Jess Watkin called up for White Ferns

Former WHS student Jess Watkin called up for White Ferns cricket tour of England and Ireland.

Photo: Jess with her sponsor’s bat Aero cricket.

Jess Watkin’s cricketing career received another accolade by being selected for the White Ferns cricket tour of England and Ireland in June. She has already represented New Zealand Under 20s in indoor cricket, playing in a tournament in October in Dubai and has been on the radar for selection for the White Ferns for the past few years despite being only 19 years old.

Her father played representative group cricket and her older brother plays club cricket. She says

“I have a photo of me with helmet and bat when I was only three. We played a lot of back yard cricket with cousins.”

They had plenty of space in the Westmere property but her brother and his friends were reluctant to admit a girl into their games keeping her to mainly scoring duties and fetching the ball over the fence. However, she adds

“I was allowed to play once, bowled one of the boys and thereafter gained admission.”

She played kiwi cricket for Westmere School and was introduced to hard ball boy’s cricket when she was about nine. The school allowed her to leave school early on a Wednesday to play for the High School girl’s team. She was soon selected for the boys’ Under 11 through to Under 17 rep teams and for the past five years for the under 18 girls team which plays in a regional tournament once a year.

Central Districts cricket came next playing for the Under 15 girls and when 15 she was selected for both the Under 21 team as well as the main CD team, the Central Hinds. This year she was awarded the prize for the best T20 player, following on from last year when she was made the Overall Player of the year. She scored a spectacular double –century in the NZC National Women’s Under 21 tournament last year.

Jess bowls off spin and either opens or is number 3 for T20s and one dayers. White Ferns selector Kirsty Bond says, “Jess is an explosive batter who hits the ball hard and is a more than useful off-spin option so she offers us great versatility.”

She has been preparing herself for the possibility working with a personal trainer for the past four months. The tour is six weeks long with warm up games in Ireland and then a Tri-Series involving England and South Africa. Cricket is very much her life right now working for Whanganui cricket and studying part time for a Sport and Exercise qualification through Massey University.