Western Bay of Plenty junior cricket kicks off in the region this Saturday, October 27 2018, with over one thousand primary school aged youngsters taking to the field, from Papamoa to Katikati.

With near record numbers playing the game on Saturday morning, every suitable green space has been pressed into action at schools and reserves in the Western Bay of Plenty.

For the first time a standalone girl's competition will take place, with six sides playing in an Intermediate Girls division. Three teams from Tauranga Intermediate School, will play against Aquinas College, Bethlehem College and the newly formed Papamoa Cricket Club.

The emergence of a standalone girl's competition, is the result of the Western Bay of Plenty Cricket's schools cricket awareness program and the Bay of Plenty Crickets GoGirl development program.

Tauranga Intermediate School has long fostered a Girl's cricket development program. In the last decade, Tauranga Intermediate has reached the National Finals of the NZ Cricket Primary School Cup, with highly creditable third place finishes in 2015 and 2016.

In addition to the three teams in the new Intermediate Girls competition, Tauranga Intermediate will also field a side in the open Intermediate Blue competition.

Much of the recent Tauranga Intermediate girl's success is due to teacher Jake Ryan, who has coached the schools Primary School Cup sides for the last five years. Jake has enjoyed watching the progress of his players, with the most notable being sixteen year old Nensi Patel, who is a regular first pick of the Northern Spirit.

Tauranga Intermediate White Ferns (Intermediate Blue) Captain Elle Archer sums up the enthusiasm of Coach Ryan. She enjoys the game and trainings with Coach Jake 'he makes it all fun, we take silly pictures and paste them onto our facebook page – we love playing and being with our friends”.

In addition to the primary school age competitions, twenty secondary school sides will play in two divisions on a Saturday.