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Home / Sport / Cricket / White Ferns

Cricket prodigy selected for Northern Districts U21 side

By Adam Pearse
Northern Advocate (Whangarei)·
3 Dec, 2018 07:30 PM4 mins to read

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Makayla will be looking to prove herself out on the pitch when she takes on the rest of the country's U21 cricketers in their Auckland tournament. Photo / John Stone

Makayla will be looking to prove herself out on the pitch when she takes on the rest of the country's U21 cricketers in their Auckland tournament. Photo / John Stone

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Makayla Templeton has taken the next step towards her future as a professional cricketer, being selected for the Northern Districts under-21 team at just 16 years of age.

Templeton will travel with the team to a tournament in about two weeks in Auckland where she will face off against the best U21 players in the country.

"It was my goal to get into the team but I didn't necessarily think I was going to make it," Templeton said.

The Whangārei Girls High School student had shown promise as a talented batter and leg-spin bowler, competing for her school's top team as well as the Whangārei Boys High School 2nd Xl. She also plays in the women-only Northern Premier League which integrated school-aged players with ones who played at representative level.

Templeton will be taking part in the Northern Districts secondary schools girls cricket tournament in Tauranga which started yesterday. She scored her maiden century at the tournament last year and was keen to back it up with more good performances.

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"The goal is not to lose all our games. We've got a new bunch of girls and I'm the oldest in team but we've got a lot of good Year 7 and 8 girls coming through."

She has seen more girls getting into cricket which would help the overall standard of play and improve girls' cricket tournaments.

Templeton said her goal was to make the Northern Districts womens' team, the Northern Spirit, by the time she finished high school.

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"I just want to go as far as I can. To do that I just need to keep working hard and keep training heaps."

Templeton said playing with boys her age had been difficult, particularly when she first started.

"It challenges me a lot. I think they struggled a bit having a girl in their team but I've been playing with them for three years now so they're used to me.

"I just want to prove myself. I did that eventually and that was very satisfying. It's awesome especially when the boys congratulate me, it's like, 'Wow I'm one of them'."

It hasn't been an easy ride for Templeton as she was a type 1 diabetic, like White Fern superstar Sophie Devine. Templeton didn't feel like it held her back.

"Watching what [Sophie] can do makes me think I can do it too. Sometimes I'll go low in [blood sugar] in the middle of a game so I'll have to stop.

"If anything, it's just made me more aware of what I'm doing in a way and what I'm eating."

Northland Cricket junior representative director Karl Treiber has coached Templeton for about four years and he said she was as good as anyone in the Northland area.

"She stood out quite quickly from the rest from an early age. She has really good hand-eye co-ordination and is very coachable.

"She could adapt and take on information very quickly which for other people can be a bit of a struggle sometimes."

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Treiber said Templeton was rare in how she would look to dominate the ball which deviated from how the women's game had traditionally been played.

"Makayla is definitely one that took to it quite well and was prepared to hit the ball. She's actually quite scary around the other girls because they kind of bowl at her then run away because the ball is coming back at 100 miles an hour."

He said he would have been surprised if she missed out on the U21 side because she was playing so well, even in the boys' league.

"There's no way she's the inferior player amongst that team and it's a battle even though she's a confident person, you've still got to score the runs and get the wickets and get the tick in confidence box to know you can compete."

Treiber said Templeton could be in the national side in about five years' time but it was up to her if she would choose to go down that path.

"The real turning point will be establishing herself and regularly playing for the Spirit and it's a short step from there into the national side. If you've got someone that can throw 50 metres flat, can bowl wrist spin, and be an attacking batter, it's manna from heaven for the selectors really.''

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