New Riddell coach Hayden Castle is looking forward to helping the next generation find their path at the Gisborne and District Cricket Association club.
Castle returned to his junior club in a playing capacity last season and has now stepped into a head coaching role for the first time.
Castle said he felt like he had a lot to pass onto others looking to make their way.
“I’m looking forward to it and it’s something different for me,” he said. “There’s a lot more work behind the scenes with coaching.
“It will be a challenge and something different. I want to try and help the younger kids coming through pathway cricket.
“It can be a bit tough getting the information from older heads. I want to make it a little bit easier and relatable.”
Castle said the young core at the Bombers was what excited him the most stepping into the role. It will be his first senior coaching role, having previously been an assistant coach elsewhere.
He said he would focus a lot on the young kids.
“They are the future of the club,” he said. “I’ll work with the young kids to get better standards and push them to go through the pathways.
“I’ll use my higher cricket knowledge and the way I went about it to make it to the top level.”
Castle and his brother Luke Castle both returned to the Bombers last season after playing at a number of other clubs.
Among the highlights for Castle in his previous stints at the Bombers was a McIntyre Cup premiership and scoring 220, which was a McIntyre Cup record score at the time.
Hayden said it was nice to be back where it all started.
“I thoroughly enjoyed it,” he said. “We just missed out on getting the premiership [last season]
“I had some strong memories from when I was 18-19 years old in the McIntyre Cup grand final.
“It’s good to be back at the club where you win an A-grade grand final.”
The Bombers will be hoping to go one step further this year after just falling short in the Jensen Shield grand final last year, losing by six runs to Lancefield.
Castle said the best team on the day won, but they were still really proud of their season after not expecting to make the grand final at all.
As well as some strong young talent, the Bombers have been busy on the recruiting path.
Kristian Savage, Michael Grey and Peter Cashen have all been announced.
Castle said they were still hoping to add a few more.
“Local cricket and getting that availability and commitment out of them can be hard,” he said.
“It’s still pretty positive coming out of the club.”
Tara Murray
