Three Craighead students Margaret Rankin, L Flatt and Grace Laming have been playing cricket under the Pleasant Point Club for the past season. Carla Houston, Amy Wilson and Ruby Brown and Lily Spillane have also now joined the team. These girls had their first game together on Saturday and played Waihi, which they won: Ruby Brown top scoring on 35 and Margaret Rankin taking a hatrick.
The progression from here is to aim for the senior team, where we have 10 Craighead students playing for Pleasant Point in the Christchurch Women’s Division 1 competition. This sits just below the Premier Division where Old Girl, Izzy Sharpe plays when she isn’t playing for Canterbury.
It is not an easy task to get a team playing in Christchurch, but our girls are performing with distinction and are currently one of the two teams sitting at the top of the competition.
Each week a Female Performance of the Week is named over all the Christchuch Women’s grades. Craighead has had two players win this award over the season: Camryn Linton for a score of 73* against North West in January and Alice Orbell taking 4 wickets for 19 runs against North West in December. There have also been many other notable performances.
Over Waitangi weekend our Craighead cricket team played in a School Tournament in Dunedin. This was against 1st XI’s from St Hildas Collegiate, Otago Girls High School and an Invitational team. We welcomed new Yr 9 Ruby Taylor to this team. Playing against much older opposition there were some awesome achievements with extremely close results in all three games, and huge strides in developing our young team were made. With only two Yr 12’s the future potential of Craighead cricket is massive.
Thank you to Jaime Linton who coaches these girls and Dan Kelly who steps in when needed. We also have huge support from parents who transport these girls around the country for their games.
We also have four CDS Cricketers off to Dubai in April to represent the South Island U15 Cricket team. Craighead is definitely making a name for itself in cricket circles.
The number of girls playing cricket from Craighead has grown from two to over 20 in the past four years, creating a pathway that will enable Craighead students interested in cricket to fulfil their aspirations. This pathway begins with a Year 7 & 8 School tournament where students can have a go in a closed and comfortable environment.
If anyone is interested in joining this great group of cricketers on their exciting journey we are always welcoming new players and parents to be involved.
Next up is Summer Quad and Gillette Venus Cup, with other potential opportunities being investigated.
Report by
Belinda Kelly