Top female cricketers back on the park this long weekend

Taranaki Cricket’s Baker Tilly Women’s Premier Series is back up and running for 2024/25, with the first match scheduled for this Monday in Stratford.

NPOB were the inaugural winners last season, taking out the five match series 3-1 and Stratford will be looking to start with a bang on home soil.

This year’s series is slightly modified and will feature six games – three 40-over match ups followed by three T20 clashes.

TCA General Manager Ryan Evans said the series’ first season last year had been incredibly successful and had been instrumental in a strong showing by the Bartercard Taranaki women’s representative team.

“Getting the girls onto premier quality grass wickets, and with premier grade umpires standing gives our rep players the chance to build into the season in proper cricketing conditions,” he said.

“And for some of the younger players, not quite at that senior representative level yet, it gives the chance to rub shoulders with some of our best women players, test themselves against them, learn from them, and start building confidence at a tougher level of competition.

“We’re very grateful for the support Baker Tilly gives us to help bring this series together each year, so we can continue developing it into a strong link in our female playing pathways.”

The series comes after the Baker Tilly Social Sixes match was held last weekend, which Evans said was a more relaxed environment to introduce new women and girls into the game and which he hoped would grow further in years to come.

This weekend’s game is scheduled to begin at 11am on Monday, at Victoria Park.

Full details including teams, scorecards and live scoring can be found here at Play HQ: Home and Away competition fixtures | PlayHQ