The inaugural Māori Wāhine national cricket tournament starts today, with a chance for young Māori cricketers to make their mark on the game.
Almost 70 years after the White Ferns had their first ever Māori captain, Rona McKenzie will be acknowledged in a new tournament designed to develop Aotearoa’s female Māori cricketers.
McKenzie (Ngāti Awa) played for the White Ferns between 1954 and 1961 as an all-rounder, and captained her country in every test she played. She also represented Auckland for almost 30 years.
She passed away in 1999, three years after the captain of Te Whanganui-a-Tara wāhine Māori squad, Caitlin King, was born.
King says it’s an honour to play in the inaugural Māori Wāhine national cricket tournament, starting in Heretaunga today, and competing for the Rona McKenzie Taonga.
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“I think it’s obviously really fitting and probably very special for her and her whānau,” King (Ngāti Tūwharetoa) says.
“It just feels very much like something that should be happening, and now is happening, and it's very exciting. Not just for myself - the whole coaching staff, even the staff at Cricket Wellington, are excited about it. All the girls are buzzing about it.”
Former White Ferns captain Maia Lewis says it’s only right for this tournament to honour McKenzie.
“She should be honoured when history is made for this first-ever tournament for wāhine Māori,” she says.
“Rona led the way for Māori women in cricket, being the first-ever captain and I was lucky enough to be the second. So I'm pleased to be part of this monumental occasion in some small way, as a selector.
“It's touching and fitting to have Rona's whānau presenting the tāonga to the winning team at this first tournament of its kind.”
King is captaining a very young Wellington side, most of whom have little-to-no experience at the domestic level.
“When we had our first get-together, I was like ‘Ooh wow, I haven’t even seen these girls play club level in Wellington’,” King says, a member of the Wellington Blaze who made her Super Smash debut in 2019.
“But I think it’s just going to inspire them, because it’s obviously not just about the cricket.
“They’re going to play against some domestic players, some people that have got close to playing for New Zealand, or have played for New Zealand. You see that gap and it’s something to aspire to.”
Just two players across the five teams have played for the White Ferns (Jess McFadyen and Sam Barriball), but there have been a handful of Māori White Ferns - including current players Suzie Bates and Lea Tahuhu.
When the Wellington team was named, King was surprised to see her Blaze teammate Nicole Baird on the list.
“I was like ‘I didn’t know you were Māori’, and she was like ‘I didn’t know YOU were Māori’. It’s just not spoken about in the cricket world,” King explains.
“It’s not something that gets batted down, it’s just not something that’s necessarily celebrated.”
Lewis (Ngāti Whātua and Ngāti Maniapoto) says the talent pool is growing.
“There are a lot more top-class Māori female players now throughout Aotearoa than there were in my day, other than myself, Rebecca Rolls and then Suzie Bates after us.
“It is fittingly due but so exciting to see and hopefully the start of this becoming an annual fixture leading to more fixtures for the NZ Māori Women's team.”
King says that it’s something that isn’t spoken about a lot within the sport, but her team for the tournament have been acknowledging those wāhine Māori who have worn the fern.
“There have been successful cricketers who are Māori, but we just didn’t necessarily know that,” she says. She was blown away at a presentation with her team on how many successful White Ferns have been Māori.
“This [the tournament] is just going to lead to more awareness of that, and these girls are obviously going to come through and one day be White Ferns.”
King started playing around the age of seven, sometimes in the backyard with her brothers, or on their team on the weekend - so their mum didn’t have to drive them to separate games.
She went to Havelock North High School, which had a successful girls team, but there weren’t a lot of Māori girls who played cricket. King never really had a cricketing role model, unable to recall watching the White Ferns, or know any wāhine Māori who played.
Having the Māori Wāhine tournament is a chance for these players to see a future in cricket, and King believes it can even go further than that.
“Maybe there will be a Māori domestic women’s team, who knows? Or an invitational team who play your top domestic side or maybe more involvement in pre-season games,” she suggests.
Lewis agrees, and points to the Māori secondary schoolgirls team as another pathway for young wāhine Māori, some of whom have gone on to play in the Super Smash.
“The hope is that this becomes an annual fixture and grows stronger so every province is represented in the future - all six standing alone with tough selection to get into each team,” Lewis says on the new tournament.
“The greater hope for the NZ Māori Women's team would be to have a playing programme created for them involving annual fixtures against an Aboriginal Women's team.
“Māori, like Polynesians, are natural athletes and we must embrace including them in cricket to broaden the talent pool in New Zealand, especially in the Twenty20 format, which is more of a natural format for these cultures. Times could sure be exciting if the opportunity is pounced upon after this.”
The Wellington Wāhine Māori team, captained by Caitlin King (second from left).
While the tournament is just starting, King hopes the standard of cricket will grow over time, as the players grow.
“It’s more opportunity for them to be seen, because cricket is obviously getting much bigger here, and it’s becoming more competitive,” she says.
“It’s a pathway that allows them to have an opportunity to be seen where they might not have necessarily before. Especially, like as we know, Māori have just been a little bit more invisible in the cricket space in New Zealand.
“It's like how we talk about women’s sport in general - if you can’t see it, it’s very hard to believe that you can be it.”
New Zealand Cricket have been making steps to include the Māori culture more in their sport, having commentary in English and Te Reo Māori for the first time this year.
Lewis made history alongside fellow former White Fern Rebecca Rolls (Ngāti Porou), former Black Cap Peter McGlashan (Ngāti Porou) and broadcasters Scotty Morrison (Ngāti Whakaue) and Te Aorere Pewhairangi (Ngāti Porou).
The team commentated on a T20 between the Black Caps and Sri Lanka, integrating English and Te Reo Māori to bring the game to more viewers.
It’s a step in the right direction for a sport that has been predominantly Pākehā in this country.
“We’re finding a space for Māori to be involved in cricket, cause there’s plenty of Māori cricket players out there” King says.
“And it’s not because they’re not good at cricket,” she says, more that it’s not the most visible option for them, and they often turn to other sports where Māori are more celebrated.
“It’s just because then you have things you can talk about and relate to, because kids play sport to have fun, right?”
*The Māori Wāhine National Cricket Tournament is being played in Heretaunga this weekend, from Friday to Sunday.
