One of Seddon Cricket Club’s core pillars is to create wonderful opportunities for cricketers to create lifetime friends and memories, using our great game as a platform to do so. Quite often the way we do it is by ensuring that our teams play at picturesque venues as this only enhances the cricket experience. Out of all the beautiful venues that our club has played at during the last 5 years, there is none better than Queenstown. As we all know, Queenstown has scintillating views coupled with many historical buildings – it is a national treasure.

12 players, a coach, and a manager represented Seddon Cricket Club last week at the Queenstown Cricket Carnival. The Carnival is a four-day tournament led by Seddon Cricket Club Alumni Member and Former Northern Districts representative, Russell Mawhinney (ND Cap #132). The Carnival is filled with mostly South Island High School teams with Seddon Cricket Club being the first and only North Island team to attend. This year an Australian team from Orange entered also.

Over the four days our team played a mix of 20/20, Longer Form Limited Overs (40 – 50 Overs) and Declaration Cricket. They won some, lost some, but more importunately they have made friends for life.

The team culture and spirit were incredible. All players represented Seddon Cricket Club proudly and displayed the values that are the spine of our club – respect, humility, care.

THANK YOU! To our magnificent Team Management – Hayden Robinson as coach was inspirational, educational, and well organised. A superb coach and an even better bloke. Hayden is everything you want in a coach at this level. He totally gets it, the boys development by providing opportunities for the players to excel is the hallmark of his coaching – putting players first, results second. This attitude should be admired.

Thank you to Darin Armstrong who was the Manager. He took precious time away from his family holiday to be part of this trip. He didn’t even have a son in the team! He did it because he’s passionate about cricket and he genuinely believes in the Seddon Cricket Club vision. Darin, who has managed many rugby and cricket teams, is a very professional, loyal and hardworking Manager. Without people like Darin, these tours wouldn’t be as enjoyable for the players.

As far as the players are concerned, many are from rural backgrounds and potentially haven’t benefited from experiences that players get if they attend the bigger traditional boys’ schools. Seddon Cricket Club is motivated to work hard in this space and provide opportunities for players to show that they too can match it with the ‘big boys’.

As you can see from the photos the players were wearing the original ND Retro Uniform during their limited overs matches. This is a tip of the hat to the many wonderful players that have inspired the next generation. Thank you.

We look forward to sending another team to Queenstown in 2026!

TEAM:

Alex Keogh (Morrinsville Piako Cricket Club)

Riley Kusabs (Geyser City Cricket Club & Northern Stars)

Jacob Hagoort (Morrinsville Cricket Club & Tamahere Bulls)

Aidan Hogg (Eastern Bay of Plenty Cricket Club)

Billy Condon (Maungakaramea Cricket Club)

Daniel Sherrard (Matamata College)

Thomas Hickey (St Paukl’s Collegiate & Northern Stars)

Peter Austin (Central Raukura)

Connor Banks (Rotorua BHS & Central Cricket Club)

James McIntyre (Lake Taupo Cricket Club & Kaipaki Bombers)

Liam Du Plessis (Geyser City Cricket Club)

Lachlan Hogan (Geyser City Cricket Club)

Coach: Hayden Robinson

Manager: Darin Armstrong