Four Bay of Plenty players, including two rising Tauranga Girls College stars, have been included in the Northern Spirit's 13-strong squad for the opening rounds of the women's Burger King Super Smash.

The competition kicks off with a full round robin of five matches compressed into four days at Lincoln, near Christchurch, beginning tomorrow.

Captain Samantha Curtis will be joined by fellow Bay residents Kate Anderson, Nensi Patel and Briana Perry in the team which begins its campaign against the Central Hinds tomorrow afternoon. Patel and Perry are mainstays of the Tauranga Girls' College first XI which travels to Christchurch for the Gillette Venus Cup national secondary school girls' tournament in December.

Curtis is happy with the Spirit's pre-season, given the geographical challenges they face trying to get the whole team together.

'We've had a number of pre-season camps in Hamilton, Tauranga and South Auckland where we've managed to get the majority of the squad in attendance.

'We've also had regular regional trainings across the three centres and it has been awesome to see the hard work and commitment being shown by all of the girls.”

In addition to the pre-season work she's also drawing confidence from the support the team, which struggled in both the Twenty20 and one-day competitions last summer, is receiving from above.

'We're determined to be better this season and we've already made great strides with the backing of our CEO and Board.

'The new full-time head coach Kari Carswell is bringing her many years of international playing, captaincy and coaching experience to the role. The environment she has created is one of fun, but also demands hard work and a positive attitude.

'We also have a new and exciting assistant coach in Vic Lind, who merges her tactical and technical knowledge with the clinical and disciplined training culture ingrained in her from more than a decade with the Hearts, which is already rubbing off on the Spirit.”

There are several new faces who will be making their SkyCity Hamilton Northern Spirit debuts in Lincoln. Irish international Eimear Richardson is an exciting all-rounder who joins from the Wellington Blaze, while intimidating fast bowler Lily Mulivai has made the switch from the Auckland Hearts.

The return of seamer Felicity Leydon-Davis is also a boost for the team. She is back to 100 percent bowling fitness after playing in the UK this northern summer and will be one of the lynchpins of the bowling attack.

Medium pacer Briana Perry and off-spinner Charlotte Sarsfield get call-ups after impressing selectors during pre-season, despite only having a handful of caps between them.

Following this week's first round-robin at Lincoln, they continue with the second round in conjunction with the men's competition in December and January, including a double-header with the Knights at Bay Oval on December 27.

Captain Curtis is confident the squad is prepared not only for the challenge at Lincoln, but also the full cricket season ahead.

'We're excited. We think we're going to surprise a few people.

'We're coming to Lincoln ready to play, to kick this season off in the right way.”

SkyCity Hamilton Northern Spirit Burger King Super Smash squad:

Samantha Curtis – Captain (Bay of Plenty/Sonic)

Kate Anderson (Bay of Plenty/Power)

Bernadine Bezuidenhout (Power)

Carolyn Esterhuizen (Sonic)

Katie Gurrey (Counties Manukau/Galaxy)

Brooke Halliday (Counties Manukau/Galaxy)

Mereana Hyde (Sonic)

Felicity Leydon-Davis (Hamilton/Velocity)

Lily Mulivai (Power)

Nensi Patel (Bay of Plenty/Velocity)

Briana Perry (Bay of Plenty/Velocity)

Eimear Richardson (Sonic)

Charlotte Sarsfield (Hamilton/Sonic)