UK cricketing couple Jake Rowe and Charlotte Phillips. Photo / Supplied
UK cricketing couple Jake Rowe and Charlotte Phillips. Photo / Supplied
Hakinakina community news is a weekly update on our own local community sports and athletes.
OPINION:
You would imagine that UK cricketing couple Jake Rowe and Charlotte Phillips met on the boundary at some iconic British cricket ground. But it was through mutual friends and a French class, where Jake's mum taught Charlotte, that the couple's connection started.
However, cricket - alongside their 'Middle Earth obsession' - is where their common passions lie, and it has ultimately played a huge part in their journey to Rotorua for the upcoming summer.
Rowe returns to Rotorua after spending two seasons in 2017-19 as the Rotorua Central Indians' overseas player. When the cricket director role at Raukura came up, Rowe saw it as an opportunity to return with Phillips to continue his overseas experience adventure via the great game. It sounds like a honeymoon to a cricket tragic like me.
Rowe has spent the last two Covid seasons with Herefordshire County, while Phillips has forged a very impressive three-year county cricket career for Gloucestershire. She is a quality middle-order bat and off-spin bowler, similar to Rowe.
Before her county career, she was the top run scorer and wicket taker for her Cornwall County Club in 2019, accolades of a sort which have not been unknown to her since she started playing senior cricket as a 12-year-old. She comes with plenty of form, fresh from a UK season where she got her high score of 117* off 87 balls.
UK cricketing couple Jake Rowe and Charlotte Phillips. Photo / Supplied
Rowe has some lofty goals to bring Raukura back to its former cricketing days with a competitive Super 8 team, creating Lakelands Reserve Teams and, ultimately, a Premier Team in the Baywide competitions.
The newly-developed Academy at the school is the ideal vehicle to attract players with cricketing ambitions to develop alongside their academic studies. He will also make a welcome return to the Central Indians Premier Team and has already made an impact with the ball and bat, top-scoring in the weekend against Papamoa with 87, batting at 8.
Charlotte made her debut for the Central Z's in the Reserve grade, and got her first wicket on foreign soil. She will also be helping with junior coaching and within the Rotorua and Bay of Plenty women's programmes.
But it's not just about cricket. They plan to make the most of their time as tourists, and Rotorua was the ideal destination to base their travels around. What a great promotion for our region. If you get the opportunity, make yourself known to them. They would love to hear from you and will be amazing advocates for Rotorua, wherever their journey takes them.
Youth leads the BOP golf team
The 2022 Dunes Quadrangular Golf Tournament was held over the weekend at Te Awamutu with teams from Auckland, North Harbour, Waikato and Bay of Plenty.
Hunter Edwards. Photo / Simon Watts
The 16 players representing the BOP team included seven Rotorua players; Penny Smith, Hunter Edwards, Heather Keefe, Byron Macrae, Francis Lockwood, Kevin Bang and Jordyn Fiaola. John Paul College student, Hunter Edwards, 15, was most impressive of the BOP team, going throughout the weekend unbeaten in match play and beating players several years her senior.
Penny Smith. Photo / Martin Hunter
Heather Keefe was also particularly impressive, winning one match and halving the other. They collectively helped BOP finish second overall in the competition. Look out for more golf news in the coming weeks as the men's and women's interprovincial teams get selected.
For your Rotorua community Sports news and stories, please contact Crispian.stewart@eves.co.nz.
