Cricket: Northland Girls show off skill

Northland Junior Girls cricket team had an outstanding tournament at Kaipara Flats, which featured teams from Hamilton, Waikato Valley and Counties Manukau.

The Northland team was comprised of Year 9 players from various schools in Northland, who were selected from their efforts at the Northland Cricket Association Junior Secondary School Girls Tournament earlier this month.

Northland defeated Counties, the eventual winner, in their first match of the two-day tournament with some great batting by Olivia Lobb (31) and Maria Wright (20), who got Northland through to 94 in their 15 overs and then restricted Counties to 85 in reply.

Northland then went on to beat Waikato Valley A in a close final match to see them finish third overall.

Northland Cricket coach development officer Karl Treiber said the side could have fared better than third.

"We sacrificed our strength at times to provide four players to a Composite team, which the girls rotated through, in order to not have a bye in the tournament after a late defection," Treiber said.

Ironically, the killer game for Northland was against the Composite team, where Northland players Zoee Hoy (23), Natalie Hammond (12) and Olivia Brookland (19) helped the Composite team through to 98.

The Northland team put up a valiant chase to get to 94 with Maria Wright (18) and Olivia Lobb (39).

"So we shot ourselves in the foot a bit, but the girls had a great time and are keen for more. Our mission at Northland Cricket is to keep working with these girls with the aim of developing them into a dominant force in Northern Districts cricket over the next couple of years," Treiber said.