With New Zealand co-hosting the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 and the Black Caps a favourite, the country is becoming gripped by cricket fever, spurred on by the home team's crushing of England.
With 14 teams engaging one-fifth of the world's population, national prideis surging.
You don't even have to understand the rules to get in the spirit. Gone are the days of a dreary sleepy summer game for posh English folk. Now it's all fancy costumes (South Africa's pink), dynamic bowling (Black Caps' Tim Southee), on-pitch antics (sledging Australians) and hot men.
The Bay boasts its own talented players - Kane Williamson and Trent Boult.
Females are getting into cricket for reasons beyond Trent Boult's ability to swing the ball both ways. The recent one-day internationals at Bay Oval that pitted the White Ferns against England may inspire more girls to pick up a bat and ball. Papamoa Primary School has a great girls team called the Pink Caps, which smashed the WBOP Girls Cricket World Cup last year.
School girls and boys are catching cricket fever. In Saturday's Bay of Plenty Times Weekend, development manager for the Bay Cricket Association Tai Bridgman-Raison said that in the build-up to the World Cup, 50 schools had signed up to Cricket Smart, which provides resources for schools involving packs of cards with games.
Western Bay of Plenty Cricket Association secretary Don Warner said when he visits primary schools, everyone knows about the Black Caps.
New Zealand Cricket has done a fabulous job with its initiatives to involve schoolchildren in the sport. Getting boys and girls into the game at primary school level is a great way for kids to get involved in some physical activity that is also fun. The challenge is to encourage them to keep it up after school. World Cup fever is certainly increasing the sport's appeal on a wider scale.
