Stalwart Amsrewarded forcommitment

A local cricket diehard has been recognised in Perth as male country volunteer of the year.

Chris Ams was presented the award by the West Australian Cricket Association at Perth Stadium while there for country week, in recognition of his large and busy role in Port Hedland and Pilbara cricket.

“It’s just all the volunteer work that I do: the junior co-ordinator, the female co-ordinator, the treasurers of the association, junior coach, I’m also chairman of the Pilbara region cricket board and I’m also the representative for the Pilbara on the country cricket board,” he said.

On a weekly basis, Ams guesses he sinks “probably 20-30” hours into the sport.

“And then obviously I’ve got a full-time role with Fortescue as well, so yeah, life is fairly hectic,” he said. Last year was a big one for our local cricket clubs, with the first junior country week cricket team in 18 years coming together.

This year is quickly becoming big for Port Hedland cricket, with a senior men’s weekend with Exmouth already organised.

Ams hopes to bring Exmouth onto the regional board and later get Broome to join.

He said there were lots of people emerging who wanted to play cricket in Port Hedland.

The teams play under lights during the cooler nights, limiting their available training space to just one ground. “We use that ground every night except the Sunday at the moment for some form of cricket,” Ams said.

“We are trying really hard to get a second pitch under lights. That’s the only thing that’s holding us back from growing at the moment.”