The Otago Cricket Association is launching its first genuine female-only competition and is hoping to get young girls playing the game.
Girls Smash will be played in six centres across the South: Dunedin, North Otago, Invercargill, Gore, Queenstown and Central Otago.
Games are six-a-side and will be 12 overs for each innings. Every girl will get a bat and a bowl.
Otago Cricket Association operations and community officer Jess Davidson said the short format was a good way to introduce the game to girls. It is targeting girls aged 8-12.
''The competition will be used as an introduction for many girls to the sport of cricket but in a short, modified version of the game which focuses largely on the social side, a recognised driving force behind continued female participation in cricket,'' she said.
Girls had to play with boys at the moment and often found themselves well down the batting order and struggling to get a bowl.
Under this new competition, that would not be an issue.
She said there was no cost to get involved and the association already had six teams registered.
The competition starts on February 13 and runs for five weeks on one weeknight per week.
Schools were encouraged to have teams but if someone wanted to play but could not find a team at their school they should contact Otago Cricket Association.
Women's cricket was growing in popularity and the new competition would be a way to learn the basics, and then continue to develop their game as they went up through the grades, Davidson said.
