in the country.

The best regional players get chosen to represent their school in the national Secondary School side which plays against other Associations’ Secondary School teams. For this honour you will have to be one of the best of 12 from about 350 1st XI players in the Auckland school competition.

Probably the earliest time to shine and get noticed in age-group cricket in Auckland is at the annual showpiece of youth cricket, the Auckland Cricket's District Tournaments. This is a week-long tournament where the best players from each age group from the five Auckland districts (North Harbour, Western, Eastern, Central and Manukau) test their skills against one another and battle for regional supremacy. There are three age group tournaments, the Primary Schoolboys (up to 14 yrs), the Under 15 and Under 17, each with an 'A' and a 'B' section.

To make a North Harbour district side, players have to stand out during the season and be nominated by their club or secondary school. North Harbour is by far the largest district in Auckland and provides two ‘A’ and two ‘B’ teams for the annual tournament. To make one of these teams, players have to trial for a place in the High Performance Winter Academy where they get the opportunity to train in indoor facilities during winter times and acquire specialist bowling , batting and fielding coaching.

On average about 70 district elite players battle to become one of the 40 players to make the winter academy. These players then face trial games to qualify for selection to become one of 24 players for the ‘A’ or ‘B’ team to represent their district at the Auckland Cricket District Tournament.

During each Auckland District tournament a team of selectors will pick Auckland age-group representative sides (two Primary Schoolboy teams, one U15 and U15 Dev and one U17 team), which are announced at the conclusion of the tournament. There are 6 teams playing in the ‘A’ and ‘B’ section, so to make an Auckland representative team, you will have to be one of the best 16 players (12 players plus 4 non-travelling reserves) out of 144 players.

These teams will train and play warm-up games after Christmas and then compete against their peers from all over the country at the National tournaments in January. The Auckland U19 team is selected from standout age group players from the 5 districts who will then play the other associations as a platform to be selected for the New Zealand U19 team.

Once players leave secondary school, they move (back) to their clubs for Senior Club Cricket (14 Principal Auckland clubs) and compete with existing and quite often strong club cricketers to make the Premier (1st XI) or Premier Reserve (2nd XI) club team. This is where they will have to impress the selectors for the Auckland A and First Class teams by consistently scoring runs, taking wickets and performing like athletes in the field.

Only very few players out of many thousands keen cricketers nationwide move up to international age group or First Class cricket, and those are the ones we eventually see playing U19 World Cup cricket and beyond. During their many years of cricket they will face many highs and even more lows. They have endured long seasons, facing many good bowlers or batsmen, played many club, school and trial games, trained in the nets for days on end to make representative team in their areas. They watched top class players in action and worked hard to level themselves to and become better than many talented competitors to make district teams and play elite age groups at national tournaments.

To get to this level, these players obviously have the necessary talent. They are cricket-wise with a can-do attitude. They possess a mental toughness and much-needed resilience as well as self-belief which are vital to make it at the top in cricket.