Youngsters Prevail in First Round Women’s Contract Offers

Vincent Jones previews the Women’s 2024/25 domestic contract offers.

Auckland:

Auckland’s contract list features three new faces on the list with Rishika Jaswal, Cate Pedersen, and Anika Todd all being offered contracts for the 2024/25 season. 

Jaswal and Pedersen have both represented the Auckland side last season, whilst Pedersen also played for Central Districts between 2021 and 2022. 

Jaswal, still in her final year of High School at Takapuna Grammar School has picked up eight wickets throughout her seven List A matches, with her best figures of 2/16 coming on debut last year against Northern Districts in Whangārei. 

Whilst she only appeared in one T20 fixture for the Hearts last season, she did bowl extremely well with figures of 1/16 from her four overs. Jaswal was also the joint winner of the Gillette Venus Player of the Year last summer, alongside Central Districts’ Emma McLeod.

Todd has earned her first contract off the back of impressive performances for Auckland A, U19, and also represented Aotearoa Māori at the Women’s T20 Pacific Cup in January this year.

She grabbed two wickets in the round-robin fixture against Papua New Guinea at the Pacific Cup in Aotearoa Māori’s seven-wicket win. Todd joins her brother, Jamal, in the cricketing circles having earned his first contract for Otago last month.

Pedersen’s inclusion is off the back of a strong summer last year for her club in Auckland, Parnell, with her 482 runs being the second in the competition and heavily assisting in her side's victories last season. 

Performances at the top of the order for Pedersen last season showed the talent that she can bring to the side and the 22-year-old, Rotorua-born representative will be looking to bring up a maiden 50 this coming season.

The departures of both Skye Bowden to Northern Districts and Anna Browning to Otago have left holes in the young Auckland side.

Batters Prue Catton and Saachi Shahri will both be looking to carry on their form from last summer, having represented New Zealand A against England A earlier this year.

The pace bowling attack will be one of Auckland’s stronger parts of the side with Olivia Anderson, Amie Hucker, Bree Illing, and Josie Penfold all showing in the past that when given the opportunity they can perform.

Elizabeth Buchanan will likely be the wicket-keeper for the side when Izzy Gaze isn’t available and all-rounders Bella Armstrong and Kate Irwin round out the rest of the side.

Olivia Anderson, Bella Armstrong, Elizabeth Buchanan, Prue Catton, Amie Hucker, Bree Illing, Kate Irwin, Rishika Jaswal, Cate Pedersen, Josie Penfold, Saachi Shahri, Anika Todd

Northern Districts:

The Northern Districts side for the coming season has seen two new players rewarded with contracts alongside a returning recently retired international player.

Having represented Northern Districts for the past two seasons, Marina Lamplough is rewarded with her first contract for the side. Bringing her international experience to the side from her time with Hong Kong whom she has represented since 2018. 

Lamplough played for Otago between 2018 and 2022, making 20 List A and 11 T20 appearances before moving up to the North Island side in the following season. Whilst she has only played three List A games for Northern, Lamplough has been able to represent them 15 times in T20 fixtures.

Former White Fern, Bernadine Bezuidenhout returns to the contract list having earlier this year announced her retirement from the international game. Having played for both the White Ferns and South Africa, the wicket-keeper batter has been a stalwart of the side since the 2016/17 season. 

With 2940 List A runs and 1411 T20 runs to her name, the experience that she will bring to the side will be useful and provide great opportunities for the younger players to be able to learn from her experience.

Jesse Prasad is the other newly contracted player to the Northern Districts side having also represented Auckland in the past. She played in three T20 matches with two wickets in the season. 

Performances with both the bat and ball in the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield show why she has been offered a contract for the coming season with 139 runs in six innings last season to go with seven wickets and best figures of 3/25.

The side has let go of three players so far with the experienced Sam Barriball the notable name to not be on the contract list. Yaz Kareem, who scored 845 runs for Parnell in Auckland’s club competition is also not included alongside Samoan representative Carol Agafili, and Lucy Boucher who will miss the season for a planned knee surgery. 

Hard-hitting top-order batters Caitlin Gurrey and Jess Watkin will be joined once again by youngsters Eve Wolland and Tash Wakelin to spearhead the batting department.

The pace bowling attack will be led by the now domestic experienced players of Marama Downes and Kayley Knight who will be assisted by Prasad and Shriya Naidu.

All-rounder Nensi Patel will be looking to have a strong season with both the ball and the bat having been a regular in the side for the few seasons. Skye Bowden has moved down to the Northern Districts, but won’t be domestically contracted this season.

Holly Topp will likely work alongside Bezuidenhout as the other keeper in the side.

Bernadine Bezuidenhout, Marama Downes, Caitlin Gurrey, Kayley Knight, Marina Lamplough, Shriya Naidu, Nensi Patel, Jesse Prasad, Holly Topp, Tash Wakelin, Jess Watkin, Eve Wolland

Canterbury:

Canterbury has one new player on their contracting list for the coming season with Harriett Graham earning her first contract for the side. Kate Anderson also joins the contracting list, after losing her national contract earlier this year.

Graham, who was born in New South Wales, Australia made four appearances for Canterbury last season with a high score of 17 against Central Districts. Being a left-handed batter, Graham will bring a point of difference to the side.

Anderson will be looking to get back to her best with the bat following her 2022/23 season where she scored over 500 T20 runs for the side, and was rewarded with a national contract along with a T20I debut for the White Ferns.

Having now represented Canterbury for two seasons, Anderson will want to be able to contribute to the side and get them back on their winning ways with the bat.

