Cricket 1st XI 

1st XI Cricket Report 2009

2009 saw both the 1^st and 2^nd XI cricket teams at the Christian Brother's Cricket Tournament at Nudgee College in Australia. For the 1^st XI, it was a chance to play in hot and dry conditions on hard, flat wickets. The tournament provided St Thomas' with wins against St Patricks, St Edmunds and Nudgee Colleges. From a coaches' perspective, it was fantastic to see many of our younger players exposed to a high standard of cricket in fantastic conditions and the development of some of our players has been obvious.

Our traditional games this year have been somewhat disappointing. We had a significant loss to Roncalli College after fronting an under strength XI. Our two day game against St Kevin's saw a draw and some exceptionally negative batting on behalf of the St Kevin's boys. Despite the lengthy time spent in the field, there were some notable performances from John Strang who scored 60 runs and Karl Belcher who showed the St Kevin's boys how to bat on a flat wicket scoring 72 runs off 53 balls. Despite Karl and John's efforts, the lack lustre batting of St Kevin's ensured that the game ended in a draw.

Our annual fixture at the Willows saw a loss to a Willows team packed with considerable talent. Chris O'Connell ensured that the boys knew that they had a competition on their hands with a well constructed innings of 59 for the Willows XI. Unfortunately our boys were not able to match the Willows total score of 185 and we were bowled out for 161.

In his last season for the college, our form player has been our captain Lewis Allen. His has averaged 84 in the one day form of the game and 114 in the two day form during the 2009 season. A credible highlight included Lewis scoring a magnificent 174 off 137 balls against Christ's College White in a two day game on Christ's number one wicket. This form saw Lewis earn a spot in the Canterbury Secondary Schools Cricket XI.

As 2009 draws to a close the 1^st XI will miss our leaving senior players. Karl Belcher has proven himself time and again with many half centuries to his name and has always been extremely reliable and economic with his bowling. Jonathon Lester, our pace merchant, has enjoyed intimidating batsmen with his quick deliveries and has never shied away from dropping one in short to tail end batsmen. The team will also miss Mena Malik whose solid defence and outstanding fielding skills made him a stalwart for the team. As these players leave, new players will be presented with the opportunity to make the St Thomas' 1^st XI and I look forward to developing the new talent and watching the team mature over 2010.

Thomas Newton - Coach.

Cricket Tour to

St Joseph's College, Nudgee, Brisbane, Australia

In January 2009 for the first time we sent two teams to Brisbane, Australia to play in the Christian Brothers Schools Cricket Festival. The First XI competed in the 'Shield Section' of the tournament and played against some tough opponents which included Gregory Terrace, Nudgee College (Brisbane) and St Edmunds (Ipswich).

A Development Team which consisted of players from Year 9 to Year 13 played in a second tier section of the tournament known as the 'Plate Section'. The concept of a development squad was designed to foster and develop younger cricketers at the College, most of which will become First XI cricketers in years to come.

The First XI Touring Squad was: Tom Agnew (Captain), Cameron Knowles (wicket keeper), Karl Belcher, Lewis Allan, Ben Laughton, Tom Scott, Frazer Austin, Mena Malik, Jonathon Lester, Cameron Posa, John Strang and Hamish Smith. The coaches were Mr Chris O'Connell and Mr Tom Newton.

The Development Touring Squad was: Mark Francis (Captain and wicket keeper), Todd Pratley, Michael Walding, Ashley Wright, Steve Pilton, Luke Payne, Ben Swaney, Ben Lysaght, Jacob Laurent, Sam Jones, Liam Barry, Donovan Hutton and Andrew Slater. The coach was Mr Richard Washington and the Manager Ms Sue Riley.

The CBCW is an annual tournament which is contested by about 30 schools from around Australia and New Zealand. St Peter's College from Auckland was the only other New Zealand school at the tournament. The tournament was hosted by a very large Catholic private College, St Joseph's Nudgee, which boasts impressive facilities such as a 9 hole golf course, olympic sized swimming pool and a grandstand surrounding its main picket-fenced oval.

