On the back of a summer in which a bunch of talented young women entered the White Ferns mix, we deliver the 10 best young women cricketers after the 2024/25 summer. This follows the same boundaries of the men's yarn with a focus on players who are 25-years-old or younger and have not played for White Ferns.

Bree Illing (21yrs), Emma McLeod (19yrs), Izzy Sharp (20yrs) and Flora Devonshire (22yrs) are younger wahine who made their White Ferns debuts this summer. Polly Inglis (28yrs) and Bella James (26yrs) also debuted for Aotearoa as examples of how kiwi cricket has plenty of youngsters on the rise in both Blackcaps/White Ferns pipelines, yet there is the thread of older players getting better as well.

There are a few honourable mentions to highlight first. Prue Catton (21yrs) showed her all-round talent this summer for Auckland. Northern Districts duo Natasha Wakelin (19yrs) and Eve Wolland (18yrs) had a 50+ score each in HBJ Shield, while spending a chunk of the summer at the Under 19 T20 World Cup long with Wellington's Hannah Francis (19yrs).

Francis was the youngest player to score an HBJ Shield century this season and had two other 50+ knocks to go with her 12 wickets @ 19.8avg. She played two games of Super Smash but wasn't required to do anything and she is the best youngster in this honourable mention bracket.

Wellington's Natasha Codyre (21yrs) and Canterbury's Jess Simmons (24yrs) are two young seamers on the rise. Both bowl with decent pace and bounce, which helps them offer a point of difference in the land of the righty in-swingers.

Auckland

Amie Hucker - 23yrs

2024/25 HBJ Shield: 53 runs @ 10.6avg/58.2sr | 16w @ 28.6avg/4.5rpo
2024/25 Super Smash: 8 runs @ 133.3sr | 3w @ 55avg/6.8rpo
LA: 7avg/51.3sr | 35.5avg/4.9rpo
T20: 8.8avg/84.5sr | 32.6avg/7.1rpo

Part of Auckland's powerful seam unit, Hucker was second for Auckland wickets in HBJ Shield behind Illing and was the only Auckland bowler to churn out 100+ overs. Hucker kept her efficiency with the heavy workload and was the most economical of all Auckland HBJ Shield bowlers, also taking the most catches of Auckland's bowlers. Hucker was less effective in Super Smash but was still one of their most economical seamers and she has flashed her batting ability in both formats.

Northern Districts

Nensi Patel - 22yrs

2024/25 HBJ Shield: 245 runs @ 30.6avg/86.2sr, 1 x 50 | 9w @ 43.4avg/4.2rpo
2024/25 Super Smash: 116 runs @ 19.3avg/97.4sr | 6w @ 31.5avg/7.5rpo
LA: 24.1avg/77.9sr | 28.2avg/4.2rpo
T20: 12.6avg/84.2sr | 21.7avg/6.3rpo

In her favoured one-day format, Patel finished second for ND runs and was tied with Marama Downes in third for HBJ Shield wickets. Patel had relatively high strike-rates across both formats which can be rare in the current women's cricket domestic circuit which are likely to keep increasing as she matures. Patel also showed her ability in the North vs South series with a fabulous outing in the first game, scoring 77 runs @ 101sr and taking 3 wickets @ 6rpo.

Marama Downes - 22yrs

2024/25 HBJ Shield: 88 runs @ 22avg/62.4sr | 9w @ 41.7avg/4.7rpo
2024/25 Super Smash: 21 runs @ 84sr | 8w @ 26.1avg/6.2rpo
LA: 15.1avg/59.3sr | 33.9avg/4.5rpo
T20: 11.8avg/77.5sr | 16.8avg/18.3rpo

While Downes couldn't match her 2023/24 efforts with the ball, she was good enough with bat and ball to keep her spot as one of the best emerging talents in Aotearoa. Downes finished second for ND wickets in Super Smash and was among their best bowlers in HBJ Shield, but her best one-day zone was with the bat where she scored 60+ runs and averaged 20+ for the first time.

Central Districts

Ocean Bartlett - 21yrs

2024/25 HBJ Shield: 21 runs @ 4.2avg/31.8sr | 20w @ 19.7avg/4.9rpo
2024/25 Super Smash: 21 runs @ 7avg/52.5sr | 8w @ 21.6avg/6.7rpo
LA: 6.4avg/39.2sr | 22.7avg/5rpo
T20: 7avg/60.8sr | 28.7avg/7.1rpo

Bartlett was one of three bowlers who took 20+ wickets in HBJ Shield, which made her CD's best bowler in that competition. Claudia Green and Hannah Rowe took 10 wickets each in Super Smash, then Bartlett was the next best wicket-taker for CD. The leggy had career-best mahi in both formats this summer and she finished the season strong in the one-day format with six consecutive games taking a wicket, wrapped up by 2w @ 4.7rpo and 2w @ 6.4rpo in the North vs South series.

While Bartlett is yet to flex her batting ability in either format, she did finish the summer with six not-out innings across both formats. That's the most for CD this season.

