Sports correspondent & historian with Sideline Sid

The arrival of the 2024-25 New Zealand Cricket season opens a new chapter for two local young men, who learned the fundamentals of the great game on the Western Bay of Plenty Cricket junior pathway.

Bay of Plenty wicket keeper, Ben Pomare, and Bay right-hand top order batsman, Fergus Lellman, have joined the ND Major Association professional players squad for the first time.

Both players kicked off their cricket careers, with Western Bay of Plenty, Saturday morning junior cricket, before playing senior men’s cricket in their early teenage years.

An early coaching mentor of both young men was Peter Swan, who selected the pair for the Bay of Plenty Coastland Senior Secondary team, which contested the Northern Districts Cricket age-group tournament in December 2017.

The following season, the duo earned selection in the Bay of Plenty senior representative team, which became the springboard to earning professional cricket contracts.

Ben Pomare became arguably the youngest Bay of Plenty representative captain, when selected for the skipper’s role at just 21. In addition to his keeper’s duties, he has hit 767 runs in 35 appearances with a top score of 77.

Fergus Lellman has two centuries in his Bay of Plenty total of 866 runs, with a best of 136.

The ND debutants in waiting, were both selected for the NZ Under 19 team in 2019-20 season. Ben Pomare took seven catches behind the stumps and contributed a handy 132 runs. Fergus was an anchor at the top of the innings in the Under 19 World Cup campaign, with a top score of 116no among his 431 runs.

The two newcomers will join four fellow Western Bay of Plenty players in the ND squad. Joe Carter, Brett Hampton, Bharat Popli, and Neil Wagner when available, have been part of the ND core in recent seasons.

Neil Wagner has become a real Bay Oval favourite since he moved to Pāpāmoa a few years ago. He has taken 49 first-class bowling scalps at the Blake Park ground including a best of five for 44.

Bharat Popli and Joe Carter have both made significant marks in New Zealand Major Association Cricket as key members of the ND professional side.

Joe has been a ND first choice in all three forms of the game having played 172 matches in the Northern Districts uniform. Nearly 7000 runs testify to his role as a team anchor at the batting crease.

Bharat is a specialist in the four-day game having posted 4387 runs which include eight centuries from his 67 first class appearances.

Versatility in spades is the key ingredient of Brett Hampton. He has hit over 3500 runs and taken 147 wickets in the three forms of the game and can be a game changer with the ball when called to the bowling crease.

With the new season fast approaching, many Western Bay of Plenty cricket fans are sure to follow the fortunes of Ben Pomare and Fergus Lellman, along with Joe Carter, Neil Wagner, Bharat Popli and Brett Hampton, during the New Zealand Cricket Major Association competition season.