Newcastle District Cricket Association bowled over by growth of the women's game as competition expands to 14 teams and two divisions

But 17-year-old player Aili Martin is working on ensuring they have one in the not-too-distant future.

Martin was on hand at the newly refurbished No.1 Sportsground on Wednesday as the NDCA launched their 2022-23 season.

Summer action begins at the venue on Saturday with the first round of the SG Moore Cup (under 16).

The NDCA men's competition starts on October 8 and the T20 women's league begins on October 12.

The women's competition has exploded from nine teams last summer to 14 for its fourth instalment.

This time it will be split into two divisions - six in the top division and eight in division two.

Charlestown and Waratah will enter a second team each this year. Stockton, Toronto and Wallsend have also joined the competition.

Speaking at the launch, Martin hoped Nelson Bay would not be far off being able to field a side as well.

"I've played since the age of 12 and used to play a lot with the boys teams and my brother's team," Martin said.

"I've recently integrated into more of a female side of cricket with Nelson Bay, so that's been a good experience for me. We don't have full women's teams but we have young girls' programs and I'm currently the co-ordinator of those programs.

"We've got a group of girls under 12 and we're just focusing on developing the skills and getting them into proper cricket games.

"Nelson Bay doesn't yet have a team in the women's competition but we're definitely planning within the next few years is to have one. It's great to know there is an avenue for those younger girls because I didn't that avenue growing up."

Anna Bay's Jemma Astley, 25, has played cricket since she was eight and was always the only girl in boys teams.

The all-rounder plays for Northern Districts in Sydney women's second grade and will captain the inaugural Stockton women's team.

"We've got a lot of girls coming from different sports, a lot of mums who have probably never played before and a few people that have just been out of the game for a long time and thought this sounded fun," Astley said.

"It mostly stemmed from the social cricket competition we ran at Stockton this year and we had over 100 women register. That sparked a lot of interest, which was good.

"It will be good to see another club get amongst it and see some interest sparked there."

For the first time, Newcastle will offer a full pathway of junior cricket for girls this summer, including Blasters Smash (five to 10 years), Stage 1 (under 12), Stage 2 (under 14) and Stage 3 (under 14 to under 18) competition.

A Newcastle-based Greater Hunter Coast colts (under 18) girls side will play in the Sydney competition this year with first and second grade teams to enter in 2023-24.

MORE IN SPORT:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: