Fraser Wilson says after about 15 years on the committee "it’s sort of my turn to have a crack".
Having played almost 20 years for the senior team and about 15 for Otago Country, he’s certainly no slouch at the game, though nowadays only fills in "when they get really, really desperate".
On the committee he used to mainly get involved with senior cricket but he’s pitched in across the board over the past five years.
He notes playing numbers continue to grow.
"We’re up to 250 juniors and in terms of the adult space there’s 36 teams playing six-a-side on Wednesday, six Friday night T20 teams and two senior teams so you’re looking at north of 500 people playing."
At this week’s primary schools’ festival there were 39 boys’ teams and 32 girls’ teams — "we’ve never had more than 20 girls’ teams and I don’t think we’ve had more than 30 boys’ teams".
"On the girls’ side I think there’s probably uptake from the Cricket World Cup and the women winning that."
Wilson says one of the biggest challenges is finding enough grounds for all the players.
One day he’d also like to see an indoor facility.
"One thing we’re really concentrating on is to try and look at all cricket across the board — traditionally it was played by men over a full day, but now it’s adapting to people’s lifestyles and shorter timeframes."
He says the club’s proud how its coaches like Emma Campbell are producing rep players like new Otago Volt Toby Hart, Otago A’s Mason Clarke, under-19 Otago player Hugo Bogue and U19 Otago women Abby Fookes and Honor Gilbert.
Wilson, like others, would love to see Queenstown host more international cricket, "but it’s something we can’t really control".
Meanwhile, Gibbons, under whose reign the club was named New Zealand’s best club by NZ Cricket in 2018, is remaining on the board.
