The Travelsim Manly Warringah Waratahs are pleased to announce the signing of a historic partnership with Toronto Workers District Cricket Club.
Also known as Southern Lakes District Cricket Club, Toronto Workers play in the Newcastle Premier Competition.
The agreement between the 2 clubs is essentially a resource sharing one, as well as being able to provide talented youngsters from Toronto with a pathway to top level cricket in Sydney and beyond.
Cricket NSW are indeed encouraging all Sydney Premier Cricket Clubs to increase their country presence. This is seen in the fact that the U/21 Poidevin-Gray and the U/16 Green Shield competitions are now allowed one country player in each age group to participate for the club.
With our 1st grade squad visiting Toronto in pre-season this year, and with various contacts at Toronto including ex-Waratah Andrew Jeffrey, it was the perfect opportunity to begin discussions about how the 2 clubs could work closer together.
David Gainsford has led the charge from the Waratahs side. A country boy himself, Gainsford is very passionate about helping country kids get the same experience that he did when he came to Manly from Narromine in the mid 1980’s.
Toronto President Aaron Gray has been just as instrumental from the other side, working closely with Gainsford and his own committee. He even visited our facilities a few months back, and is very excited by the partnership.
Essentially, Manly Warringah will provide Toronto juniors with a pathway into Sydney Grade Cricket. This includes having one Toronto Junior each year playing in our Green Shield and Poidevin-Gray sides.
This has already occurred this year with Andrew Sommerville appearing for our Poidevin-Gray team throughout the season.
We have a very well known local juniors pathway program, however we feel that this is a great opportunity to help those outside our club and area in a structured and open manner.
If the player is looking to move to Sydney and improve their cricket, then they will move from the under-age competitions into our Premier Cricket structure under the tutelage of Head Coaches Shawn Bradstreet and Phil Marks. We will help them with employment and accommodation, and do everything we can to make then feel welcome.
The Waratahs will also provide some marquee players to appear for Toronto in the NCC Summer Bash, the Newcastle T20 competition, with Adam and James Crosthwaite recently filing these positions for Toronto.
The Waratahs will also be able to use the Toronto facilities in the pre-season, including holding a pre-season camp there. Due to a shortage of facilities in Sydney prior the the cricket season beginning, mainly due to winter codes using these facilities, it will prove an invaluable asset in the lead up to future seasons.
These pre-season camps will also give the Waratahs the opportunity to mentor and coach some of Toronto’s best up and coming juniors.
Gray said officials from the Toronto-based club had been impressed by Manly’s facilities, club mantra, and coaching philosophies.
“Both clubs can see the mutual benefit to working together in fostering and developing the best youth in our region and providing them an opportunity to link up with a progressive Sydney-based club,” Gray said.
“Manly had four representatives at the national championships last month. It matches similar efforts when we had three represent NSW/ACT at the same carnival two years ago with Andrew Somerville, Griffin Lea and Peter McCredie all in that team from our club.”
Our own vice-president David Gainsford confirmed he was excited to join forces with Toronto.
“The Toronto club has led the way in their region for some time with their junior development programs, and we are very happy to come on board,” Gainsford said.
“This concept aligns with our own country pathway policy and provides an opportunity for young elite cricketers to come from country areas to be part of this development program and try their hand at progressing to Sydney cricket, which is obviously an opportunity to go on and play for NSW and Australia.”
The alignment starts right now, and we are very excited about seeing where this partnership can take us.
Local Newcastle TV station NBN have already covered the relationship in a story, located at http://www.nbnnews.com.au/2018/01/17/southern-lakes-cricket-signs-new-partnership-with-manly-warringah/
We welcome the Toronto Workers Cricket Club on-board as a strategic partner of our club, and look forward to further strengthening the relationship in the coming years.
