Hamish Wright in his role as junior club coordinator at South Malvern Cricket Club has led a massive transformation at the club during the 2017/18 season.
In the 2016/17 season, the club had only one Section 4 junior team with not a lot of structure or support in place for junior cricket to grow. Fast forward 12 months, the club now has two Section 3 teams and two Section 4 teams.
This equates to a 300 percent growth in just one season, which is a truly magnificent feat in a very small rural community. The main player base come from the small towns of Glentunnel and Hororata, with a few players making the trip down the road from Windwhistle.
To cater for this growth, the club has had to do a lot of work. Their ground, Glentunnel Domain, had only one artificial wicket which wasn’t going to suffice now that they had four teams. So a loyal band of volunteers put in some long hours mowing 14 meter strips for the Section 4 teams to play their 6-aside, soft ball matches on.
South Malvern CC club has provided all children playing with a club hat and a club shirt which provides a platform for children to build an identity with the club. It also makes the children look like a team when they turn up for matches on Saturday mornings.
Hamish has appreciated the continued support and guidance of Canterbury Country Cricket throughout this transformation. Country Cricket has done a lot of the ground work of going into schools for promotional sessions to make children aware that cricket is offered by the South Malvern CC. Country Cricket has also run coaching courses and other coach development opportunities that some of the South Malvern CC junior coaches have taken up to refresh their coaching.
In and amongst their four junior teams, South Malvern have five girls that are playing alongside the boys. Hamish sees girls cricket as a possible development area moving forwards with an all-girls team on the horizon next season. All going well, the club will also transition some of their stronger Section 3 players into hardball cricket in the coming 12 – 18 months.
South Malvern CC held their end of season prize giving function on Sunday the 12th of March with a great turn out from players and parents. It was a fitting occasion to mark the end of a landmark season for the club. There is no doubt South Malvern CC will continue to prosper with positive and proactive people such as Hamish at the helm moving forwards.
