He and young sister Carla are really keen on sport and both are very good, in my view at least.
The competition I went to see also involved two teams from Mid-Canterbury and an Otago Country, team which seemed to be mainly from Central Otago.
The cricket was amazing from all the youngsters as was the behaviour on the sideline from parents and supporters. The parent coaches, umpires and managers controlled with a light hand.
It was cricket as it is meant to be played.
The bowling, pace and spin were impressive. Country Otago had a couple of quicks who were really good.
The batting was also great to see. The range of shots and the determination of all teams was impressive.
The fielding, the catching and returning the ball in and over the stumps was excellent.
Each team was committed to winning but was friendly and courteous to the opposition.
The youngsters imitated their Black Cap heroes in every respect.
Appeals for leg before would have done Trent Boult proud.
The century maker in Jack’s team acknowledged his achievement as Ross Taylor would have done.
When a wicket was taken it could have been an international, barring Australia of course.
I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The competition was impeccably organised, the cricket was great and I was able to talk to a lot of people in a relaxed and friendly way.
There was a twenty-twenty between South Canterbury and Otago Country that was fiercely fought.
South Canterbury ended up winning on the second to last ball, such was the commitment of both teams.
It was a superb experience and revived my interest in the game of cricket, dented as it was by the recent Australian experience.
For the record, my view of that debacle is simple – coaching.
As Black Caps’ coach, Mike Hesson developed the best all-round New Zealand cricket team I’ve seen. Those players are still in the team. The only difference is the coaching staff and it is those people I blame for the Australian fiasco.
If they wanted to recover from Australia and see some positive cricket they could have come to Timaru.
I hadn’t realised it was part of a national primary schools programme and NZ Cricket is to be congratulated for that. There was a major year-eight tournament in Westport a fortnight ago and there are similar events throughout the country.
It is, in my view, really positive and why it has been totally ignored by all media is beyond me.
The media are quick to report ad nauseum about all of the unfit, indolent and obese youngsters in NZ.
Last weekend you could read on the front page of the paper that an additional third of Kiwi youngsters are so consumed by their online lives that they are going without food and sleep.
To play cricket at the level they did those 11-year olds at the tournament would have had to practice for hundreds of hours.
The game of cricket doesn’t come naturally. You have to work at it and these young Kiwis obviously did.
These youngsters at the cricket were also trim and fit. There wasn’t anyone I saw who was even slightly overweight.
In the space of three days they played two games of 35 overs each plus a twenty-twenty.
That’s hard work for anyone, especially in the searing Geraldine heat.
The issue I have is that those stories are seldom if ever told yet they are a regular occurrence in NZ.
We hear at length about delinquency and obesity but not about the normal well-adjusted youngsters.
We also hear of the evils of sugar.
While I’m sure sugar is an issue so is exercise.
Looking at the Ministry of Health website one in nine kids between the age of two and 14 in NZ are obese and that’s a problem.
A closer look indicates it is primarily a big city problem.
So, instead of considering rules and regulations covering everyone I’d like to see the bureaucrats get outside the 50 kilometre an hour limit and see what life is like away from the cities. Don’t tie country and provincial youngsters with their city counterparts.
If there’s an obese youngster locally I’m certainly unaware of it. The local rugby for youngsters is incredibly well attended as it is in South Canterbury.
So I felt really good as a result of the cricket in Timaru. All the teams played well and promoted the spirit that is the game that is cricket.
My sound and simple belief to solve many of our social and health issues is to get kids out of the house and onto a sports field, any sports field playing any sport.
