Canterbury Wizards all rounder Andrew Ellis has been appointed as Canterbury Crickets Junior Cricket Ambassador and Action Indoor Cricket Ambassador.
This newly created role, the result of a partnership between Canterbury Cricket, Christchurch Junior Cricket and Sport Canterbury, will see Ellis work with those Christchurch clubs who have been adversely affected by the earthquake and implement an individual plan for each club to assist with the goal of retaining 90% of their 2010/2011 registered junior players.
He will work closely with the Christchurch Junior Cricket Association and Sport Canterbury as they assist in implementing each clubs plan. Ellis will also promote and run an indoor cricket tournament targeted at primary, intermediate and secondary school pupils to give those players whose seasons were cut short in 2010/2011 some pre-season cricket.
Ellis was looking forward to getting involved in Canterbury Cricket off the field prior to the 2011/2012 season getting under way. ‘It is good to be able to assist the clubs that have been hit so hard by the earthquakes. We need to have cricket back in people's lives to give them some respite from the recent events. Canterbury Cricket are very focused on helping Christchurch rebuild and to play a part in that is something I will be pouring a lot of effort into.’
Sport Canterbury CEO, Geoff Barry, supported Ellis’s comments saying ‘it is so positive for us to see how Canterbury Cricket is responding to the challenges facing cricket and looking at ways of adding value to their current and potential players.’h
Ellis was recently named as one of the twelve contracted Canterbury Wizards for the 2011/2012 season and has also begun pre-season work with the squad.
