Tauranga's keen cricket-playing girls get festival ahead of ICC Women's Cricket World Cup

Thornton School's Ava Costello, 9, with the ICC Women's World Cup Trophy at the Rainbow Festival cricket day at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. Photo / Jamie Troughton

What better way to keep the fire of the growing interest in girls' cricket burning in the Bay than a cricket festival just before international stars compete in Tauranga?

With the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2022 just weeks away, 40 primary school girls relished a chance to take part in a special event to celebrate girls' cricket in the Bay yesterday.

The Northern District Cricket Association's annual Rainbow Festival at Bay Oval saw 40 Year 4 to 6 girls from around the region take part in three games of modified cricket.

In previous years, around 300 girls took part in the festival. Covid-19 restrictions dwindled numbers.

It comes as the first game of the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2022 - New Zealand Women and West Indies Woman - is just weeks away.

Tauranga will host the opening ceremony and a total of seven games with the first at Bay Oval on March 4.

Alongside the tournament, the festival also included a 'cricket world cup-themed carnival' to celebrate the 2022 world cup.

Tauranga City Council venues and events manager Nelita Byrne said the festival provided a chance to inspire a future generation of female cricket players.

Hosting multiple events in the competition would be "a once in a lifetime chance" to showcase the city to the world and grow Tauranga's reputation as one of New Zealand's premiere event-friendly destinations, Byrne said.

She hoped the inspiration for future cricketers would be the same as it was for keen snowboarders watching gold and silver snowboarding medalist Zoi Sadowski-Synnott recently.

Byrne said the Cricket World Cup 2022 would "delight" audiences with world-class cricket.

Northern District Cricket Association cricket development manager Scott Steward said the focus of the festival this week was to have a fun cricket experience with friends.

"The event was a roaring success; the girls thoroughly enjoyed the day in the sun, playing and laughing with their friends. The addition of a lunchtime carnival was a huge hit," he said.

Steward said cricket's popularity among tamariki and rangatahi in the Bay of Plenty had been on the rise over the past three years, despite Covid-19 disruptions.

For the first time, the association is planning to transition into an open age-group women's competition next season.

Eight teams will compete in the world cup in Christchurch, Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Dunedin until April 3 in 31 matches over 31 days.