Gore's Harriett Cuttance impressing in cricket and netball

If you haven’t heard the name Harriett Cuttance before, there’s a good chance you will soon. As Nathan Burdon discovered, the only question will be which sport it is associated with.

The multi-talented former St Peters College student has already been part of a successful Dunedin netball centre team at national level while still boarding at Columba College, spent two seasons in the Southern Steel development team, played Otago age group cricket and been selected for the New Zealand Maori secondary schools cricket team and made her debut for the Otago Sparks, part of the team which upset the Wellington Blaze to win the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield (50 over competition) in February.

Not a bad resume, right?

“I’ve grown up playing netball and then when I went to Columba I was selected for the national development camp and after that things really started to happen. With cricket, I picked it up about Year 9, because I used to play tennis, and then in Year 10 I started to take it seriously. Pretty much I’ve played it since.”

Cuttance, a right-arm swing bowler, has been in and around the Sparks environment for the past couple of summers. She was set to make her debut earlier in the year but was beaten by the weather in Oamaru.

However, a combination of players heading into camp with the White Ferns and Covid-enforced unavailability meant she was on debut for the Craig Cumming-coached Sparks team in their 50-over final against the previously unbeaten Wellington Blaze.

The Blaze had scorched the Sparks by 75 runs in the final of the twenty-over competition just a month before and were heavily favoured, but Otago went on to win by 138 runs, with Cuttance taking the wicket of Rebecca Burns as the Blaze were extinguished for 82 chasing 220 for nine.

“It was pretty hectic in the week leading up to it but I managed to make my debut in a final, which was pretty cool. We won it and it was a really cool experience. Even though I only played in the last game it was so cool to be in the environment having trained with them all season and seeing them perform like that.”

After growing up in Gore, Cuttance spent two years at boarding school in Dunedin, earning selection in the shooting circle for the Dunedin centre team which finished fourth in the country.

She spent a year at Otago University studying a Bachelor of Science, but wasn’t loving the subject matter and switched to Otago Polytechnic where she is studying nursing.

You probably feel like a cup of tea and a lie down just contemplating all of that, but it’s just life for Cuttance.

“Jo Morrison is the coach of the Southern Blast and Craig Cumming coaches the Sparks and they are both really good at letting me do both. Neither of them have ever mentioned picking one and I’m definitely not at the stage where I need to do that. I really appreciate that from them.”

It is likely that if Cuttance can continue to progress through the ranks, she will have to make a tough choice at some stage.

“I don’t really want to make that decision, but by having that decision it will mean that I’ve gotten far enough in one of them, which is where I want to get to. I used to think it was always going to be netball because I’d played it since I was five and picked up cricket pretty late but now I’m not sure.”

Cuttance doesn’t have to look too far for inspiration when it comes to dual representation. Just up the road, Tapanui-raised twins Kate and Georgia Heffernan both starred on the cricket pitch and netball court.

Now playing alongside each other in the Southern Steel, both played cricket for Otago, with Kate also playing two T20 internationals for New Zealand.

Cuttance played Otago under 21 cricket with both Kate and Georgia.

“It’s obviously really inspiring to see them do it, because not many other people have that sporting combination with netball and cricket so it’s been them that I’ve looked (up) to.”