Girls’ club cricket thriving, some senior women’s teams left behind

Auckland cricket clubs are seeing a rise in registrations from teenage girls, but some senior women’s teams are still struggling for numbers.

New Zealand Cricket has launched campaigns, such as free entry to White Ferns games, to boost the attention women’s cricket receives in the hope of inspiring the next generation into pursuing a career in the sport.

Member of NZC’s communications team Tim Ellis says the free entry to international matches gas shown promising results, with attendance rates higher than tours from previous years.

“From an attendance perspective, the initiative has delivered encouraging results, particularly among families and younger fans.

“For the recently completed T20 series between the White Ferns and Zimbabwe, the average attendance was more than 650 people per match.”

However, the increased interest in the women’s game hasn’t had the same effect on women’s team registrations, with some clubs now struggling to make up team numbers.

Waitākere Cricket Club has noticed more young women registering to play for the U-13 and U-16 grades, but fewer women registering for the premiership grades.

Manager for the Waitākere women’s development premiership team Claire Freeman says they’ve had to combine with Eden-Roskill Cricket Club to have a full team.

“Our numbers have dropped a little bit this year and we were struggling to field a team, I would say that’s probably the trend from like the past three years.”

While she believes the impact the White Ferns and NZC have made on girls’ cricket has been positive, the boosted interest may be taking away from the women’s teams.

Before the girls’ U-16s grade was introduced, Waitākere women’s development premiership and premiership reserves teams relied on younger players being promoted up a grade.

“The year before last we had reasonable numbers, but we were pulling up some of the under 16s.

“They didn’t have an under 16s grade so we were really the only place they could come up to, so we did get some of them.”

NZC claims that it has “worked with local cricket associations to deliver a range of community activations”, yet smaller clubs like Waitākere haven’t seen growth in their women’s teams.

Although still an idea,  a women’s and girls’ day may be on the cards to encourage more mothers and daughters to get involved, says Freeman.

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