Uerata thrilled to join ND for Cooks T20 tour

Rees Uerata will be hoping to show his cricketing skills on the international stage when he plays for Northern Districts. Photo / File

It has been a season of firsts for Rotorua cricketer Rees Uerata.

In the 2012-13 cricket season he was named captain of the Central reserve grade team for the first time. Now he is part of the Northern Districts Maori squad who are currently on tour in Rarotonga, helping to raise the profile of Twenty/20 cricket on the island.

Captained by Waikato Valley skipper Leighton Parsons and managed by Northern Districts selector and operations manager Pat Malcon, the team will play Cook Islands representative sides in a series of Twenty/20 matches under lights.

It is the first time Uerata has made a Northern Districts side and it has been a range of emotions since being named.

"It's something I would never have dreamed I would be doing," he said.

"My cricketing career started quite late because I had quite a rough time at school and now, to have this opportunity to go, I just couldn't pass it up."

It is the first time Northern Districts have sent their Maori squad on a tour of the islands and Uerata said it was a huge opportunity for Maori.

"For young Maori players coming through, [this team] opens another channel to promote Maori sport within New Zealand, because there are a lot of talented players out there.

"Particularly for Maori players and it gives them another chance to shine on a bigger stage."

The team flew out on Saturday and will be touring for seven days. They will take on the Cook Islands men's and women's teams.

They play their first game tomorrow night (local time) under lights, another first for Uerata. "I'm nervous as playing against international players, it's not club cricket ... it's huge, it's like me going out to play for ND next week against Auckland. It's amazing really."

Although Uerata has not heard a lot about the teams they will be facing, he knows the country is using these matches to prepare to qualify for the upcoming cricket world cup.

He said playing against a high calibre of player did leave him a little nervous.

"So this is about them getting some decent competition to get prepared for that as well. So there will be some pretty decent calibre of players there.

"The whole atmosphere will be just huge, playing under lights, I've never done that before," Uerata said.

"I'm also having to play with a white ball. I've never done that before, and I'm actually playing in an international match and I've never done that before. So how can you not be excited and nervous at the same time?"

Uerata, a bowler who can find the boundary when he bats, said he had been working on his batting with Rotorua Cricket Association co-ordinator Dave Richardson. "I've been doing a lot with Dave, particularly with my batting, getting my posture right and my balance right."

The Tainui descendant said he was hopeful the hard work he had put in at training would pay off with results on the field.