Wellington

Xara Jetly - 23yrs

2024/25 HBJ Shield: 98 runs @ 19.6avg/59.7sr | 13w @ 15.5avg/3.6rpo
2024/25 Super Smash: 8 runs @ 114.2sr | 8w @ 25.8avg/6.6rpo
LA: 12.3avg/50.8sr | 22.8avg/4.1rpo
T20: 6.5avg/90.6sr | 18.2avg/5.8rpo

Despite missing the last phase of the season, Jetly delivered excellent offies and showed development with the bat. Jetly was second for Wellington wickets in HBJ Shield and had the lowest bowling average in her team, as well as the lowest bowling average in her six seasons with an HBJ Shield wicket. Jetly has now taken 10+ wickets with an average of 20 or less in three consecutive HBJ Shield seasons and she had a career-best batting campaign this summer.

Wellington Blaze are well equipped with dominant performers in Super Smash and Jetly is an underrated figure in this dynasty. Jetly just finished her sixth season of Super Smash and after 1w @ 17avg in her first season, she has five consecutive seasons of 5+ wickets and an average below 26.

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Canterbury

Sarah Asmussen - 24yrs

2024/25 HBJ Shield: 4 runs @ 20sr | 10w @ 37.8avg/5.4rpo
2024/25 Super Smash: 10 runs @ 100sr | 6w @ 28.3avg/7.2rpo
LA: 3.9avg/29.9sr | 28.2avg/5rpo
T20: 4.1avg/68.5sr | 27.7avg/6.9rpo

The crafty leggy Asmussen finished second for Canterbury wickets in HBJ Shield and was the next best Super Smash wicket-taker behind Shikha Pandey and Missy Banks who were tied on 9 wickets. Asmussen has found a consistent groove in HBJ Shield bowling with 10+ wickets in her last three seasons and this flowed into the North vs South series in which Asmussen took 2w @ 6.4rpo in the first game.

Missy Banks - 23yrs

2024/25 HBJ Shield: 101 runs @ 16.8avg/67.7sr | 9w @ 39.4avg/4.5rpo
2024/25 Super Smash: 44 runs @ 14.6avg/112.8sr | 9w @ 26.5avg/7rpo
LA: 15.1avg/70.1sr | 47.4avg/4.7rpo
T20: 8.8avg/78.2sr | 21.5avg/7.2rpo

Banks was one of Canterbury's best bowlers in both formats this summer, which is in tune with her previous Super Smash mahi but there was a big jump in her HBJ Shield bowling. Banks took 10+ wickets for the first time in her nine seasons of one-day cricket and this came with her best season of HBJ Shield batting in which she scored 100+ runs for the first time.

Banks only scored 44 runs in Super Smash but she had the highest strike-rate for Canterbury kiwis and had five not-outs in her eight innings. Add in being the best kiwi bowler for Canterbury and Banks has grown into one of Aotearoa's best young all-rounders. This was on display in the North vs South series with 2w @ 5rpo and 1w @ 7.6rpo, with a 3* in one of her batting innings.

Otago

Emma Black - 23yrs

2024/25 HBJ Shield: 8w @ 38.1avg/3.8rpo
2024/25 Super Smash: 11w @ 21.2avg/5.4rpo
LA: 25.3avg/4.4rpo
T20: 20.2avg/6.5rpo

Black was called up to the White Ferns squad but didn't play vs Sri Lanka after another strong season with Otago. With 10+ wickets in her last six seasons of Super Smash and averages below 24 in all six, Black was Otago's most efficient seamer this season. While she was solid in HBJ Shield and helped Otago win another championship, Black's one-day mahi wasn't as good as previous summers. This is balanced out by Black taking 3w @ 4.2rpo and 2w @ 4rpo in two of her North vs South appearances.

Anna Browning - 21yrs

2024/25 HBJ Shield: 77 runs @ 19.2avg/70.6sr | 13w @ 16.6avg/4.5rpo
2024/25 Super Smash: 49 runs @ 16.3avg/102sr | 4w @ 27avg/6rpo
LA: 16.7avg/63.6sr | 25.8avg/4.6rpo
T20: 13.4avg/96.4sr | 28.9avg/6.4rpo

In her first season with Otago, Browning showed her all-round class in an HBJ Shield championship with handy runs down the order and by finishing as their third best bowler. She didn't just add value to a strong one-day outfit as Browning was one of three Otago batters to score 40+ runs with a strike-rate over 100 in Super Smash, as well as being their second most economical spinner. Add in an excellent North vs South series in which Browning was one of the most consistent players...

Tahi: 2w @ 5.4rpo | 48 runs @ 76sr
Rua: 1 run | 1w @ 4.7rpo
Toru: 45 runs @ 85sr | 2w @ 4rpo

Olivia Gain - 23yrs

2024/25 HBJ Shield: 137 runs @ 17.1avg/73.6sr, 1 x 50
2024/25 Super Smash: 164 runs @ 18.2avg/87.2sr
LA: 18.1avg/63.1sr
T20: 11.4avg/93.5sr

Gain had her third HBJ Shield season scoring 100+ runs and also had her best season of Super Smash batting as one of four Otago batters who scored 150+ runs. With similar power and variety of strokes as Bella James, Gain scored 58 runs @ 95sr in the first North vs South game. While she doesn't have a 50+ score in Super Smash yet, Gain had a career-high knock of 48 runs @ 114sr this summer and she is likely to continue to flourish now that she has settled into a consistent role across both formats.

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