White Ferns captain Sophie Devine lifts the trophy as players celebrate winning the Women's T20 World Cup. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The White Ferns stunning T20 World Cup win last year has led to a jump in interest among women and girls in Aotearoa to give cricket a go.
Since New Zealand won their first T20 World Cup in October in Dubai - there has been a 23 percent increase in the total number of female registrations this summer, compared to the previous season.
The head of female engagement at New Zealand Cricket (NZC) Jess Davidson said the timing of the World Cup triumph led nicely into the 2024/25 season.
"We've seen increases in our youth and senior age groups, we still have a multitude of cricket to be delivered between now and the end of the season. We've even got new competitions that have popped up due to increased demand," Davidson said.
"Clubs all across the country are seeing new people, who were inspired by the White Ferns, to go down to their local cricket club and pick up a bat for the first time.
"What we saw immediately following the White Ferns World Cup win, was a 23 percent increase in women and girls registrations for the month of November, compared to November 2023. And that momentum has continued into this year, with 23 percent more registrations in women's and girl's cricket for January, compared to January last year so we've been able to retain that increase."
A further break-down of the numbers showed that there had been a particularly big uptake by girls who want to try the sport out, with a 52 percent increase in youth female programme registrations, compared to this time last year.
Those programmes were designed to introduce girls to cricket. "You might sign up as an individual, come along, there might be 30 girls and you're doing different skills and activities relating to cricket but it's not so much playing a game of cricket."
The White Ferns celebrate their World Cup win, back home in Christchurch. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
There was a variety of playing opportunities available, Davidson said.
"It's not just 11 vs 11 cricket now, there's so many different formats and ways to get involved, whether it's playing six-a-side cricket for 40 minutes on a Thursday after school or it's playing for your club on the weekend. There's different ways to cater to different preferences of how young girls and women want to get involved in cricket.
"It's incredible to see the impact the White Ferns World Cup win has had, particularly at the community level. Following the World Cup we had the nine day White Ferns trophy tour and that stopped in at 10 different cities across New Zealand. The players were absolutely blown away from the public support and just how many people came out to congratulate and celebrate with them.
"We're fortunate to have that platform with the White Ferns win and hopefully it's going to be a great catalyst for more females in the years to come to be inspired to pick up cricket."
Young women and girls were now starting to see cricket as a genuine career opportunity, Davidson said.
"To be able to represent your country, travel the world, all the while being paid to do so, and now with the inclusion of cricket at the Olympics, it's very appealing."
The profile of White Ferns' players had grown substantially over the past few years, Davidson said.
"I have been working in cricket for the last eight years and just going into schools now, you bring the White Ferns along and the kids know who they are so it is amazing to see them becoming household names and there's also much more awareness I think about women's cricket in general."
Amelia Kerr was recently named the world's best women's player. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Women's cricket was also more visible as a result of having a lot of free-to-air cricket available now through TVNZ, Davidson said.
Home White Ferns matches and all domestic Super Smash T20 games have been free-to-air this summer.
"We just got some research, which shows there's been a higher average time spent viewing Super Smash women's matches compared to last season so fans are watching the women's matches for longer. And there's also an increase in female viewership across the Super Smash so more women are actually watching the Super Smash competition across both the men's and women's competitions."
NZC's new five-year strategic plan prioritises growing the number of registered female cricketers. This season, NZC is supporting associations to deliver 59 unique programmes and competitions for 13-18 year old girls.
They were committed to providing sustainable pathways for young women, Davidson said.
"We've got an annual under-17 girls tournament now, we've got a national Under 19s tournament, we've got A programmes now. There's been a much higher volume of provincial A women's cricket this season. We've also got the North vs South series and this week we've got the NZ development women playing against Sri Lanka in a warm-up series."
New Zealand Cricket offered a range of community based female-only competitions and programmes tailored to women and girls.
"They're shorter formats, they're fun, they are changing those perceptions of cricket being long, slow, boring, taking all day. We are just being really innovative and have really low barriers to entry. For lots of our programmes, no experience is necessary and there's heaps of social opportunities for women to come and get involved, they might have played the game previously then stopped, but now we're really encouraging them to come back and get involved."
The White Ferns start their home series against Sri Lanka on Tuesday with an ODI at Napier's McLean Park.
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