Green by name, green by team affiliation and red-hot when it comes to swinging the ball and taking wickets.
That’s Claudia Green, the Nelson-born-and-raised cricket star who’s looking forward to making her local debut with the Central Hinds at Saxton Oval this month for a Dream11 Super Smash doubleheader alongside the Central Stags.
Claudia has been a key wicket-taker for her team this season, having gone from strength to strength since she took to the field with the Hinds for the first time in 2018.
It’s been four seasons since the Stags last played a T20 game in the city, while the Hinds will play their first-ever T20 game at Saxton Oval.
With some of our country's top cricketers, including Claudia, in action as they battle for selection spots in the Blackcaps and White Ferns squads, it will be full-tilt action from the first ball through to the last.
Claudia has twice been selected to tour England with New Zealand’s White Ferns, but hasn’t made it into the starting XI for a cap.
While women traditionally swing the ball further than men, her ability to generate movement in the air is legendary among her peers.
“A real work-on for me has been coming back in the middle of an innings or at the death and using my slower ball or ‘change-ups’ as a weapon. I’ve been feeling much more confident about that this season.”
Claudia, who is a PE graduate and local primary school teacher at St Paul’s says she can’t wait to play a game in her hometown this summer.
“The atmosphere is awesome when the crowd gets right behind you. And for our young sportswomen, I think it’s incredibly important for girls locally to know that there are pathways in the women’s game, that it’s all right here for them on their doorstep for them to see and do, if they want to get involved and play.”
Women’s cricket has taken off all around the country, but the big change over the past five years locally has been the explosion in playing and development opportunities at the Nelson Cricket level for female players, and a significant growth in the number of girls learning to play the game.
Claudia started playing cricket in the backyard, with her mother’s cricket-loving brothers, and joined Wakatu Cricket Club to play with the boys in her teens.
Since carving out a pathway, other top female cricketers in the district, like sisters Anna and Kate Gaging, followed Claudia’s footsteps into the Hinds while still playing their club cricket locally in men’s teams.
The Central Stags and Hinds will be playing the Otago Volts and Sparks on 21 January — tickets (from just $5 Junior) get you in for both back-to-back T20s and are available online at www.cdcricket.co.nz.
