10 Apr 2024
Cricket on the rise
Churchie Cricket enjoyed a season of success in 2024, which is the result of several fruitful years of continuous improvement thanks to new initiatives focusing on enhancing player development and performance.
As a whole, the cricket programme ended the GPS season ranked second overall. The First XI secured its best finish in over a decade, coming in third place, and four teams secured first-place finishes in their divisions—5C, 9A, 10A and the Third XI.
The successes of 2024 reflect an upward trend in Churchie Cricket, demonstrating the impact of new initiatives and staffing investment. These include establishing wet weather training venues so teams can still train on rain-affected days, introducing new tours and matches, including cricket in Years 7 to 9 HPE classes, and hiring former Scottish cricketer and Churchie Old Boy Hamish Gardiner (2008) as a specialist fielding coach.
The Churchie Cricket New Zealand Tour last December was a highlight, where 21 players faced off against New Zealand’s top cricket schools, boosting their confidence and skills in preparation for the GPS season.
This year also saw the introduction of the Churchie 8s programme, which enables Year 4 students to become part of the cricket programme in preparation for commencing GPS Cricket in Year 5.
Director of Cricket James Patmore, the driving force behind the new initiatives since joining Churchie in 2022, notes:
‘These initiatives have resulted in boys playing more matches, training at a higher intensity and enjoying more opportunities to develop and improve their skills.’
With so many standout performances throughout the 2024 season, the 2025 season promises to be one of great opportunity as Churchie aims to become the premier cricket programme in the GPS.
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