Milo Cricket

The association between MILO and cricket in New Zealand began in 1986 in Auckland, which then extended nationally. Since 1999, MILO has been an integral part of New Zealand Cricket’s national junior development programme. A MILO Summer Squad of cricket development officers has been set up throughout the country to deliver MILO cricket skills awareness lessons in primary schools and to conduct MILO holiday clinics. From these children have been enrolled into two key programmes: MILO Have-A-Go Cricket for primary school children aged between 5 and 8 years old and MILO Kiwi Cricket for children aged between 7 and 10 years old.

MILO Have-A-Go Cricket

More than 27,000 children have been involved in the MILO Have-A-Go Cricket programme since its beginning.

MILO Have-A-Go Cricket is an introductory programme for 5 to 8 year old boys and girls entering the game for the first time. It consists of 12 ninety minute sessions in which beginner cricketers learn the basics of batting, bowling and fielding, with the emphasis on skill development, fun and participation.

MILO Kiwi Cricket

MILO Have-A-Go Cricket leads into MILO Kiwi Cricket, the already popular children’s version of cricket played by 7 to 10 year olds. MILO Kiwi Cricket is both a modified game and a skill development programme. It incorporates high participation with the first experience of competition, and provides an opportunity to have fun, learn and practice the essential skills of the game, and use them each week in a real game situation.

MILO National Primary Schools Cricket Championships

These are designed for skilled primary and intermediate cricketers aged 11 to 13 years old. They are national knockout competitions for school first elevens. Preliminary rounds are played in terms one and four within associations, before adjacent association winners play off to find three of the four finalists, the other finalist is the winner of the association with the most entries. The national finals tournament is held in mid-December. Boys’ teams compete for the MILO Cup and girls’ teams compete for the MILO Shield. In 2005, 348 schools entered the championships.

Parents / Teachers / Coaches

Both the MILO Have-A-Go Cricket and MILO Kiwi Cricket programmes are designed to train parents and teachers as coaches and provide them with the necessary resources to teach/coach young cricketers the basic skills of the game. The MILO Summer Squad organise and run free coach education courses for teachers and parents. To date over 8,400 coaches have been trained.

Local South Canterbury Milo Cricket Enthusiasts

Milo cricket has been a succesful way to introduce youngsters to the game of cricket, and the Milo Trophy tournaments are always well supported.

Photos here are of the teams from the 2006 Geraldine tournament.

SC Milo Cricket Co-ordinator

Richard Davidson is the Community Development Officer. Many primary schools have developed their own Milo Trophy competitions which gives children who do not play weekend cricket the opportunity to play the game.

If you have any questions regarding Milo Cricket programmes, or would like assistance establishing them, then contact Davo to see how he can help.

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