Local schools look for boost from World Cup

CUP CLASH: Grant Elliott batting for the Black Caps during a match against Scotland. PHOTO/PHIL WALTER/GETTY IMAGES

INTEREST fired by the ICC Cricket World Cup as well as a fresh initiative to make games shorter and more fun are hoped to turn around dropping levels of participation in the sport.

Statistics released by the New Zealand Secondary Schools Sports Council, measuring students with meaningful participation in sports, showed 414 secondary school students took part in cricket in 2014 in the Bay of Plenty - which included Rotorua. This was a drop from the 460 who participated in 2013.

Rotorua cricket coach Glenn Rumble said the World Cup should help reinvigorate the sport but any interest needed to be carefully managed.

"Next season there will be more participation because of the Cricket World Cup but this will have to be nurtured by parents and teachers," he said.

"Cricket will certainly be in the minds of the kids, especially if New Zealand does well."

New Zealand Cricket is currently developing a new version of the game to rejuvenate the sport at community level.

General manager of amateur cricket Edward Shuttleworth said interest had already surged since the start of the World Cup.

"We have particularly seen a big uptake in primary schools but the challenge is making sure there is a transition available for the kids so when they move through to secondary school and college so they can keep up the sport."

This interest, coupled with the yet-to-be-named new initiative to revive the game, may save cricket in secondary schools, Mr Shuttleworth said.

"We are launching a new programme for males and females, right through junior and secondary school for the 2015/16 cricket season that has traditional elements to it but is modified to meet the gaps and fix the issues that have been raised," he said.

"The modified format will be more active, fun, shorter, available mid-week and it will involve all."

It is hoped the new format, which will be introduced later this year, will address issues identified by teens as the reasons they weren't interested in the sport, Mr Shuttleworth said. "These issues were time it took to play a game of cricket; the level of fun and energy in the game and a person's involvement during a day of cricket; cost; and that cricket wasn't a suitable format that met people's needs.

"This new programme will address these and hopefully the interest we have had from the World Cup will help."

The data also showed secondary school cricket participation was dominated by males with 336 involved and only 78 females involved in the sport in 2014 - another issue, Mr Shuttleworth said, the new programme would address.

A declining participation rate in cricket among secondary school students was consistent New Zealand wide, the data showed.

There were 9937 secondary school students who participated in outdoor cricket last year - a 5 per cent drop from 10,439 in 2013 and a 16 per cent drop since 2011.

Across all sports, 54 per cent of secondary students in New Zealand participated in sports in 2014 - 1 per cent up on 2013.