The playing format was five round robin games of one day cricket (50 overs per side) and a rest day in the middle of the tournament. There was an opening and closing ceremony with a huge BBQ; as well as the all important Catholic Mass which celebrated the coming together of such a large number of catholic school boys from a wide range of backgrounds.

We first attended the tournament in 1992 but the trip became a regular 'tradition' at the College after we won the tournament in 1993. Our current Head of Sport and Coach, Chris O'Connell who coordinated the trip was one of the winning squad members' back 1993. Another member of the squad was St Thomas' most famous Old Boy, Blackburn Rovers and All Whites Captain Ryan Nelsen who was a more than useful cricketer in his time.

The next best performance from our school was a runner's up medal in 1995.

In order to get to Australia, the squads undertook a comprehensive fundraising scheme over several months to subsidise costs. Fundraising took the form of a hypnotist night, a raffle, a scrap metal collection, several brewery nights, two sausage sizzles and chocolate bar sales. The boys and parents were extremely busy and hardworking and they all reaped the benefits of a concentrated team effort.

The most successful fundraiser consisted of a scrap metal collection, where a skip was left at the College for donations of scrap metal and a pick up service was offered and implemented by several of the parents and families. The squad would like to thank people in the community for their generosity and donations of scrap metal.  I would like to thank Dot Agnew, mother of Tom Agnew for coordinating the scrap metal campaign and organising scrap metal to be picked up from people in the community.

We were extremely grateful to the businesses that sponsored the boys for the feature in the Christchurch Star.  The boys fully appreciated the support that they received from companies in our community. Local steel company, JJ Steel Ltd were particularly generous to the team and through them the teams had their 'travelling polo shirts' sponsored by them. We would like to acknowledge the support from the director of JJ Steel Ltd, Frank Van Schaijik, who is an Old Boy of the College.

The St Thomas management team consisted of four teachers; Mr Tom Newton, Mr Richard Washington, Mr Paul McCarthy and Mr Chris O'Connell and the school sports coordinator, Sue Riley. Tim Allan, father of Lewis, helped with the organisation of the transport for the trip which was greatly appreciated.

The management team supervised the boys travelling and also at St Joseph's Nudgee College as they were accommodated with all other visiting teams and they stayed in one of eight dormitories in a 'games village' type feel which was very much part of the whole experience outside of the fixtures. Some leisure time was allocated for the boys that allowed them to do shopping, sightseeing, and checking out the amazing fun parks such as Waterworld and relaxing on the Gold Coast beaches.

RESULTS FROM THE TOURNAMENT:

SHIELD

1^st XI Finished on 12 points in 8^th Place

Day 1:             STC     111                  lost to              St Laurences              146

Day 2:             STC     131/6               beat                 St Pats Shorncliffe     129

Day 3:             STC     165                  beat                 St Edmunds, Ipswich 105

Day 4:             STC     178                  lost to              Gregory Terrace Red 192/7

Day 5:             STC     198/7               beat                 Nudgee Blue              173/8

PLATE

Development Team Finished on 12^th points in 6^th Place

Day 1:             STC     108                  lost to              St Columbans 225

Day 2:             STC     192                  lost to              Nudgee 3                    303

Day 3:             STC     180/7               beat                 St Edmunds 3, Ipswich 151

Day 4:             STC     149/7               beat                 St Pats Shorncliffe 2 148      

Day 5:             STC     74/2                 beat                 St Edmunds 3, Ipswich 73

REPRESENTATIVE CRICKETERS

Some of our players have achieved representative status in 2009. They are:

Lewis Allan, Canterbury U19;

Frazer Austin, Canterbury U17;

Tom Scott, Buller U17

Karl Belcher, West Coast U17

Hamish Smith, Canterbury U15.

The College would like to congratulate those boys on their representative achievements and wish them every success.