Brendan Bracewell has not given up hope that a team from his Rathkeale College-based cricket academy will be involved in the Wairarapa senior inter-club cricket competition in 2005-06.
The former New Zealand pace bowler received a setback when six Zimbabwean players keen to attend the academy were basically forced to withdraw
their applications because of the political situation in their country.
So that left him with an overseas contingent containing just "four or five" English players and with the problem of finding enough players from within the local region to make up the gaps.
Bracewell said he was "very determined" to have an academy side operating in both the senior inter-club limited-overs and two-day competitions.
But he conceded that whether his efforts were successful would very probably depend on the support he received from within the Wairarapa cricketing community.
"We're possibly going to need some promising age group players as well as older players who are considering retirement but still have something to offer to make up the side," he said."We're not there yet but we're giving it a good go."
The withdrawal of the academy side, which was a force to be reckoned on the club scene last season, would leave just five teams in Wairarapa senior cricket - Greytown, Lansdowne, Red Star and the two colleges, Wairarapa and Rathkeale.
The first round of matches in the one-day series is scheduled to get under way this coming Saturday.
