Four Bay of Plenty players have been selected to play for the ND Under-18 Girls team at the North Island U18 tournament in Wellington later this month.

Briana Perry, Nensi Patel, Holly Topp and Taneika Uerata are rising stars of the women's game in the Bay and will represent Northern Districts at the tournament which takes place January 16-20.

All four players have debuted for the Bay Senior Women's team in the past couple of years.

Patel, Perry and Topp were also in the Tauranga Girls College side that participated in the National Finals, while Uerata was the Bay of Plenty captain at the 2016 ND Secondary Schoolgirls tournament played in Tauranga last November.

In recent years BOP Cricket has recognised the need to develop the girl's game in the region and four seasons ago adopted New Zealand Cricket's Go-Girl Program.

The program is the first step in their female player pathway, and aims to build a strong junior player base, offer innovative competitions for intermediate and secondary-school aged players, while also ensuring the best possible opportunities exist for players wanting to progress to higher honours.

BOP Cricket are now starting to see the returns on their investment into girls and women's cricket, with Tauranga Girls College representing Northern Districts, at the NZCT Secondary Girls Finals played in December.

Tauranga Intermediate girl's side also enjoyed plenty of success in 2016, winning the ND NZ Post Shield tournament and representing Northern Districts at the National Finals.

ND U18 Schedule at North Island U18 Girls Tournament, Karori Park, Wellington:

· Monday, January 16 – ND v Central Region (T20)

· Tuesday, January 17 – ND v Wellington (50 Over)

· Wednesday, January 18 – ND v Central Region (50 Over)

· Thursday, January 19. ND v Auckland (50 Over)

· Friday, January 20 – Finals playoffs