South Islands Invitational – Girls Development Festival
The Dunedin & Christchurch Red teams after the 2020 Festival Final at Burnside Park
The Christchurch Junior Cricket Association runs an annual Junior Girls Festival in the South Island each year. Teams from throughout the South Island and North Island make their way to Christchurch in January each year to play in the three day T20 competition culminating in placing finals on day 3.
We see this Festival as a key event for further playing opportunities, for Girls from around New Zealand to have fun, meet other Girls and develop their skills, before many are heading off to start high school. The CJCA invite other associations or clubs to consider attending this Girls festival each January in Christchurch.
The South Island Festival is generally held in the last week of January each year, during the week to allow access to grass wickets and better facilities for players and supporters alike.
The Festival was started in 2010 with the objective of giving girls the same playing opportunities to develop their cricket skills, match themselves against other players of the same age, and have a great time. Over the years CJCA continues to promote this opportunity for Girls Cricket. We are fortunate to have great support from our local clubs and the girls have over the years had the opportunity to play on senior grass wickets.
Who can participate?
- All girls must be year 8 or under at the start of the current season.
- Teams can be a club (we have Auckland Cornwall Cricket Club attend each year), or you can amalgamate two or three clubs, or a regional team (e.g. Nelson, Otago Country) or even a major association e.g. Wellington.
Format
- Games are all T20 (including the finals), 5 games per team over 3 days on grass wickets if possible.
Who has participated throughout the years?
- Two CJCA Christchurch teams (Red/Black), Nelson, Cornwall (Auckland), Otago Country, South Canterbury, Dunedin, Two Canterbury Country teams, North Otago, Otago Districts, Wairarapa & Southland.
- The previous winners include Dunedin, Nelson, Canterbury Country, Cornwall, CJCA Red, and CJCA Black.
What is the purpose of the Festival?
- This is a participation and development festival.
- To play some great cricket in a fun environment and make new friends.
- To enable the girls to benchmark themselves against girls they do not know from other regions.
If you would like more information on how to participate you can email us