It was a milestone weekend for the Eastern Bay of Plenty Cricket Club with the junior cricket season kicking off.

The EBOP primary schools’ competition – set up and facilitated by the club – began with 10 teams playing on the opening weekend of the inaugural season.

Teams from Apanui, Ōhope, and St Joseph’s Primary Schools joined four teams from the EBOP Cricket Club to play each other in Whakatāne, Ōhope, Tāneatua, and Awakeri on Saturday.

The club’s two intermediate age teams (playing in the Western BOP competition) battled each other in Whakatāne and the club’s first Collegiate (year 10/11) team played and beat Rotorua Boys High School at Trident High School.

In the senior grades, the EBOPCC First XI and Second XI won their first games and remained in first and second place in the Lakelands T20 competition.

The First XI rolled Tokoroa for 12 in their chase of 189, with club president Colin Rampling recording remarkable figures of five wickets for three runs and captain Jared McLaughlin taking four wickets for eight runs.

Last season’s highest run scorer and vice-captain Harry Hulk Singh again led from the top, scoring 83*, and then 43* in their second game where they beat Raukaura First XI by 9 wickets.

The Second XI won their first game against BOP Indians with Matt Davies hitting 48 in the morning game and Jaskaran Singh 45 in the afternoon game, where they lost to Rotorua Lions, moving them back to fourth place.

The significance of the weekend cannot be understated with the primary school’s competition having been established this season with the vision of providing tamariki the opportunity to play cricket without having to travel to Rotorua and Tauranga.

The club hoped that having a local competition would grow participation and it did. The club has tripled the number of year 4 to 7 tamariki playing cricket in the Eastern Bay and the new primary schools competition, now in its first year, is larger than the Rotorua competition with more teams and children playing.

The addition of the collegiate team means that the club has a full stream of teams in all grades.

Club vice president James Renwick said it was the club’s vision to have a pathway to play cricket from primary school through to adult cricket without having to leave the Eastern Bay.

“And we have achieved that this year, not without considerable volunteer and parental support.”  

The club has been supported by Whakatāne District Council, which has recently upgraded the cricket nets at Rex Morpeth Park.

“The club has renovated most of the other cricket pitches and nets in the area to give our children the best experience we can to foster the love of cricket,” Renwick said.

The club is without a major sponsor and with presence across the Bay of Plenty district, it is seeking opportunities with businesses to help grow the game.

Renwick said the club was always on the lookout for open spaces to install new pitches to cater for the growth and would love to see the introduction of an Ōpōtiki primary schools’ team as there were several cricket pitches there not being used.

“The club would love to hear from schools or parents from Ōpōtiki and Kawerau interested in organising a team and joining the competition after the Christmas break, but at the moment we are really pleased with the success of the initiative.”