Canterbury bred and first time qualifier Christ’s College is fighting hard to win this year’s Gillette Cup Final at its new location in Christchurch.
After beating Tauranga Boys in the first round of play, Christ’s College appears to be the dark horse of the competition. The new entrant was expected to struggle but instead had a solid win over regular finalists Tauranga Boys.
Daniel Sharples, Christ’s College XI Captain, says the team is pleased with the win.
“We did really well yesterday – we had a tough day, a hot day, but the boys pulled through quite well,” Sharples says. “Today it has been another tough day in the sun, but we are thoroughly enjoying our first time here.”
Sharples speaks highly of Christ’s College’s First XI Coach of ten years, Warren Lindstone, and their long term strategy to make it to the Gillette Cup.
“It’s been built up over the past five years. We realised that we had potential in year nine and then this year in particular we increased our work rate and effort, because we had the goal to come here,” says Sharples.
In 2011 over 200 schools entered the Gillette Cup across the six major cricket associations; it is an achievement in itself for Christ’s College to reach the finals.
“I had always hoped that Christ’s College could make the Gillette Cup,” says Lindstone, “It would be an immense achievement if the boys were to take out the final as well.”
Christ’s College’s opening batsman and Head Boy, Will Uttley, has had to balance academic duties with sporting pursuits this year. Uttley has had to take critical time off from Head Boy duties to play in the Gillette Cup.
The competition runs over five days with three days left of play. The six finalists initially play each other in a round-robin format before moving to the final stages of the tournament.
Over the five days, 70 of New Zealand’s finest young cricketers will compete in the Gillette Cup; many of whom progress to our national BLACKCAPS cricket team.
For the first time in the Gillette Cup’s 22 year history, the cricket finals are being played at New Zealand Cricket’s High Performance Centre at Lincoln University.
Gillette Cup 2011 scorecards, results and match reports - http://www.blackcaps.co.nz/domestic/gillette-cup/122/schedule.aspx