Nat Cox, Frankie Mackay, and Laura Hughes all offer their experience to the Canterbury environment with many years of domestic cricket between the three of them.

Mel Banks and Gabby Sullivan will lead the pace bowling attack along with the all-round talent of Jess Simmons. 

Spin bowlers Sarah Asmussen and Abigail Hotton will support Mackay as the three spinning options in the Canterbury side, along with Anderson who can offer a part-time option.

Izzy Sharp and Jodie Dean are exciting young players who have started to gain more opportunities over the last couple of seasons and will be looking to build on this as they play more.

Kate Anderson, Sarah Asmussen, Mel Banks, Nat Cox, Jodie Dean, Harriet Graham, Abigail Hotton, Laura Hughes, Frankie Graham, Izzy Sharp, Jess Simmons, Gabby Sullivan

Wellington: 

The defending Dream 11 Super Smash champions have been able to start the season with consistency in their contracted players. There’s only one new player from last season with Rachel Bryant joining the side, whilst Monique Rees and Gemma Sims drop off the list.

Bryant has already played one game for the Blaze with that coming against Central Districts in February 2023. She captained Wellington’s Under-19 side last season and has been involved with the Blaze’s wider training squad for the last couple of seasons. 

Hard-hitting opener batter Rebecca Burns will likely be paired up for another season at the top of the order with wicket-keeper Jess McFadyen. The pair have formed a good bond together for Wellington, and their experience with both domestic cricket and representation at the international level.

Nicole Baird, Xara Jetly, and Leigh Kasperek were all regular selections in Wellington’s sides last summer and can deliver whenever they are called upon for their turn at the bowling crease.

Caitlin King and Kate Chandler both offer support in the middle order for the Blaze and were crucial with the bat in multiple games last season. Natasha Codyre also retains her contract after a quality last summer.

Antonia Hamilton, Phoenix Williams, and Hannah Francis all retain their contracts and will be looking to get some more regular game time across the season.

Nicole Baird, Rebecca Burns, Rachel Bryant, Kate Chandler, Natasha Codyre, Hannah Francis, Xara Jetly, Leigh Kasperek, Caitlin King, Jess McFadyen, Phoenix Williams

Central Districts:

The girls in green have lost major experience this season with captain and wicket-keeper Nat Dodd being unavailable due to the expected birth of her first child. 

Nelson’s Anna Gaging joins the contract list for the first time this season and will be looking to add to her four List A and one T20 game this season.

The right-arm bowler took her best career figures in last season's final List A game, finishing with 4/43 from ten overs against the Central Hinds at New Plymouth’s Pukekura Park.

A strong pace bowling attack is once again going to play to the Hinds strengths with Claudia Green, Aniela Apperley, and Gaging the three contracted pace bowlers in the side. They will be supported by both Hannah Rowe and Rosemary Mair when they are not on White Ferns duty.

Ocean Bartlett, Flora Devonshire, and Ashtuti Kumar will all lead the spin bowling sides of the game for the Hinds, with both Georgia Atkinson and Emma McLeod able to throw in as a part-time option.

In Dodd’s absence, Kate Gaging will likely take the gloves, having played 22 games for the Central side over the two formats.

Mikaela Greig, fresh off her White Ferns debut last summer will be looking to carry on her strong performances with the bat alongside Thamsyn Newton who will be coming off an off-season of playing rugby for the Hawke’s Bay Tui and the very accomplished Kerry Tomlinson.

Aniela Apperley, Georgia Atkinson, Ocean Bartlett, Flora Devonshire, Anna Gaging, Kate Gaging, Claudia Green, Mikaela Grieg, Ashtuti Kumar, Emma McLeod, Thamsyn Newton, Kerry Tomlinson

Otago:

Otago’s side for the 2024/25 season has gained some experience with Anna Browning, Harriett Cuttance, and Saffron Wilson all receiving offers in the first round. 

Browning, who has played for Auckland since 2022 has made the move to Otago and will be looking to build on her 12 T20 and 12 List A matches. She also represented New Zealand at the ICC Women’s Under 19 T20 World Cup in 2023.

As a middle-order batter who can also offer options as a medium-fast bowler, Browning will be very useful for the Sparks.

Harriett Cuttance has earned her maiden contract for the Sparks. She played in the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield (HBJ) final in 2022, her only List A game, scoring 1* with the bat and taking 1/18 from three overs with the ball. Cuttance also played in the final of the Pacific Cup for Aotearoa Māori.

Saffron Wilson has been offered a recall to the contract list, having missed out on an offer last season. The opening batter showed her class early last season with a 91-ball century against Central Districts at Queen’s Park in Invercargill.

Having 30 List-A matches to her name after a couple of lean first seasons early on, Wilson will be looking to keep upping her average and scoring more runs.

Pace bowler Emma Black was extremely successful with the ball last season and represented New Zealand A in their series against England A. Molly Loe and PJ Watkins will both be of great assistance throughout the season with the ball, as they also have their quality moments last summer.

The batting department for the Sparks was strong last summer with Caitlin Blakely, Olivia Gain, Bella James, and Felicity Robertson all showing their skills with the bat to help lead Otago to the HBJ title. 

Chloe Deerness and Louisa Kotkamp are both relatively new to domestic cricket and will be looking to gain some more opportunities in a strong Otago side this coming season.

Anna Browning, Emma Black, Caitlin Blakely, Harriett Cuttance, Chloe Deerness, Olivia Gain, Bella James, Louisa Kotkamp, Molly Loe, Felicity Robertson, PJ Watkins, Saffron Wilson