Building for tomorrow: West Pennant Hills Cherrybrook cricketers James Byrne, James Tierney and Jordan Netto meet Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke during a grade cricket match between Western Suburbs and North Sydney. Picture: Dallas Kilponen
HORNSBY Ku-ring-gai & Hills District Cricket Association registrations continue to grow. West Pennant Hills Cherrybrook leads the way with 705 players.
The figure — which is a combination of 43 senior, junior and Kanga cricket teams — makes West Pennant Hills Cherrybrook the biggest club in NSW.
A spokesman confirmed the tag of being the biggest club in NSW but played down reports of being the biggest in the country.
"I guess we are one of the bigger clubs and maybe even the largest, but I think this is hard to prove either way," the spokesman said.
"We are, of course, interested in our numbers but it doesn't distract us from making sure we have the coaching and support in place to make our club one that people want to play for."
Club chairman Barry McDonald said much of the club's success was down to a "participation over results policy".
"Last season highlighted how successful we can be," McDonald said.
"We have a high retention rate and many of the parents get involved as volunteers."
The club's golden moment came in March when its A grade team broke a six-year Asquith stranglehold on the competition to win the premiership for the first time since 2002/03.
"Every season we pay to put around 20 coaches through the Cricket NSW coaching accreditation course," McDonald said.
"We have arranged for juniors to have coaching sessions with former Test players including Craig McDermott and Corey Collymore of the West Indies."