The strength of the East Christchurch Shirley Cricket Club lies in its depth of young talent, which consistently provides representative players for Canterbury.

There are seven international or first-class players in the squad - Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan with the CLEAR Black Caps; Carl Anderson, Michael Papps, Ryan Burson and Marcel McKenzie with the Canterbury Wizards; and Andrew Ellis who played in the New Zealand Under-19 team last year and was also part of the Canterbury winter training squad.

Add to those Scott Pawson who has represented Canterbury in the past, Peter Broom who was in the Canterbury Under-19's last season, and Jason Pawson, Tim Papps and Michael Ford who were in the Canterbury Development Team which toured Australia in January.

Making up the senior squad is the consistent opening batsman Tom Music, former Wellingtonian Aaron Klee and the obstinate Dave Neill.

Captaining the team this year will be left arm spinner Anderson.

East Shirley's wealth of young talent can be attributed to the quality infrastructure of the junior club. With a team of outstanding volunteers coaches, which is uncommon in many regions, led by club stalwart Bill Duncan, the club has managed to groom players until High School cricket, then retain their services back into the senior club.

With so many players unavailable for a large part of the club cricket season, it is imperative the club develops a strong second tier of players to remain competitive. That depth has shown with East Shirley's impressive array of championships in recent times, having won the Senior One-Day Championship for the last two seasons and winning the one and two day double in 1999/00.

East Shirley also finished fourth at the Sovereign National Club Championships last season with an under-strength side due the wedding of a team member during the same week.

Also attributable to the successful player development at East Shirley are the facilities at Burwood Park. The main oval at Burwood provides a fantastic setting for club cricket, very similar to the common village greens in England. The pitch at Burwood is also arguably the best pitch in club cricket in Christchurch.

Easts will ferociously defend their one-day title whilst attempting to emulate their success with the double two seasons ago. Given a full-strength squad, they should also go close in this season's National Club Championships in Auckland.

© CricInfo