New Zealand Cricket (NZC) announced the introduction of the Māori Women’s National Tournament. This decision was taken after looking at the success of the Māori Men’s National Tournament which was held this year.
The tournament will start on 13th October and will go on until 15th October. The matches will be played at Cornwall Park, Hastings. The tournament will feature 5 teams, with teams facing each other once. It will be played in T20 format.
Andrew Tara, New Zealand Cricket Diversity and Inclusion head said, “This inaugural tournament provides a unique opportunity for our talented wāhine Māori cricketers to showcase their skills against some of the best players in the country, create a lasting legacy for wāhine Māori cricketers, and increase visibility of cricket.”
This tournament will increase the pathway created by the Māori Secondary Schoolgirls programme which was started during the summer of 2018/19.
Earlier this year, Central Hinds all-rounder Kerry Tomlinson said that Māori is an untapped pool of talent for New Zealand Cricket.
She also said that “I think you’ll see more Māori players because we’ve always been here – it’s just we haven’t been acknowledged. With the backing of New Zealand Cricket, that’s going to become more apparent, and people are going to start to recognise, ‘Hey, I’m actually associated to this iwi and have those connections here’. So yeah, to have the sporting body of New Zealand cricketers, is massive, massive for us.”
This tournament will create a brilliant opportunity for wāhine Māori to showcase their talent on such a huge and crucial platform.
Source: NZHerald
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