Wellington Girls' College back to defend title

Wellington Girls’ College are looking to repeat last year’s effort and retain the New Zealand Community Trust (NZCT) Girls’ Cricket Cup when they contest the 2010 secondary school girls’ cricket national finals tournament next week. 

This year’s finals tournament, the 17th in the history of the event, will be held in Taupo at Owen Delany Park and Kaimanawa Reserve.

The eight participating teams have managed to knock out 120 other schools along the way to the finals. They are the winners of regional contests in each of the six Major Associations  plus the runners-up of the two associations with the most entries; this year from Auckland and Central Districts.

The eight teams are: Avondale College, Epsom Girls Grammar, Hillcrest High School, Wanganui Collegiate, Havelock North High School, Wellington Girls’ College, Christchurch Girls’ high School and St Hilda’s.

From last year’s tournament there are five different finalists: Avondale College, Epsom Girls’ Grammar, Hillcrest High School, Wanganui Collegiate and St Hilda’s, while the other three schools are all returning.

Wanganui Collegiate are in the finals for the first time after knocking out tournament regulars New Plymouth Girls’ High School who have been at the last 13 tournaments winning the NZCT Girls’ Cup seven times.

The NZCT Girls’ Cup is an important occasion for schools to compete against the best and is a critical component of the player development pathway for secondary school girls with numerous White Ferns having played in the NZCT national finals tournament in the past. Two current White Ferns both played in the NZCT finals in 2008 Natalie Dodd and Kate Broadmore.

The eight schools in the finals are divided into two pools of four teams. Within each pool the teams play a round-robin contest over the first three days, before the teams are ranked on performance, then on day four cross-over matches take place between the two pools to decide the 2010 NZCT champion and final placings for the tournament.

The NZCT national finals tournament will be opened at Owen Delany Park at 9.15am on Monday, December 6 and the first round 40 over matches will get under way at 10.30am. The pools and draw for day one are:

GROUP A                    

Hillcrest High School versus Wanganui Collegiate Owen Delany Park

St Hilda’s Collegiate versus Epsom Girls’ Grammar School Kaimanawa Reserve

GROUP B

Christchurch Girls’ High School versus Avondale College Owen Delany Park

Havelock North High School versus Wellington Girls’ College   Owen Delany Park