Canterbury regional finalists St Andrew’s Preparatory School won the title of national champions over Nelson’s Broadgreen Intermediate in a thrilling final at the MILO Cup tournament in Palmerston North today.
The tournament was part of a two day cricket competition where eight national primary and intermediate school teams from around the country competed for the prestigious MILO Cup (boys) and MILO Shield (girls).
Alex Kelly, Manager of St Andrew’s team, described the feeling of pride he felt for the team’s result and believed they represented their school with distinction, both on and off the pitch.
In a poignant turn of events St Andrew’s Coach, James Shipley a former player for Canterbury Country, was reminded of his cricketing history when he played against Dave Leonard, former Central Districts player and now Coach of Broadgreen Intermediate. The two played against each other in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
“There’s a lot of history there and it is very nice to have won this game. It is probably on top as far as wins go,” said Shipley.
Nelson coach Leonard explains, “It’s quite interesting, as we’ve had many battles against Canterbury Country over the years and it looks like our sons are doing the same thing for their schools at the moment”.
The MILO competitions, which started in 2000, see hundreds of schools and thousands of Kiwi kids enjoy cricket.
The main goal is to develop junior cricket in New Zealand by providing primary and intermediate boys and girls the opportunity to enter into the national competition.
