Cricket: Girls' High School's stars on the rise

Warren Marr

Whangarei Girls' High School's cricket team has done what few Northern Districts female sides have done and won the Northern Districts Qualifier and it is now the first school from outside the Waikato to have its name engraved on the trophy.

In the process, the girls have booked their tickets to the NZCT Secondary Schools Girls' Competition, after being crowned the best in the Northern Districts.

The side - made up of Jade Litchfield, Paige Golightly, Hayley Green, Maria Wright, Brooke Golightly, Eva Pearson, Tia Saunders, Caitlin Phillips, Sam Hardy, Shannon Bucknell, and captained by Olivia Lobb - now has the chance to be national champions, something coach Warren Marr says they like the sound of. "They're all keen to work hard on their game in winter and come back and hopefully win a national title," Northland Cricket general manager Marr said. "We're very proud of them.

"The girls are a captive audience, they listen [and learn]. They're in it for everyone else rather than themselves.

"We were definitely the best [complete] side there as when our stars failed, others stood up."

That's a sentiment that fellow team staff member Dave Lobb agreed with. "Through the tournament, [Olivia] Lobb was only out once in scoring 176 runs [and was] well supported by [Jade] Litchfield in the 120s," Dave said. "The Golightly twins, Paige and Brooke, and Caitlin Phillips, were well supported at the bowling crease by Tia Saunders and Eva Pearson.

"However, the standout feature was the excellent fielding, throwing and catching by all 11 players, creating pressure on the opposition batting - which ultimately won the title."

For Marr it is satisfying to see the Girls' High side progress as there has been a focus on women's cricket in Northland over the past 12 months. "As part of my role as general manager I sit in the office a lot so I miss getting out and coaching," he said. "With it being girls' cricket I thought there's a lot of potential for them to learn. We've had a bit of a focus on girls this season, Stephen [Cunis, Northland Cricket operations manager] and his team have pushed it in the schools."

He added that Northland Cricket's Educare coaching team's efforts weren't in vain as teams for the Leaf Cup, a Northland secondary schools teams tournament, had doubled from four to eight. One aspect of the Girls' High team which impressed Marr was they are into cricket, with the girls watching the Black Caps on TV last week.

Olivia Lobb was one player in particular for Girls' High who excelled in the tournament, being named runner-up for the Most Valuable Player award having made scores of 80 not out, 50 retired, 37 not out, and 9.