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Katie Woolf spoke with NT Cricket CEO Joel Morrison · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joining us in the studio right now.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: NT Cricket Chief Executive Officer Joel Morrison, Good morning to you.
• 0:06
  Speaker 3: Joel, Good morning Katie and well a.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Little Bertie aka Jerry would also messaged me to remind
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: me that you are the umpire of the year as
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: well for the footy.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: He's a good man, Jerry. He's throwing me under the
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: bus a little bit.
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: But yes, I was running around during the NTERFL season
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: and was fortunate to have a reasonable year.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Good on you and Maddie. Hepworth actually raised this in
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  Speaker 2: the news a couple of weeks ago and I was okay.
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  Speaker 3: On a second Joel, it is with cracksh you've got
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: spies everywhere so can't escape. Maddie.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Good on you mate.
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  Speaker 2: I always think that our umpires, you know, no matter
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  Speaker 2: what sport you're talking about, is so very important and
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  Speaker 2: without you guys, without our umpires across all different types
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: of sports, well those sports simply wouldn't happen.
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  Speaker 3: It's a great way to stay involved in any sport
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: really and keep fit and active. And if you enjoy
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  Speaker 3: a sport, whether it's football, cricket or whatever it might be,
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  Speaker 3: it's good to give back to the community as well
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  Speaker 3: and keep back absolutely.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Well mate, we've got you in the studio this morning though,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: to talk about this new program which is getting underway.
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  Speaker 2: It's own developing Australia's aspiring cricketers. It's going to be
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  Speaker 2: launching here in the top end in the dry season.
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  Speaker 2: Tell me a bit more.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we've got a competitive advantage in Australia when it
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  Speaker 3: comes to cricket because we're the only winter club cricket competition.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: And what we're looking to.
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  Speaker 3: Do is bring thirty of the best up and coming
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  Speaker 3: young players from around the country to Darwin to combine
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  Speaker 3: with our best territory players and play ten weeks of
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  Speaker 3: high quality cricket. And given now international cricket is played
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  Speaker 3: three hundred and sixty five days a year in different countries,
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  Speaker 3: different conditions, across three different formats, our emerging players need
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  Speaker 3: to prepare for that eventuality when they're looking to go
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  Speaker 3: to international cricket. And we've got the opportunity to help
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  Speaker 3: out the rest of the country but also strengthen our
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: local community by this Cricket three six five program.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, this is fantastic.
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  Speaker 2: So ten weeks this will run across but well literally
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  Speaker 2: we'll see thirty of those high Will those high performing
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  Speaker 2: players come to the territory, Well, it mean that they're
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  Speaker 2: sort of you know, they're interacting with.
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  Speaker 1: Our territory players and hopefully give us a bit of
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  Speaker 1: a competitive age as well.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, and that's the baity of it from a Northern
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  Speaker 3: Territory point of view. Our best young players will play
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  Speaker 3: and train with and against some of the best young
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  Speaker 3: players around the country. And there'll be a mix of
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  Speaker 3: Australian players, State contracted players as well as young developing players.
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  Speaker 3: And I won't give you the names just yet because
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  Speaker 3: we're still working to finalize things, but we're not too
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  Speaker 3: far away. We'll announce those squads in about four weeks time,
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  Speaker 3: but some really high caliber players, which is really exciting
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  Speaker 3: for our cricket community.
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  Speaker 2: So about four weeks time we'll know exactly who is
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  Speaker 2: going to be coming to the territory. It's are we
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  Speaker 2: becoming a bit more of a draw card post COVID.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 3: One of the great opportunities off the back of COVID,
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  Speaker 3: which we've seen right across the territory is people are
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  Speaker 3: now really starting to think the territory and top end
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  Speaker 3: and where it's been challenging to get some cut through
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  Speaker 3: in recent years. When it comes to a cricket conversation,
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  Speaker 3: people are now really understanding that you can play year
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  Speaker 3: rounds by playing in Darwin and that's particularly important at
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  Speaker 3: the moment when there have been so many programs not
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  Speaker 3: happen nationally over the last twelve months, but particularly because
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: players can't go and play in the UK at the moment,
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  Speaker 3: it gives us an opportunity to cement this program and
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  Speaker 3: ensure it's an annial program that runs for a long
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  Speaker 3: time to come.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and look, I always think anything that we can
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  Speaker 2: do to develop sport in the Northern territory is such
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  Speaker 2: a great idea. And then particularly when you're talking about
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  Speaker 2: the development of those younger players as well, I would
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  Speaker 2: imagine that that's a real push for cricket.
