Cricket Wellington, through the Wellington School of Cricket, and Whitireia Polytechnic joined forces last Friday at the Allied Nationwide Finance Basin Reserve, with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding.  

The two parties have formally entered into an exciting new joint venture involving the securing of international students to study at Whitireia whilst completing a two-year cricket education module with the Wellington School of Cricket.

The signing on Friday 30 January at the Allied Nationwide Finance Basin Reserve. From left to right: Dolly Seow-Ganesan (Sector Manager – Education, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise), Arthur Graves (COO, Whitireia Polytechnic), Don Campbell (CEO, WP), Asoka Weerasundara (Manager, Wellington School of Cricket), Ian Wells (Board Chairman, Cricket Wellington), Gavin Larsen (Cricket Welllington CEO) and Ian Stockwell (Sector Manager – Education, NZTE).

The first intake of four Sri Lankan international students, aged 18-21, will arrive in Wellington between February and June.

The agreement with Whitireia and Wellington School of Cricket is intended to be the first step in developing a number of options for linked sports management and training, utilising the academic programmes from Whitireia and the sports training programmes and facilities of Wellington School of Cricket.

Cricket Wellington CEO Gavin Larsen said "This is an excellent initiative from our School of Cricket. Not only is there a revenue component that will grow over time, but most importantly these young international players will play cricket in Wellington, adding an exciting flavour to our local cricket."

"We will also continue to work with Whitireia in developing programmes for our own young domestic cricketers, offering players the ability to further their education whilst concurrently focusing on a formal cricket development programme," Larsen said.

Whitireia Polytechnic Chief Operating Officer Arthur Graves said he was thrilled with this new initiative. "We look forward to a long-term working relationship with Cricket Wellington, and in due course to having a large and vibrant intake of students who are looking to progress both their studies and their cricket."