In an exceptionally busy long weekend that sees four Ford Trophy, one four-day Plunket Shield and six Hallyburton Johnstone Shield matches across the country, the departure of the WHITE FERNS has opened the door for an influx of 11 new faces as the women's one-day national championship resumes today.
The Central Hinds have named young Hawke's Bay seamer Aniela Apperley in their squad for the first time as they head into their seventh and eighth of the 10 rounds, with Jess Watkin taking over the captaincy duties in the absence of both regular one-day captain Hannah Rowe (WHITE FERNS) and Natalie Dodd (broken finger).
In third spot on the table and looking for a top two qualification berth, the Hinds go up against a fresh-look Auckland Hearts squad that sees veteran Katie Perkins take over the reins from WHITE FERN Lauren Down and includes four young uncapped players: Anna Browning, Sydney Bultitude, Prue Catton and Amberly Parr-Thompson.
The Hearts will be playing their fifth and sixth rounds this weekend, weather permitting at New Plymouth's Pukekura Park with no public admission.
In Oamaru, the top-of-the-table clash between the Otago Sparks (23 points from eight rounds) and Wellington Blaze (21 points from six rounds) sees Dee Doughty take over the Blaze's captaincy from WHITE FERN Maddy Green, with schoolgirl leg-spinner Kate Chandler in line to play her first match since February last season, her debut summer in which she turned heads with a bag of 5-41 at the age of 14 against Canterbury.
The leading run-scorer in this summer's HBJ with 328 runs from five innings at an 82.00 average, Kate Ebrahim takes over the Otago reins from Suzie Bates with Otago Under-19 reps swing bowler Harriett Cuttance, right-arm spinner Chloe Deerness and allrounder Paige Loggenberg all in line to make their debuts for team.
In Hamilton, Northern Districts hosts the Canterbury Magicians with Ireland international Eimear Richardson taking over the captaincy for ND from WHITE FERN Brooke Halliday and Carol Agafili in line for an ND debut.
A Samoan New Zealander from the Papatoetoe club, teenage Agafili's fairytale rise in the game began only three years ago when she was inspired by a speech from former ND and Auckland Heart rep and Samoa captain Regina Lili'i to switch her focus from Kilikiti.
The Canterbury Magicians have also name two potential debutantes this weekend in Izzy Sharp and Harriet Graham, bringing the total number of possible Domestic debuts this weekend in the six matches to 11. Laura Hughes assumes the Magicians' captaincy.
Matches begin today at 10.30am. All matches live-scored at www.nzc.nz and on the NZC app