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  Speaker 3: Into Absolutely it gives us a pathway for our young
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  Speaker 3: players to go to any state and pursue their cricketing dreams.
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  Speaker 3: But we also see this as a broader opportunity whereby
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  Speaker 3: this is a cricket product, but it gives us the
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  Speaker 3: opportunity to promote Darwin over ten weeks to a national
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  Speaker 3: and international audience through cricket Australia's online channels and through
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  Speaker 3: the broadcast that are run through their Cricket Australia Facebook
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  Speaker 3: page to showcase the best of Darwin and the top
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  Speaker 3: end in Palmerston over ten weeks to a national audience.
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  Speaker 3: And we're looking to get a couple of teams up
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  Speaker 3: as well who are playing in the Big Bash League.
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  Speaker 3: So exciting opportunities for really high level cricket and professional
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  Speaker 3: teams to get involved in the territory.
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  Speaker 1: That's fantastic.
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  Speaker 2: Sounds like there's lots happening when it comes to cricket
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  Speaker 2: here in the territory. Much else we should know about
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: at the moment.
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  Speaker 3: The local season gets underway on the tenth of April,
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  Speaker 3: which is really exciting. In addition to the senior men's competitions,
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  Speaker 3: we're getting real momentum with our women's competition as well,
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  Speaker 3: which is great to see. We had four teams playing
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  Speaker 3: last year and we expect potentially seven teams to be
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  Speaker 3: playing this year. And the senior women's competition that kicks
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  Speaker 3: off towards the end of the next month, and that's
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  Speaker 3: followed by our junior program kicking off as well in
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  Speaker 3: a month's time.
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  Speaker 1: That's awesome.
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  Speaker 2: So in the women's league, how have you boosted those
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: numbers and bolstered those numbers so well over recent years.
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  Speaker 3: We'll all credit to the local clubs for seeing the
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  Speaker 3: opportunity to really build out cricket being a sport for everyone. Historically,
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  Speaker 3: as we know, it's traditionally been a male skewed sport.
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  Speaker 3: But we've had a lot of momentum around women and
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  Speaker 3: girls getting involved and that's come off the back of
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  Speaker 3: the women's Peak Bash League being so successful. So our
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: clubs have embraced our opportunity and they're seeing great results
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  Speaker 3: because of that that fall time.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's wonderful to see.
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  Speaker 2: What about when you talk about our youngsters, have we
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  Speaker 2: got lots of kids getting involved in cricket at the
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  Speaker 2: moment we do.
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  Speaker 3: We've got academy programs running, we've got a junior component
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  Speaker 3: of the Cricket three six five program we're talking about.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: But clubs are reporting a large influx of young players
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  Speaker 3: at the sort of under nines level this cricket season,
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  Speaker 3: so clearly off the back of a lot of things
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  Speaker 3: not happening last year and kids wanting to get active
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  Speaker 3: and watching the Big Bash League and international cricket over
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  Speaker 3: the summer. They're ready to play in the dry season. Yeah.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: I was going to say, what do you reckon that's
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: attributed to Do you think it is that that we
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: sort of you know, that we've all been a bit
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: pent up. I suppose not being able to do those
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: usual activities as freely as what we could previously.
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: Definitely a component of that for sure. And again a
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  Speaker 3: lot of good work in the competition space with our
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: local clubs to make their clubs really inclusive and attract
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: more young people into the fold. And it's pain dividend
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  Speaker 3: this year which is really exciting to see.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Oh good stuff.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Joel Morrison is lovely to speak to you this morning.
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  Speaker 2: NT Cricket Chief Executive Officer and also Umpire of the year.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Good on you mate, Thank you for your time today.
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  Speaker 3: Good to see you.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Thank you