Youngsters rule Northern Districts Contract list for 2023/24 season

Northern Districts (ND) have announced their contracts for the 2023/24 season, and there are multiple changes to the side from last season.

Yaz Kareem, Tash Wakelin, Jess Watkin and Eve Wolland have all received first-time offers, whilst Nensi Patel returns to the list after missing out on a central contract. Emma Baker, Lauren Heaps (not offered contracts), Eimear Richardson (Ireland duties) and Bernie Bezuidenhout (White Ferns contract) are the changes to the list from last summer.

Yaz Kareem has been offered her first ND contract. Photo - Parnell Cricket

Yaz Kareem has been offered her first professional contract after playing three HBJ Shield games for the ND side last summer. Kareem scored 18 runs across two innings with a high score of 11. She also bowled five overs on her debut and took the wicket of Gemma Adams. On her debut, she also injured her finger while fielding which ruled her out of most of the summer.

Tash Wakelin has been signed up by ND for the summer. Wakelin has played fourteen games for the ND side and has also played four games for the New Zealand U19 side. She made her List A debut in the 2021/22 summer and has played ten games since then, making 48 runs across six innings with a high score of 33. Wakelin has also taken 2 wickets in the 28 overs she has bowled since her debut. In the T20 format, she has scored 17 runs for ND and eight for Aoteaoroa. She also took six wickets at the U19 World Cup earlier this year.

Eve Wolland is another addition to the ND contracts list for the 2023/24 season. Wolland made her debut in both formats for the side last summer, playing six HBJ Shield games and two T20s. In the T20 format, she has scored 26 runs with a high score of 15*. In the six HBJ games she played in, she scored 58 runs with a high score of 22. She also bowled three overs but didn’t take a wicket.

Jess Watkin announced in June that she would be joining the ND side this season. Watkin brings plenty of experience to the side having played 91 List A games and 81 T20s. She has also represented Aotearoa in international cricket playing six ODIs and nine T20s back in 2018. Watkin has a great record behind her having scored over 2100 List A runs and taken 113 wickets with a best of 4/13. She’s also done well in the T20 format having discord 1326 runs and taking 61 runs.

“Getting Jess Watkin to ND is a massive boost. She is clearly a gun player and person. I look forward to her contributions on and off the field.” said Peter Borren, ND head coach.

Northern Districts contracted players: Carol Agafili, Sam Barriball, Lucy Boucher, Marama Downes, Caitlin Gurrey, Yaz Kareem, Kayley Knight, Shriya Naidu, Nensi Patel, Holly Topp, Tash Wakelin, Jess Watkin, Eve Wolland.