Mangaia women make historic season debut

The island of Mangaia will welcome the first ever Mangaia womens cricket season, starting from tomorrow.

This historic beginning has been in the pipeline for some time, but gathered a lot of momentum with the recent Manea Games hosted by the island, which included mens and womens cricket for the first time.

Mangaia womens cricket organiser Naomi Mareto has been instrumental in putting together this inaugural womens season and has indicated around six teams from the three villages of Oneroa, Ivirua and Tamarua will take to the field to do battle.

We just had the meeting last week, and the girls are really excited about giving cricket a go. We just needed a little help and Im pleased to say with our men right behind us, we are looking forward to a wonderful season of cricket ahead, Mareto says.

The Mangaian community has been working hard to develop cricket on the island, with recent Cook Islands Cricket Association trips involving the ANZ In Schools Cricket programme and also umpiring and coaching educational courses.

Many thanks also to Taoi Nooroa and Helen Henry and their team for the support in keeping cricket on the front foot in Mangaia.

With a recent injection of new gears, theres never been a better time to start Mangaia womens foray into cricketing history, and with the mens season due to start soon, there will definitely be a lot of boomtown action and plenty of thrills and spills to keep the island in a good festive mood all season long.