Cricket: Teen sets Park Island alight with ball

HOT STUFF: Ryan Miller, 11, of Cornwall year 7b team, celebrates his seven-wicket haul as a helicopter takes a breather in the background at Park island, Napier, yesterday. PHOTO/Paul Taylor

WHILE Park Island, Napier, was under siege yesterday an intermediate schoolboy cricketer was already on fire a few hours earlier on the other side of the Wharerangi Cemetery Hill.

Ryan Miller, of Heretaunga Building Society Cornwall CC team, lit the fuse with a seven-wicket blitz against Taranaki.

The 11-year-old right-arm medium pacer took 7-11 from four overs, including a maiden in the year 7a grade of the annual Riverbend Cricket Camp Tournament.

The youngster, who will return to Havelock North Intermediate later this month for his second year, spearheaded his team to a 42-run victory with his effort at first change.

Cornwall scored 121-9 in their allotted 30 overs before skittling Taranaki for 79.

"I was sitting on a hattrick once," said Miller, an allrounder who mostly opens batting as a lefthander and contributed 45 runs to the cause.

But the youngster's heroics meant he was relegated to 12th man in the match against Eastern Districts (Auckland) in the afternoon when the fun and games began.

But Miller wasn't despondent, soaking up the commotion nearby and relishing not running into air under a blanket of smoke at the park.

Father Andrew Miller said: "There was ash everywhere, smoke billowing and three choppers carting water within 40 seconds of each other."

The elder Miller said the hive of emergency activities carried on for almost five hours, concluding about the time the Brent Greville-coached Cornwall took to overcome Eastern Suburbs by the skin of their teeth (17 runs).

"When they were lugging buckets across the park on the choppers the water was spraying over the kids so it was quite refreshing on a hot day," said the father as Napier hit 33C.

"All the three games at the park were covered in smoke but the players could still see with a tinge of yellow sun coming through it."

It will be a day the teenager won't forget in a hurry for sometime for obvious reasons.

"I'll remember it for a while because it's the first time I got over five wickets," he said although as 12th man he did get a bowl, taking 1-12 from three overs as well as running a batsman out.

In his third Riverbend camp, Miller, showing signs of sunburn on his face, said: "I enjoyed being 12th man because I didn't have to go out to bat in the heat with all the gear on and the smoke and fire."

He started playing Milo cricket when he attended Te Mata Primary School.

He doesn't know why as a leftie, from his dad's genes, he was bowling with his right.

He can swing the ball but the cross wind at the park yesterday accentuated that to give batsmen all sorts of trouble.

"When I got the first wicket I was happy. When I started getting more and more I got even more excited," he said, after the coach pulled him off at the drinks break to give other players a chance in keeping with the mantra of the camp to focus on development.

He also scored 58 retired on day one for a Cornwall side who lost their first two games but are relishing, as Napier Tech are, in playing a higher standard this summer while lesser teams "are getting a fair go" in 7b grade.