Stokes Valley aiming to tour England next season

Stokes Valley leaves on what has become an annual pre-season pilgrimage to Australia for its senior cricket players on Thursday.

But innovative club chairman Russell Cookson is aiming even higher next year.

He is taking the side to England for a three-week tour fashioned through the club connections his players have built in their off-season play in England, Scotland and Holland.

"We'll need quite a bit of money. But we have got sponsors and if we don't happen to get as far as England we will go to Singapore or India.

"Why do it? Who else has done it? We're not only looking at winning on the field, but off it as well," he said.

"We have been working with Ralph Middlebrook, [whose son James has played for Yorkshire and who played several seasons of cricket with Stokes Valley] and our players over there.

"Grant Donaldson and Matthew Walker are in England, Craig McLauchlan is in Amsterdam and we have another player in Scotland. They have all talked with their clubs and they have agreed to play us.

"What we will do is nominate eight players for the trip and leave other spots open for others to compete," he said.

But in the immediate future Stokes Valley, which was Wellington's top club last season, is looking to build on its play of last year to take out back-to-back championships.

"We want to get back to that Sovereign Assurance National Club Championship at the end of the season. We think we've got a point to prove there," he said.

The team will have three matches in Australia, as well as some intense coaching from the ex-coach of the Gold Coast Dolphins, a Brisbane cricket league team, Graham Mackie.

"He's great, we've been wanting him to come to New Zealand, and would love to have him here for two or three months. We'll be talking to him about that when we are over there," Cookson said.

The season ahead may also be the last season the Stokes Valley club bases itself at Delaney Park.

The club is looking at doing some development at Trentham Memorial Park which it sees as a natural place should district cricket be introduced in Wellington.

Cookson said the alliance with Upper Hutt United Cricket Club would be the natural thing for Stokes Valley and offered a lot of potential for cricket in the region.

"Nothing has been confirmed about district cricket, but I am quite excited by the thought," Cookson, who served on New Zealand Cricket's committee which looked at the future of club cricket, said.

"You could have the eight possible teams playing regularly on the four best tracks in the competition with the eight best umpires. It would be great," he said.

"My understanding is that such a scheme is looking pretty positive and that a number of clubs are looking to support it," he said.