Northern Districts women's cricket team

This article is about the women's cricket team. For the men's cricket team, see Northern Districts men's cricket team.

Northern Districts

Top: Northern Districts Cricket logo Bottom: Logo for the Twenty20 team, the Northern Brave
Personnel
Captain	Eimear Richardson
Coach	Joanne Broadbent
Team information
Colours
Founded	First recorded match: 1999
Home ground	Seddon Park, Hamilton
Secondary home ground(s)	Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui Cobham Oval, Whangārei
History
HBJS  wins	0
SS  wins	0
Official website	Northern Districts

The Northern Districts women's cricket team, previously known as Northern Spirit, is the women's representative cricket team of the Northern Districts Cricket Association, based in the northern half of New Zealand's North Island. They play their home games at Seddon Park, Hamilton. They compete in the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield one-day competition and also the Women's Super Smash Twenty20 competition, where they are known as the Northern Brave.

History

Northern Districts joined the New Zealand women's domestic structure in 1999–00, finishing bottom of the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield in their first year of competing. ^[1] Northern Districts have consistently been one of the poorest performers in both the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield and the Twenty20 Super Smash, which began in 2007–08, and are the only current side to have not won a trophy. ^[2]

Northern Districts' best finish in the Super Smash came in its inaugural season, when they finished 3rd with 3 wins. ^[3] In 2019–20, they reached the final of the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield, but lost by 67 runs to Auckland, despite batter Felicity Leydon-Davis scoring 124. ^[4] Northern Districts' Caitlin Gurrey was the leading run-scorer across the whole tournament, with 576 runs. ^[5] In 2020–21, the side finished 4th in both competitions, with 5 wins in the Shield and 3 in the Super Smash. ^{[6] [7]}

On 9 October 2021, it was announced that the Northern Districts Cricket Association were combining the brands of the men's and women's teams for the Super Smash, with both teams becoming known as Northern Brave. ^[8]

Grounds

Northern Districts' first match was played at St Paul's Collegiate Ground. Their primary ground soon became Westpac Trust Park, Hamilton, as well as using Wintech Park in the same city. ^[9]

From 2005, Northern Districts began using Blake Park, Mount Maunganui (later Bay Oval) as their main home ground, as well as later using Cobham Oval, Whangārei and returning to Westpac Trust Park, now renamed Seddon Park. The side has also occasionally used St Peter's School, Cambridge, as well as returning to St Paul's Collegiate Ground. In 2021–22 and 2022–23, they played the majority of their home games at Seddon Park, as well as playing at Bay Oval and at Cobham Oval. ^{[9] [10] [11]}

Players

Current squad

Based on squad announced for the 2023–24 season. Players in bold have international caps. ^[12]

No.	Name	Nationality	Birth date	Batting style	Bowling style	Notes
Batters
3	Lucy Boucher	New Zealand	(2001-10-23) 23 October 2001 (age 22)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
13	Yasmeen Kareem	New Zealand	(1999-09-08) 8 September 1999 (age 24)	Left-handed	Right-arm medium
23	Caitlin Gurrey	New Zealand	(1995-07-19) 19 July 1995 (age 29)	Right-handed	—
28	Samantha Barriball	New Zealand	(1985-10-28) 28 October 1985 (age 38)	Right-handed	Right-arm leg break
All-rounders
2	Carol Agafili	New Zealand	(2002-11-20) 20 November 2002 (age 21)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
4	Jess Watkin	New Zealand	(1998-05-07) 7 May 1998 (age 26)	Right-handed	Right-arm off break
8	Eimear Richardson	Ireland	(1986-09-14) 14 September 1986 (age 37)	Right-handed	Right-arm off break	Captain
15	Nensi Patel	New Zealand	(2002-05-27) 27 May 2002 (age 22)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
Wicket-keepers
5	Holly Topp	New Zealand	(2001-08-21) 21 August 2001 (age 23)	Right-handed	—
12	Bernadine Bezuidenhout	New Zealand	(1993-09-14) 14 September 1993 (age 30)	Right-handed	—
Bowlers
7	Marina Lamplough	Hong Kong	(1999-09-28) 28 September 1999 (age 24)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
11	Marama Downes	New Zealand	(2002-12-04) 4 December 2002 (age 21)	Unknown	Right-arm medium
19	Tash Wakelin	New Zealand	(2005-12-19) 19 December 2005 (age 18)	Right-handed	Right-arm off break
20	Kayley Knight	New Zealand	(2003-10-20) 20 October 2003 (age 20)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
26	Shriya Naidu	New Zealand	(1995-11-26) 26 November 1995 (age 28)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
35	Jesse Prasad	New Zealand	(1999-01-19) 19 January 1999 (age 25)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
74	Eve Wolland	New Zealand	(2006-07-07) 7 July 2006 (age 18)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium

Notable players

Players who have played for Northern Districts and played internationally are listed below, in order of first international appearance (given in brackets): ^[13]

• Emily Drumm (1992)
• Catherine O'Neill (1993)
• Caitriona Beggs (1995)
• Charlotte Edwards (1996)
• Katie Pulford (1999)
• Donna Trow (1999)
• Kari Carswell (2001)
• Mandie Godliman (2002)
• Nicola Browne (2002)
• Louise Milliken (2002)
• Eimear Richardson (2005)
• Ros Kember (2006)
• Elyse Villani (2009)
• Chamari Athapaththu (2009)
• Morna Nielsen (2010)
• Natalie Dodd (2010)
• Kelly Anderson (2011)
• Kerry-Anne Tomlinson (2011)
• Anna Peterson (2012)
• Holly Ferling (2013)
• Samantha Curtis (2014)
• Holly Huddleston (2014)
• Hayley Jensen (2014)
• Felicity Leydon-Davis (2014)
• Bernadine Bezuidenhout (2014) ^{[lower-alpha 1]}
• Beth Mooney (2016)
• Naomi Stalenberg (2016)
• Amanda-Jade Wellington (2016)
• Ashleigh Gardner (2017)
• Jess Watkin (2018)
• Katie McGill (2018)
• Neisha Pratt (2018)
• Caitlin Gurrey (2019)
• Marina Lamplough (2019)
• Regina Lili'i (2019)
• Lily Mulivai (2019)
• Brooke Halliday (2021)
• Kate Anderson (2023)
• Carol Agafili (2024)

Olympian Emma Twigg has also represented the team, fielding as the twelfth man in Northern Districts' final match of the 2021–22 Super Smash. ^[14]

Coaching staff

• Head Coach: Joanna Broadbent ^[15]

Honours

• Hallyburton Johnstone Shield:
  • Winners (0):
  • Best finish: Runners-up (2019–20)
• Women's Super Smash:
  • Winners (0):
  • Best finish: 3rd (2007–08)

See also

• Northern Districts men's cricket team

Notes

1. Bezuidenhout represented both South Africa and New Zealand in international cricket.

References

1. "State Insurance Cup 1999–00 Table". CricketArchive. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
2. Watkin, Evan (October 2015). "The History of Women's Domestic Cricket in New Zealand" (PDF). Cricket Wellington. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 April 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
3. "State League Twenty20 2007–08 Table". CricketArchive. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
4. "Grand Final, Hallyburton Johnstone Shield 2019–20, 14 March 2020". New Zealand Cricket. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
5. "Batting and Fielding in Hallyburton Johnstone Shield 2019–20 (Ordered by Runs)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
6. "Hallyburton Johnstone 2020–21 Table". CricketArchive. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
7. "Dream11 Women's Super Smash 2020–21 Table". CricketArchive. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
8. "Northern Districts Make Brave Change". Northern Districts. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
9. "Women's List A Matches played by Northern Districts Women". CricketArchive. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
10. "Women's Twenty20 Matches played by Northern Districts Women". CricketArchive. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
11. "Women's Miscellaneous Matches played by Northern Districts Women". CricketArchive. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
12. "Strong 2023-24 Contract List Announced for Northern Districts Women". Northern Districts. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
13. "Northern Districts Women Players". CricketArchive. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
14. "Emma Twigg keeps her oar in – but dabbles with a bat too". Stuff. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
15. "Northern Districts Head Coaches Selected for 2020–21". Northern Districts. Retrieved 4 April 2021.