Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

Western Bay of Plenty Cricket has opened the new season to a record number of senior grassroots teams. However successful promotion of sport can be a two edged sword

The Western Bay Cricket administrators are struggling to find enough cricket wickets in the region, to accommodate the record 34 teams that want nothing more than to enjoy a Saturday afternoon hit out.

Western Bay of Plenty Cricket was formed in 2010, to bring together the Tauranga and Te Puke/Mount Maunganui sub-associations and junior cricket under one umbrella.

Spinoff effects from the Black Caps performances, against the best sides in the world at the Bay Oval, have seen the game prove a magnet to a legion of young Western Bay cricket fans.

Many of the youngsters who flocked to the Blake Park international venue, from when South Africa paved the way for international cricket at the Bay Oval in 2016 - now play grassroots cricket.

The emergence of Asian ethnic teams, who play the game with rare passion and enthusiasm, have played a big part in the increase of eleven senior teams in just three years.

Sunday League age-group cricket continues to weld youngsters under club banners, which will continue to put pressure on both grass and artificial cricket wickets, as the players graduate to senior ranks.

The addition of the Sunday League is an additional step in the Western Bay of Plenty Cricket pathway, that has produced a number of home-grown Black Caps. Current World Cricket superstars Kane Williamson and Trent Boult, lead a list, that includes Matthew and Robbie Hart, Daniel Flynn and Graeme Aldridge.

The latest Western Bay star to emerge, is twenty year old Tim Pringle who is currently representing his country of birth, Holland, in the current ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Australia.

There is no better example of the explosion in player numbers than the Papamoa Cricket Club. Established just four years ago the club fielded 24 junior and senior sides last season.

Pressure in now being put on every available Western Bay cricket venue to accommodate the record number of both junior and senior players.

Western Bay of Plenty Cricket has a mission statement of providing teams with a cricket environment that is tailored to their side's aspirations.

This season, grounds, many with no adequate changing facilities that were previously regarded as backstops, are now being pressed into regular weekly use.

Te Whati Park in Maungatapu, Macville Park and Mount College and Te Puke High School, along with junior artificial wickets at Fergusson Park and Waipuna Park, are now booked for weekly grassroots cricket.

This writer believes that the two local authorities, who have a responsibility for providing active sports grounds, must urgently address the issue of new cricket wickets in order for the game to continue to grow in the region.

A recently released Blake Park Active Reserve Management Plan makes mention of enabling work for additional grass fields at Blake Park, which to me means more rugby fields. What is required are new cricket specific parks, with adequate changing facilities, to cater for the continued explosion in numbers in the future.