Xavier Bell wrapped up his summer season in sensational form, scoring two double-centuries in two weeks.
“One double-hundred is a significant achievement but two is virtually unheard of and would be the most significant achievement for a cricketer in the Northern Districts region this year,” said St Peter’s Cambridge boys 1st XI cricket manager Matthew Markham.
Xavier Bell playing for St Peter’s against Brisbane Grammar School last October in Brisbane. Photo: Amanda Louden.
Now, Bell is weighing his options as he considers a professional career in the sport.
“I’m tossing up maybe taking a gap year in Australia or England to see if I can play club cricket at a high level, or just staying here and playing for Northern Districts to try and make my way up the ranks, the right-handed batsman and right arm offspin bowler said.
“There’s plenty of different options when it comes to cricket. I could try and play for the Black Caps or go overseas, go to a club and hopefully get a bit of money, or work overseas and travel and stuff…I’m still trying to figure it all out at the moment.”
University is another option in the mix, but he said playing professional cricket was “the perfect scenario”.
Xavier on the day he made his first double hundred.
The year 13 student lives in Matamata with his father Russell Bell, who runs a tiling business, and mother Tracey Thompson-Bell, a dentist. He went to primary and intermediate school there before winning a partial sports scholarship to attend St Peter’s as a day student in year 9.
This year, as well as representing St Peter’s, he played for the Northern Districts U19 academy, Northern Districts senior men’s reserve team and Waikato Valley’s top senior men’s team.
He said he’d been battling for form before Christmas – “I was struggling to face 20 balls” – but took a coach’s advice to take a complete break from cricket over the school holidays and began to find form again in term one this year.
His first double-century came after he opened the batting for his Northern Districts U19 team in a match against Auckland at St Paul’s Collegiate School on March 10.
“I got to 100, my eye was in, I was seeing the ball well and I just had the confidence to back myself and play my shots,” he said. “It was just one of those days when everything clicks.”
He finished the match not out on 255 off 143 balls after smashing 16 sixes and 23 fours, and took one wicket off his five overs.
Xavier Bell playing for Northern Districts in the U19 nationals in Christchurch. Photo: Northern Districts Cricket.
The 17-year-old notched up his second double ton just nine days later, playing at home for St Peter’s in round two of the regional Gillette Cup competition against Aquinas College on March 19.
Aiming to score quickly to boost his team’s net run rate, he was eventually dismissed by Asa Banbury for 247 off 138 balls with 10 sixes and 24 boundaries to his name.
The fact he’d amassed more than 500 runs in just two matches was still sinking in, he said.
“You go off the pitch and it’s just another innings, until you really think about it and it’s like 255’s worth celebrating – it’s a once in a lifetime innings, that doesn’t happen every day – and then a week later I did the same so, yeah, it’s pretty unbelievable,” he said.
Bell plans to continue training over winter and was planning to leave today (April 11) for a tour of India with an invitational team until April 25. He will also tour England with his St Peter’s team from June 20-July 16, where he was looking forward to visiting the famous Lord’s Cricket Ground in London.
Xavier Bell playing for Northern Districts in the U19 nationals in Christchurch. Photo: Northern Districts Cricket.
