White Ferns: World Cup victory tour hits Hawke’s Bay

The Hawke’s Bay member of world champion New Zealand women’s Twenty20 cricket side the White Ferns will be back in the Bay on Wednesday as players continue victory tour with the trophy they won in Dubai last month.

Hawke’s Bay cricketer Rosemary Mair (left) celebrating the ICC Women's T20 World Cup win after New Zealand defeated South Africa in the final in Dubai last month. Photo / Photosport

The 25-year-old Rosemary Mair, a right-arm medium-pace bowler who played a pivotal role in the triumph with a career-best 4-19 in a group-stage win over India and then 3-25 in the win over South Africa in the final, will be joined by fellow Central Hinds player Hannah Rowe, of Palmerston North, for the tour’s Hawke’s Bay public event at Havelock North’s Anderson Park on Wednesday afternoon.

Mair first played for the White Ferns in 2019, part of the experience that was the basis of the triumph in the UAE.

Wellington players Georgia Plimmer and Jess Kerr are also involved in Wednesday’s visit, and the Havelock North Cricket Club will host a 4.30pm-5.30pm barbecue at the park, with fans encouraged to participate in a Q&A session with Mair and Rowe.

The players will earlier have visited Napier Girls’ High School, the former high school of New Zealand Cricket high-performance female pathways manager and former White Fern Sara McGlashan, and Mair’s old stomping ground, Taradale High School.

The nine-day tour, which started in Dunedin almost immediately after the team’s arrival home from the October 3-20 tournament and a one-day cricket series in India, moves to Hamilton on Thursday and ends in Auckland.

The full White Ferns team will be back in Hawke’s Bay in four months to play a limited-overs one-day international against Sri Lanka at McLean Park on March 4, while the Central Hinds will be in Napier for two Dream 11 Super Smash matches, on January 17 and 29.

A big season of cricket at McLean Park starts next week with a four-day men’s Plunket Shield match between Central Stags and Otago Volts.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today and has 51 years of journalism experience, 40 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues and personalities.