MILO Cricket Championships underway this week

The 11th MILO National Primary School Cricket Championships take place at Ongley Park in Palmerston North this week from 2-3 December. The MILO Cup (boys) and MILO Shield (girls) competitions provide exciting opportunities for primary and intermediate schools to compete at a national level.

Played over the school year the initial 373 schools that entered – 252 in the MILO Cup and 121 in the MILO Shield - compete within each of the six major cricket associations to determine their winners. The winner of the association with the most entries progresses automatically to the national finals tournament. In both the MILO Cup and Shield that privilege this year once again went to the winners from Canterbury. Their runners-up and the other five association winners then played off to decide the other three finalists in each competition.

The finalists for 2010 include:

MILO Cup: Christchurch South Intermediate School [Christchurch], Waihi School [Temuka], Berkley Normal Middle School [Hamilton] and Raroa Normal Intermediate School {Wellington]

MILO Shield: Heaton Normal Intermediate School [Christchurch], Waimea Intermediate School [Nelson], Berkley Normal Middle School [Hamilton] and Tawa Intermediate [Wellington]

In the MILO Cup Raroa Normal Intermediate School will return from last year while the other three teams will make their first appearance at a MILO national finals tournament.

In the MILO Shield all four teams have made finals appearances before and Tawa Intermediate School will be hoping to retain the title that they won last year.

The four finalists in each of the competitions meet in Palmerston North on December 2-3 at Manawaroa and Ongley Parks. On the first day of the two day national finals the four schools in each tournament play each other in 25 over matches for the MILO Shield and 35 over matches for the MILO Cup. On the second day the two winners in each event contest the title while the two losers play off for third and fourth places.

The eleventh national finals tournaments will be opened at Manawaroa Park Palmerston North on Thursday December 2 at 9.15am, with the first day’s matches starting at 10.30am. The draw for the first day is:

MILO Cup: Christchurch South Intermediate School v Raroa Normal Intermediate School
Berkley Normal Middle School v Waihi School

MILO Shield: Heaton Normal Intermediate School v Berkley Normal Middle School
Waimea Intermediate v Tawa Intermediate School

This year Nestlé, through its MILO sponsorship of junior cricket, has introduced a new initiative the MILO Next Generation BLACKCAPS Squad.

A selection panel, including a New Zealand Cricket (NZC) representative, will choose 12 outstanding players from the MILO Cup and MILO Shield finals tournament that will be flown to Christchurch to visit the NZC High Performance Centre.
ENDS