Cricket Fiji ready for Women's National Champs

Preparations are well underway for the Women's National Championships being held at Albert Park in Suva from the 10th to 13th January 2012.

Now its third year, this has become an annual event and a showcase for women's cricket in Fiji. The tournament continues to get stronger and stronger each year as the standard of women's cricket improves and playing numbers increase.

Cricket Fiji CEO Jon Symonds says that Cricket Fiji is focussed on using cricket as a vehicle to deliver strong social messages and gender equality. Promoting women's participation in sport has always been one of the leading strategic pathways of their 'Cricket through Communities' program.

"We continue to be pleasantly surprised by the exciting growth of the game amongst women. We are seeing more and more females of all ages taking up the game with over 7,500 girls partaking in 'have a go cricket' this year ? this all bodes very well for the future of the game."

Steve Jenkin, Cricket Fiji's High Performance Manager and the tournament director is confident that the grounds will be ready.

"I have had several meetings with the Suva Council and they have assured me it will be ready for this show piece event".

"This is a big year for women's cricket with a international tour in March and these ladies have got it all to play for," Jenkin also went on to say.

The Moce team has arrived in Suva and are looking forward to showcasing the talent on the Island. The Nadi and Lautoka teams are putting their final preparations in place and will travel down to Suva on Monday.

The competition starts on Albert Park 2 at 930am on the 10th with the Nadi Jets taking on the Lautoka Canes and that is followed at 1pm with the Suva Diamonds taking on the Suva Flames. Moce have a bye on Day One.