Cricket

Cricket at St Paul’s

St Paul's 1st XI cricket grounds are ringed with established trees on the eastern, western and southern boundaries, while on the northern boundary edge superb elevated viewing directly down the wicket is provided from the balcony of the Long Room in the gymnasium which was completed in 2007.

In the gymnasium there are two purpose-built indoor cricket nets equipped with bowling machines which provide complimentary winter training facilities and also allow training on wet days in the summer.

The School has one other quality grass wicket, two artificial wickets and five well maintained outdoor nets providing excellent facilities for cricketers at the School.

St Paul’s generally fields between four and six sides in Waikato Secondary School competitions.

Philosophy

"Our cricketing objective is to provide a challenging and enjoyable cricketing environment where all players are able to develop a love for the game". Being a smaller school, St Paul's has to harness the potential of every available cricketer in order to compete with the bigger schools around New Zealand. Boys with a particular love and aptitude for the game are identified in Years 9 and 10 and given individual or small group coaching with the specialist coach.

A Record of Success

St Paul's has a proud record of punching well above its weight in recent years. The School has qualified for the Gillette Cup national top four competitions on three occasions – in 1998, 2001 and 2004. St Paul’s has regularly made the last eight or sixteen of this competition. The youngest man ever to represent New Zealand in test cricket, Daniel Vettori, is an Old Collegian, while during the 2000's Te Ahu Davis, Nick Fitzgerald and Grant Bell, have represented New Zealand at age group level.

St Paul's Old Collegian Daniel Vettori

Click an image to enlarge

St Paul’s 1st XI

The 1st XI plays in the 1st Division of the Waikato Secondary Schools competition. Traditional inter school fixtures for the major sides being the 1st XI and Colts, are currently played against St Kentigern's, Lindisfarne College, King’s College and Wanganui Collegiate. Other major schools that may be played throughout the year include Rangitoto College , McLean’s College, Westlake Boys High and Kelston Boys’ High School .

Tours for the 1st XI team are organised on a regular basis and provide opportunities for players to test their skills against different opposition and conditions. In the past 5 years the 1st XI has had tours to South Africa, Australia and schools in the lower North Island.

Coaching

All teams are coached by at least one experienced staff member, which gives independence to decision making and ensures sides are well organised for matches.

Garth Littlejohn

Master in charge of Cricket

1st XI Co-Coach

Email Here

Garth has been involved in cricket all his life, playing for Bay of Plenty and Northern Districts in various age group sides. Upon moving to Hamilton he played 49 games for Hamilton, had four years in the Northern Districts A side and played two years of league cricket in England. After his "serious" playing career was over he got into coaching in the late 1990's with several Hamilton and Northern Districts age group sides at U15, U17 and U19 levels. Garth coached the 1st XI from 2002 to 2008 and is now in his second stint with the team.

Hugh Barton

Specialist Coach

Hugh first began playing cricket while attending Wanganui Collegiate in the 1950’s. Hugh has played for Wanganui, Poverty Bay and Wairarapa Representative sides and also the Northern Districts First Class side. Hugh began coaching cricket in 1992 and in 1995 gained his New Zealand Level III coaching certificate. Hugh has coached various school and club sides including Gisborne Boys High School and Gisborne club sides, St Paul’s Collegiate School, Scotch College in Adelaide, St Bedes East in Sussex England and Wanganui Collegiate. While coaching, Hugh has preformed groundsman duties at Poverty Bay, St Bedes and St Paul’s. Hugh’s current position is specialist coach at St Paul’s Collegiate School

Jason McGrath

2nd XI Co Coach

Jason picked up cricket at University. After a few seasons with Te Awamutu Marist, he was part of the foundation team of the Pirongia Rugby Sports Club. An opening bowler for most of his playing days, he gradually worked his way up the batting order to opener. He was the second player in Pirongia cricket to reach 100 wickets for the club. As an anchor man for the top order, he scored a number of half-centuries before he finally reached the 100 mark in an innings during his last full season of cricket.

Ian Boyle

2nd XI Coach

Ian has played competitive senior club cricket since the early 80's in Scotland, England and most recently in the Bay of Plenty after emigrating here in 2005. During these many years Ian has always had an interest in coaching the junior sides clubs he has played at and taken on various coaching roles. Most recently Ian enjoyed a spell coaching juniors at his adopted NZ club, Mount Maunganui and after hanging up his senior playing boots took on the role of player coach with the Mount Maunganui College 1sts. The main focus of Ian's coaching is to build the team unit and also to enjoy the game and training sessions. Cricket is a great game and one that can be enjoyed by developing the various skills involved, batting, bowling, fielding and being a member of the team.

Matthew Markham

Colts Coach

Email Here

Matthew played senior club cricket in Auckland for a number of years for Cornwall and Takapuna. During this time he coached the Westlake Colts side. After finishing his playing career he coached the 2nd X1 Auckland Grammar side in Division One of the Auckland Schools competition before coming to St Paul’s.