Staff at Northland Cricket Association

Neal was born and bred in Whangarei, went to One Tree Point Primary, Bream Bay College and then moved to St Pauls Collegiate on a cricket scholarship to complete his education. He first played senior cricket at the age of 11, made his Northland debut when he was 14 and moved into domestic cricket for Northern Districts at 18. He then spent the next 16 years playing in New Zealand for ND and Wellington, and in the off season would play overseas. His last season was spent playing for Auckland.

After his professional career finished in 2012, Neal moved back to Northland and took up a job at the NCA and through hard work and passion for cricket and the organisation, is now the General Manager. As a NZC Level 2 coach he took over coaching the Northland Men’s team back in 2019 and is still playing club and District cricket, consistently being a top batter for the sides he plays in.

Rob was born in the Solomon Islands while his dad was working for MAF and eventually the family moved back to NZ, settling in Auckland. Rob attended St Peters College and after working in a variety of industries, he found himself re-training as a Primary School Teacher.

After five years and realising he had a real passion for community sport, he became one of Northland Cricket’s Development Officers – based in the northern part of the Whangarei district. Rob’s aims while working at Northland Cricket is to grow new areas and also focus on growing the Maori participation, something he has been implementing through his work in the Far North.

Liam is the Whangarei South and Rodney development officer. Born and raised in Warkworth, he has been affiliated to Kaipara Flats Cricket Club his whole life. Since nappies he was dragged to his fathers Northland games supporting the team and is now in the privileged position to having played for Northland since 2019. 

Sport and cricket has always been his great passions. Liam graduated from AUT in 2018, double majoring in Sport Management and Coach Development. Thanks to a KiwiSport grant from Harbour Sport Liam delivered a year full of Cricket and Turbo Touch in 2019 on behalf of Rodney Cricket Association. This experience paved the way into his current role, and he is grateful for the opportunity to grow cricket across all of Northland.

His aspirations for cricket in Northland are to see all clubs with sustainable junior programmes, ensuring a steady stream of players and a healthy club system. Female cricket is on the rise and a big priority to see more girls participating in the game, either socially or on the pathway through Northland and to higher honours. 

Originally from South Africa, Jason moved to Canada to play cricket before emigrating to New Zealand in 2018.

Working through Northern Districts Cricket, Jason has an advanced development coaching certificate and is our Pathway & Talent coach. His role involves working with our high-performance players and bringing our younger players through the pathways. Jason’s passion for cricket comes through in his own calm and collected way and is excited to see our players develop further within ND and beyond.

Along with being the Northland Cricket Umpire coordinator, Geoff is a familiar face in the office to all those who pop in – he’s always around to fix up, clean up, mop up or run an errand or two. Having been an active umpire since the 1980’s, both in New Zealand and in the UK, Geoff is passionate about umpiring and ensures as many games as possible are officiated during the season.

He’s always on the lookout for new faces to join the umpiring world, so come in and see him if you’re keen!

After growing up in the mighty Hawkes Bay, Kara moved to Christchurch after high school to attend Teachers College. She met her now husband while there and after the 2011 earthquakes they moved with their two young sons to Ruakaka to be closer to family. They eventually shifted to One Tree Point, had another son and Kara is now the part time Office Administrator for Northland Cricket.

She has spent the last 14 years working in office and medical administration and with a background in rowing, cricket, netball, canoe polo and hockey she is now enjoying the challenge of working in the sporting community.

Kara supports the team in the office as well as Mandy and Ayla in the Pavilion and loves working with like-minded people!

Mandy spent over 40 years in the hospitality industry, owning and running her own successful catering business in Northland. After selling her business Mandy took on the role of Pavilion Manger for Northland Cricket. Using her vast knowledge and experience she runs a tight ship and juggles numerous bookings a week in our facilities. Outside of work Mandy is a very successful triathlete, combining this with her love of travel, she has competed at World Championships three times. We are very lucky to have such an experienced professional running our Pavilion!

Ayla got into catering 15 years ago after asking Mandy if she could buy her car – Mandy said yes as long as it was used as a work car and she worked for her!

After having two children and wanting to expand her expertise, Ayla started her own catering business and is now our onsite caterer at Northland Cricket. Her foods are varied and delicious and she has a passion for baking, however her sausage rolls are a favourite around the cricket office!

Outside of catering, Ayla is a busy Mum of two young girls and likes to spend time at the beach, water sports, 10pin bowling and getting out of town when she can.