First big test as local cricket looks to build innings

JULIA WADE

17 Jan, 2022

Cricket lovers of all ages will have the chance to be involved with the game as players or administrators as the local club starts to take shape.

The newly-formed Mangawhai Cricket Club (MCC) committee is set for a good innings, after recently being granted incorporated society status, and are looking for others who have an interest in playing and/or have children keen on the sport to step up to the wicket and join the play, MCC chair Isabel Hollis says.

“We would like to get more people involved to help on the committee, especially those with young families,” she says. “We’re hoping to get both girls and boys teams up and running for the next cricket season which starts at Labour Weekend, but need to be organised with applying for grants and organising gear well before then so we really do need more people to help with fundraising.”

Several members of MCC’s committee have a wide range of experience of the game: Hollis coached her son’s squads through their school years and was the first female cricket coach for St Dominics College First XI in the late 1980s, secretary Peter Pedrotti was involved with the Waitemata Cricket Club, there’s former Mt Eden stadium groundsman Ray Moffatt, and former NZ representative Warren Stott who has been the driving force behind Mangawhai’s cricket revival, securing funds for upgrades and stirring up interest over the last two years [See Focus Oct 18, 2021 for full story].

With the backing of Northland Cricket, MCC has also been given approval by Mangawhai Domain Society to set up a practise net once the incorporated society paperwork is officially signed off and the club’s aim is to have both female and male, junior and senior cricket teams.

“We do hope to attract a lot of female players,” Hollis says, who was offered the role as chair due to her 50-plus years of experience on various committees from Starship Hospital, Waitemata Rugby Club, Plunket and Auckland Kindergarten Association as well as a number of local organisations including Mangawhai Fishing Club, where she was the first female president, co-founder of social advocacy organisation Tamatea Community Trust which later evolved into Te Whai Charitable Trust, and is the current vice-president for Zonta of Mangawhai.

“I like people, love networking and getting to know a lot of people as well as the challenge and satisfaction of starting something and building it up. I’ve made a lot of lifetime friends from being on committees,” she says. “There are a lot of new people in the community and it’s a great way to meet others who are in the same boat and to possibly form lasting friendships.”

Hollis has also spent time in special education services and says the committee could even look at organising the sport for children with disabilities.

“I’m just interested in getting all children into any sport as it teaches kids how to work as a team as well as building confidence and encourages friendships, some of them long lasting… cricket in Mangawhai could bring all sorts of possibilities.”

n Interested in stepping up to the wicket? Please contact Isabel on 021 685 851.

A ‘festive’ Isabel Hollis is the new Mangawhai Cricket Club chair.