St Peter's College year 13 pupil Kieren Lloyd has been one of the success stories in Albion's rise in the Southland club cricket ranks.

A few seasons back Albion were floundering in the second tier Combined Country competition and Gore wasn't represented at all in Southland's top-level senior club competition.

A decision was made to step up grades in 2009 and, after initially struggling, they've since become a force in the senior competition.

Part of the motive for the move was to give younger players in the Gore region better opportunities, and has been a shining example of the policy's success.

In his second season playing senior cricket he has been given the opportunity this season to open the batting for Albion and has thrived.

At the completion of the round-robin series for the one-day competition, the 17-year-old finished the second-highest run-scorer in the competition.

He scored 284 runs at an average of 31.56 in nine turns at bat.

So what does Lloyd put his 2012-13 success down to?

"It's listening to the old guys at practice and actually taking it in, not letting it go in one ear and out the other.

"They've been around for a while; they know what to do."

There is some real excitement in the Albion camp at the moment, with the side reaching the final three in the race for the 2012-13 club title.

They knocked over defending champions Marist on Saturday and now will now square off against Appleby this Saturday to try to force their way into the final and take on the Metro Tigers, who have already qualified.

"There's more people turning up to trainings now. Last year they weren't doing much . . . [Now] they're putting all the effort in and hopefully show Gore boys can actually win the comp."

- © Fairfax NZ News

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