The Northern District U18 Girls team recently returned from Wellington after playing in the North Island U18 Championship.  The competition was played over 2 formats, 20 overs and 50 overs at the picturesque Karori Cricket Club.

First up for the ND girls was a 20 over game against Central Regions and if ever there was a game to learn from and approve on, then this was it.  There was some strong hitting on display from the central girls and when they posted 175/6 off their 20 overs it was always going to be a tough ask.  The ND girls stuck to their task and reached 111/6 after their 20 overs, with Jade Litchfield top scoring with 21.

The start of the 50 over competition the next day gave the girls a good opportunity to put into practice all the things spoken about the day before.  Having won the toss, captain Briana Perry had no hesitation in batting first and that decision was rewarded with a 97 run victory over hosts Wellington.  There were 4 main contributors with the bat, Sarah Parker (28), Briana Perry (56), Holly Topp (29) and Jade Litchfield (25), all helped the team to 213 all out.  The bowlers stuck to their task well and adapted well to bowling in windy conditions.  Six of the bowlers all picked up wickets, Nenis Patel, Phoebe Taylor, Briana Perry & Tia Saunders all picked up 2 wickets each, while Courtney Hayes and Emma Walton picked up 1 each.  A solid all round display from the ND girls.

The weather forecast on Wednesday wasn't the best, so before the weather hit it was agreed to shorten the games to 30 overs.  After winning the toss again, ND opted to bat first in the 30 over game against Central.  ND posted a respectable 149/6, Briana Perry scoring her 2nd 50 off the week to finishing on 57 and there was useful contribution from Nenis Patel who scored 30 off 32 balls.  The central girls scored quickly and eventually passed the ND total 5 wickets down with 5.3 overs remaining.  Briana Perry was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/35.

The 50 over game against Auckland was cancelled and the last 20 over game against Wellington on Friday was reduced to 8 overs per side after persistent rain the night before.

ND batted first and reached 46/4 after their 8 overs, slightly below par but nonetheless defendable.  The Wellington batters clearly had different ideas as they reached 49/1 after 6.3 overs.  A display of excellent hitting and running between the wickets from the Wellington batters.

Congratulations to Briana Perry, Holly Topp and Jade Litchfield who all made the tournament team and to Briana Perry who was named ND player of the week.

Thank you to all the ND spectators who made the trip to Wellington and supported the girls throughout the week.