Aisha Rizwan (10), of George St Normal School, bowls and Marley Thompson (8), from Maori Hill, looks on at the Girls Smash cricket competition at Logan Park, yesterday; McKenna Olsen (7), of Port Chalmers School, runs between the wickets; Olivia Gee (10), of Abbotsford School, has a good view of the shot Kayla Ellis, (9) of Anderson's Bay School, is about to hit.
The inaugural outing of the cricketing concept resulted in a large turnout of the South's aspiring female cricketing stars.
The competition attracted 14 teams, made up of a collection of individual players from both Southland and Otago and school teams from those areas.
The Girls Smash is the first girls-only competition of its kind in the South and is designed to encourage younger female players to enjoy the game, in a fun and friendly atmosphere, Otago Cricket Association Operations and Community officer Jess Davidson said.
The competition consists of five weekly rounds of six-a-side matches, in which every girl gets to bat and bowl. A highlight for many of the players was having Otago Sparks team members umpire the games, Davidson said.
