ROBERT CHARLES
Kate Broadmore
Kate Broadmore is practising imaginary cricket shots in the centre while chatting to Pukekura Park ground staff. She's looking decidedly in her comfort zone.
That's understandable as from almost since she was old enough to hold a cricket bat, the New Plymouth national representative cricket allrounder has spent countless hours either playing or refining her skills.
Broadmore, 20, had dropped in at her favourite cricket venue before heading over to Ireland when the Taranaki Daily News caught up with her.
Since leaving New Plymouth Girls' High School following her year 13, Broadmore has had a busy life juggling playing sport at international level with university studies. She is in her third year studying towards a sport and exercise degree, coupled with a teaching diploma.
Last week, Broadmore headed overseas to take up a four-month contract with Irish cricket club Clontars in Dublin, where she will play in a men's league for the next four months.
"I'm going over to get game time and will be playing in the men's league," said the right-hand batswoman and right-arm medium-fast bowler.
Broadmore is gearing up to play in the Twenty20 World Cup in Sri Lanka, starting in September.
"Obviously that's a huge event and New Zealand Cricket names its team in August when I'm over there so I need to perform over there to make the team. Hopefully I'm selected."
She has the backing of NZC for her overseas sojourn as it was the national body that helped tee up the opportunity.
Along with her cricket gear, Broadmore also packed her study books.
She is carrying on with her degree and will continue with her Massey papers and sit her mid-year exams in Dublin.
That side of things has been organised by the Elite Sport programme the university has in place.
"It's going to be pretty full on, but [the studies] are coming with me," said Broadmore.
While cricket remains Broadmore's main focus, her sporting talents extend to other codes. She has been a Central Districts hockey representative and recently trialled for the national women's sevens rugby team.
"I gave that a bit of a whirl and no-one has had any feedback from that as yet," she said.
She would worry about fitting in any playing programme only if it was offered.
Her winter passion is hockey, something she reluctantly has to give up this season after turning out for New Plymouth United club in a couple of early season games.
"I scored a couple of goals and it's been good to hold a hockey stick for a couple of weeks."
Broadmore has achieved a lot since working her way up through the Taranaki age- group representative cricket ladder.
She has been playing domestic cricket for the Central Hinds, since she was 15.
After being called into the White Ferns national women's cricket side at the end of year 13 at Girls' High, Broadmore has now firmly established a spot in the national lineup.
She described her last season of international cricket as satisfying from a personal point of view, even though the results didn't go the way the team would have liked.
"I was pretty happy. I was consistent with my performances, I thought, right throughout the Rosebowl series against Australia and the tour of England.
"It was just unfortunate that as a team we couldn't put our batting and bowling performances together.
"You have to produce a complete performance if you want to win and we didn't manage that. That was the disappointing part of the season from a team perspective."
Broadmore said the White Ferns have been going through a rebuilding phase for the past couple of years now, with players like Taranaki's Aimee Watkins and Nicola Browne having retired last year after long and successful careers.
"Hopefully, all that can lead us to taking out gold at one of the World Cups next season," Broadmore said.
The White Ferns are up for two World Cup challenges in the coming 10 months. The first is the Twenty20 followed by the one-day World Cup scheduled for March next year in India.
Broadmore is hoping it's a case of going one better in the Twenty20 competition, with New Zealand ending up beaten finalists to Australia in the West Indies in 2010.
"Hopefully this is our year," Broadmore says with a wry smile.
Broadmore said the focus in women's cricket has shifted in more recent times from one-day limited overs games to the shortest form of the game.
"Over the past 12 months we've had a huge focus on developing our Twenty20 game domestically and it's carried onto our international schedule.
"We now play more Twenty20 cricket than one-dayers which in a way is a shame because you don't get the chance to show all your skills. Basically, every ball you face you have to try and hit it to the boundary.
"In 50-over games that's when you can show your true colours. You've got more time."
Broadmore has attracted a full sponsor this year - TAZZ cricket gear and clothing suppliers based in New Zealand.
She is hoping the new bat in particular will bring about a return to the batting form she showed back in her days at school.
Highlights have been many for Broadmore in her sporting endeavours.
"There was a period at school when I scored five consecutive hundreds," Broadmore recalls.
"One was at the national secondary schools' champs and the others were at club and school level. And I haven't scored one since! Maybe it's still coming," she laughed.
Broadmore has other fond memories including receiving the phone call from New Zealand Cricket in November 2009 informing her she had been named in the White Ferns.
"And when I was at NPGHS, we won four national secondary school titles," she said. "That was a buzz."
In her final year at school, Broadmore lost her father Murray after he lost a long battle with cancer. "That was tough, but the support was there," she said.
Her father was a successful cricketer, playing as a top order batsman in the senior ranks for Inglewood and Mangorei. He nurtured Kate's passion for the game from the time she was old enough to hold a cricket bat.
"Murray would be chuffed with what Kate's achieved," said Taranaki cricket stalwart Alistar Jordan this week.
"Mum [Dellwyn] has supported me the whole way through too," said Kate.
Her brother, Sam, is a handy cricketer also playing through the Taranaki age- group sides and is a former member of the New Plymouth Boys High 1st XI.
A couple of days before Kate headed overseas, she and her mother joined Sam for his graduation from Otago University.
Early in August, Kate will head to Sri Lanka to join the White Ferns at a pre- World Cup training camp before returning to Ireland to complete her contract there.
But in the meantime, the focus is on making runs and taking wickets for her new club. That is the priority and, of course, fitting in some study time.
- © Fairfax NZ News