The return of the Provincial Women’s A Programme has allowed the opportunity for New Zealand’s up-and-coming female cricketers to test their wares against fellow aspiring players.

While weather effected, the MA-led initiative has seen fifteen One Day matches played between Auckland, Northern Districts, Central Districts, and Wellington.

Canterbury and Otago are scheduled to play a series of matches in Timaru this month.

There is no shortage of talent within the programme – this season, teams contained Major Association U19, Maori Secondary Schoolgirls and Gillette Venus Cup representatives.

New Zealand U19 representatives Emma McLeod (Central Districts), and Tash Codyre (Wellington) both represented their associations’ Provincial A side following strong U19 World Cup performances.

NZC’s Head of Women's High Performance, Liz Green, credited Major Associations for their work in developing the programme.

“I have been encouraged by the commitment of the Major Associations to include, and invest in, Women’s A Programmes as part of their own pathway structures which will benefit not only players, but coaches too,” said Green.

“This highlights the positive progress being made within the women’s game, and I genuinely feel that with more playing opportunities and pathway programmes generated at regional level, the more we can be successful on the world stage.” 

For some regions, the return of ‘Women’s A’ cricket has been a long time coming.

Central Districts’ Performance Coach, Jamie Watkins, expressed his excitement to see the programme back up and running.

“For Central Districts it has been 20+ years since we’ve had Women’s A cricket, and it’s really exciting to see it return,” said Watkins.

“This programme addresses the gap between U19 cricket and the Domestic game, which is vital for player development,”

“We played our final match this week and the feedback from players and staff has been glowing.”

To view the Women’s Provincial A Competition Centre, please click here.