Girl power fuels cricket in the Bay

A couple of years ago, fewer than 10 young girls would turn up to coaching sessions at the Havelock North Junior Cricket Club.  But this summer, that number has exploded to 75 girls aged between five and 16.

For the second year in a row, Havelock will enter an all-girls team in the Year 4-5 Hawkes Bay cricket camp held in the first week of January. But later in the month, the club will also field a team in the Year 6-8 girls camp for the first time.

The Havelock North club has worked hard to grow female engagement in recent years, and two teams at the region’s cricket camps reflects the increase in players they’re seeing come through the gates at their home at Anderson Park.

In the past two years the club has held annual all-girls cricket festivals; this year White Ferns Rosemary Mair and Hannah Rowe spent time working with the girls.

On Friday nights in summer, there are girls-only coaching sessions for players aged between seven and 13 – coached by older female players at the club.

And this month, they’ve had their first stand-alone fixtures, against an all-girls team in Taupo and an all-boy teams at the Havelock North Junior club.

For the club’s manager, Steve Field, seeing progress in the girls’ game is really pleasing.

“Last year [the cricket camp] was all about just playing, so I think the fact they were able to do that and have so much fun probably ticked all the boxes for what we were trying to achieve as a club,” he says.  “And the flow-on from that is we’ve had more girls want to join and come and be part of our coaching programme which is awesome.”

Field has sons who play cricket, but no daughters, and after decades of involvement in the game, he’s loving the enthusiasm of the new female intake.

“The girls are so great to coach and be around. Their attitude is different to boys,” he says. “We’re giving them an opportunity to see what cricket has to offer and show them the pathway they can take. As well as it being social, playing with their friends and not having to be too competitive if they don’t want to.”

Havelock North Junior Girls at the Hawkes Bay cricket camp in 2023. Photo: Supplied

It’s hard to know whether holding the ICC Cricket World Cup in New Zealand last year has inspired young Kiwi girls to pick up a bat and ball. Many of the new cricketing recruits in Havelock North at least, play a number of sports – and some look to the Football Ferns as role models after the recent FIFA Women’s World Cup played on Kiwi soil.

Simon Taylor, Havelock North Junior Girls team manager is delighted with the number of new female faces, which has enabled a second team at camp.

“The best thing is that we’ve got a new crop of girls. We’ve taken half the team from last year and then added to it with a new, younger group coming through, so that’s quite important,” he says.

“They get a chance to have some fun and enjoy what camp is like and then hopefully stay involved for the next few years. That’s a big thing for me; we want to make sure we keep adding to the number of girls we have and not just have the same ones each time.”

Where the Year 4 and 5 camp is made up almost exclusively of boys and mixed teams, the Year 6 to 8 camp is girls-only, providing further opportunities for them to enjoy their cricket with and against other young females.

Justine Laurenson’s daughter, Eva, has been a part of the all-girls team at Havelock North Primary this year and the Year 4-5 camp at the start of 2023. She’ll be back in club colours next month for her second camp.

“What I just loved about last year’s camp is that it was great to see the confidence the girls get in that team environment,” Laurenson says. “They grow a level of confidence that you don’t see in a mixed team.

“Eva’s just so different when she’s playing with boys to when she’s in the girls’ environment; and it’s not that she doesn’t like boys, or doesn’t get on with boys. She’s a lot more timid and doesn’t want to show her personality and I think a lot of the girls are like that, especially at this age.

“The other great thing is that it’s brought the whole community together. A lot of girls are from different schools, so Eva got to meet different people, which is an added bonus.”

All-girls teams from Havelock North Primary (blue) and Te Mata Primary School (red) in only their second annual game this month. Photo: Supplied

The girls playing for the club come from schools throughout the area, with the majority from Havelock North Primary or Te Mata Primary. Both schools have made big strides with more girls playing cricket in 2023, enabling them to field girls-only teams in the Year 5 & 6 Saturday school competition overseen by Hawke’s Bay Cricket.

They’ve also been able to play each other in that competition, as well as a midweek game earlier this month that sat alongside the long-standing boys game between the schools.

Dave Meiring, manager of high performance at Central Districts Cricket Association, has two daughters playing for Te Mata and has been the coach for their all-girls team this year. He sees it crucial to foster and grow the all-girls environment.

“I’m a huge advocate and it’s great to see the girls having that opportunity. I think girls tend to gravitate towards girls and regardless of who they’re playing against, it’s really important that they play with like-minded people and get that social aspect which is hugely important in female sport,” he says.

“The ability for Te Mata and Havelock North Primary to have a girls-only team is a feather in their cap and shows they’ve done some really good work to promote female sport across the board, but in particular with cricket. It’s exciting to see more females coming through the teams below too,” he says.

Meiring is expertly positioned to appreciate the opportunity that going on to play at a cricket camp can provide.

“The improvement they get in their own development over three or four days, playing one or two games a day, you quickly see their skills really start to grow,” he says.  

“They start to understand the game a little bit more and not having a week between games means they learn on a particular day, or even from a morning to an afternoon and they’re able to look at things slightly differently to what they have in the past.

“Boys, by the time they get to the end of high school, have probably played five or six times as much cricket as girls have, so for girls to have the chance of that exposure is crucial to seeing them enjoy the sport. Socially they definitely get a kick out of being around each other for a few days, being on the field and on the sidelines, supporting their teammates.”

With Christmas almost here, there will be a few pieces of cricket equipment wrapped under the tree for many of these girls and next month they’ll be out there giving it their all for their teams. Win, lose or draw, one thing is guaranteed – they’ll all do it with a smile.