The seventh New Zealand Community Trust secondary school Junior Boys’ National Finals cricket tournament will be held at Owen Delany Park in Taupo from March 22-25. Aimed at year 9 and 10 cricketers, these finals represent the culmination of a major national competition that attracted 161 school entries and commenced at the start of the 2009/10 season.
This prestigious development tournament has already seen a number of players graduate from it to the ranks of first class cricket, including Corey Anderson [Christchurch Boys’ High School], George Worker [Palmerston North Boys’ High School], and Harry Boam [Wellington College]. White Fern Sophie Devine [Tawa College] also played in the inaugural tournament.
All the schools entered in the competition initially played knockout matches within their Major Cricket Associations, with their winners and the runners-up of the two associations with the most entries - Northern Districts and Central Districts this year – making it through to this year’s finals - a total of eight schools.
The 2010 finalist schools include: Auckland Grammar School, Hamilton Boys’ High School, St Peter’s School, Palmerston North Boys’ High School, Wanganui Collegiate, Scots College, Christchurch Boys’ High School and John McGlashan College.
For the national finals tournament these eight schools have been divided into two pools of four: The schools in each pool play round robin matches against each other over the first three days of the finals. They are then ranked on their results and on day four play crossover matches to determine the final placings and eventual winner of the 2010 NZCT Cup.
Pool A:
Auckland Grammar School, St Peter’s School, Palmerston North Boys’ High School, John McGlashan College.
Pool B:
Scots College, Hamilton Boys’ High School, Wanganui Collegiate, Christchurch Boys’ High School.
Last year’s second placed team Christchurch Boys’ High School, return this year, while Otago’s John McGlashan College is the only school not to have made an appearance at the finals tournament. Christchurch Boys’ High School [2004, 2005] and Hamilton Boys’ High School [joint winners 2007] have secured the NZCT Cup title in previous years.
The national finals tournament will be opened at 9.15am on Monday, March 22 with the first round matches starting at 10.30am. The draw for day one is:
Pool A:
Auckland Grammar School v St Peter’s School, Palmerston North Boys’ High School v John McGlashan College.
Pool B:
Christchurch Boys’ High School v Scots College College, Hamilton Boys’ High School v Wanganui Collegiate.
