Source: Radio New Zealand
Supplied / Wellington Collegians Cricket Club
Hundreds of young cricketers are battling the Hawke’s Bay heat as an annual tournament forges on with temperatures forecast to reach 38C this weekend.
Hawke’s Bay Cricket Camps have been running since 1979 and Hawke’s Bay Cricket Association boss Craig Findlay said scorching temperatures would not stop it.
“We’ve had days that have been in mid 30s before, many a time,” he said.
“I know most of the team management and coaching staff should be prepared for getting lots of water and ice and they can have breaks if they need to,” he said.
Umpires might “get the old spray bottle out”, Findlay said.
“It could be a challenge, especially for people who don’t live in Hawke’s Bay.”
But the tournament was more about development than competition, Findlay said.
Supplied / Wellington Collegians Cricket Club
“There’s no representative side of things or anything that you have to find a winner and the games have to be played to the letter of the law.
“So that’s the other bonus that they could shorten it to 20 overs if they wanted to instead of playing a 30 over game.”
Findlay said the weather was in stark contrast to last year.
“Last year we had temperatures of 16, 17C and a little bit of drizzle.”
Supplied / Wellington Collegians Cricket Club
Findlay loved the heat and was thankful he was not having to scramble with rain-induced back up plans, he said.
Napier and Hastings are under heat alerts on Friday and Saturday, but it would really ramp up on Sunday with 38C forecast for Hastings and 36C for Napier.
The camps began on Monday, and there would be 500 games involving 174 North Island teams played across three weeks, Findlay said.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
