Rep sides from throughout the country were expected at the under-15 competition, while the districts involved teams from Christchurch, Nelson, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu and Wanganui.
"Next week there will be 10 teams in total between the under-15s and districts and with 15-a-side we will play host to 150 players for the week. And, of course, each of those players will have two or three supporters, coaches and managers, so the numbers of visitors to the city will be huge," Raj said.
Coaches of the visiting under-15 sides are all former or current first-class players, while White Ferns captain Suzie Bates coaches the Otago team and dual international Sophie Devine the Wellington X1. Devine is a White Fern and has also represented New Zealand in hockey.
"Sophie is also the under-15 tournament ambassador and will act as a mentor for the young girls, although in saying that so will Suzie and the other coaches," Raj said.
"We have been helped out through the Wanganui District Council's Impact fund and we would certainly struggle to run events like these without that support.
"The under-15s and district tournaments run for four days next week and they will be followed in the ensuing weeks by the boys' under-15, under-13, under-12 and under-11 events, so there will be a huge influx of people in Wanganui pretty much the entire month of January."
And for the first time, loyal supporters of the home sides and visiting teams will be able to follow their favourite players and teams' progress through a live online scoring facility.
"Victoria Park has long been a black spot for computer technology, but thanks to John Goodare at Vodafone in Wanganui we can now upload scores as they happen to both crichq.com and the Cricket Wanganui website," Raj said.
Goodare had created wireless hotspots, enabling scores to be entered on to tablets at the park.
The Victoria Park No4 wicket will be rested during the under-15 girls' event after vandals in a car carved up the pitch on Saturday.
