The women’s domestic cricket season gets underway this weekend with three full rounds being played around the country. The Twenty20 competition kick starts the summer with three matches this Friday, before two full rounds of the One Day competition on Saturday and Sunday.
Woman's domestic Twenty20 schedule
Woman's domestic One Day schedule
There will be an extra incentive for players to perform, with spots in the White Ferns up for grabs ahead of the home series against England in February 2015 - White Ferns coach Hamish Barton and selection team will be keeping a close eye on the competition: "A White Ferns selector will be at every match, we've made it clear to the players that domestic performance is a key part of selection. We're looking for a consistently high level of performance and influence on the match, like a player who bats through an innings or takes their wickets at crucial times for example.
"We have England, who are probably the best team in the world at the moment coming here in February, and a tour to India immediately after that. Beyond that there's a lot of White Ferns cricket to be played between now and the 2017 World Cup, including a World T20, so the challenge is out there to all players to make the selectors sit up and take notice," said Barton.
As always, the Auckland Hearts will be tough to beat.
As with last year, each team will play one Twenty20 fixture and two One Day matches each week. At the conclusion of the round-robin, the top two seeded sides will meet in a finals weekend on 24 and 25 January.
Having won the Twenty20 competition and making the final of the One Day competition in 2013-14 after dominating both competitions, the Auckland Hearts will be determined to continue that form. New coach Elfriede Chooi takes over from Haidee Tiffen, but the Hearts retain a largely unchanged squad.
Otago Sparks, last summer’s One Day champions, enter the summer with confidence having broken their drought of competition wins. Suzie Bates and Leigh Kasperek, the one day competition’s leading run scorer and wicket taker, will be joined by White Fern Morna Nielsen and Australian contracted player Nicole Bolton.
White Ferns Sophie Devine and Rachel Priest will undoubtedly play key roles for the Wellington Blaze who retain a stable squad with the only newcomer being Amruta Shirodkar. Northern Spirit has a new coach with Mark Coles taking the reins. White Fern Morna Nielsen has gone to Otago but they have picked up left arm pace bowler Sian Ruck from the Blaze who will form a talented pace trio with Nicola Browne and Felicity Leydon-Davis.
A youthful Central Hinds side will have plenty of opportunities to continue their development, particularly young pace bowler Hannah Rowe, while the Canterbury Magicians will look to their group of experienced White Ferns to lead the way.
White Ferns skipper Suzie Bates will be in action for the Sparks on Friday.
This Friday’s Twenty20 fixtures will see the Hearts host the Sparks, while the Blaze host the Magicians and the Hinds host the Spirit.
"There's a high level of skill on display that can be more subtle than what you'd see at a men's Twenty20 for example - players are hitting the ball in gaps and using the whole range of skills to compete. At the other end of the spectrum, players like Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine hit the ball as hard as anyone. "If you're an up and coming cricketer or a mum and dad with daughters and sons who are cricket mad, I'd say come along, you'll see some exciting and engaging cricket being played," said Barton.
All matches will be live scored on all Major Association websites and www.blackcaps.co.nz.
