There were no gasps of surprise when Central Districts Under-21 captain Jess Watkin was announced as the best player at the NZC National Women’s Under-21 Tournament in Auckland this week.

Whanganui’s 19-year-old, off-spinning allrounder Watkin dominated the 2017 tournament with both bat and ball, taking the most wickets, scoring the most runs, belting the first double century in the history of the competition and leading her team to the championship after dropping only one hard fought game.

Already established in the senior Central Hinds where she had earned another trophy last summer as the team’s outstanding player of 2016/17, the hard-hitting teenager’s future in the game looks on the fast track.

Watkin was the third player from CD in 15 years to win the Trish McKelvey Trophy, following in footsteps of Aimee Mason (now Watkins) who went on to captain the WHITE FERNS, and Esther Lanser who was the first player to claim the honour back to back in 2008/09 and 2009/10.

Other notable recipients through the years have included Sophie Devine, Amy Satterthwaite, Natalie Dodd, Maddy Green and last year’s winner — who was back captaining Wellington Under-21 this year — Amelia Kerr.

A traditional stepping stone for young players somewhere between schools and full representative cricket, CD arrived at the tournament as one of the teams to beat with a number of players having already gained their green cap in the youthful Central Hinds and with a strong record at age group tournament level in recent summers, including the National U21 title of 2015/16 when Hannah Rowe was at the head of the attack.

Look back through the annals, however, and the previous eight years had been dominated by only two teams: Canterbury and Auckland — who finished joint runners-up at this season’s tourney.

So for the team from the provinces to be getting up twice in the space of three seasons tells you something about the growing reach of girls’ and women’s cricket, making the female game strong in hotspots like Wairarapa and Nelson thanks to the ongoing drive of passionate individuals creating more opportunities to play — and more importantly, play well.

Auckland was the only side to defeat CD in 2017, claiming the last of the one-dayes by three wickets before all the team completed the tournament with three Twenty20s on the last two days, but it could not stop the green and gold machine from charging to the title with a game and a day to spare.

The landmark double century — the second hundred runs slammed off just 38 balls — highlighted Watkin’s individual feats across the week, and came against a Wellington attack featuring Wellington Blaze’s Kerr sisters. She reached her 200 off 122 balls (20 fours, 11 sixes) to set up what would become a huge 176-run win.

There were other enchanting moments, like when she smashed just the second ball of the chase in CD’s T20 against ND so far that they had to send out a search party, CD charging to a nine-wicket win in just 5.2 overs. Earlier, she’d removed ND’s classy dangerwoman Nensi Patel with her first ball. Add to that a T20 50 against Canterbury smashed off 21 balls.

All up across the twin formats, Watkin scored 365 runs and claimed 15 wickets, topping both the batting & bowling tables all week, and with her powerhouse fast starts the side was unbeaten in the T20s.

CD wasn’t just about its impressive captain, however, head-turning performances also coming from the likes of young Nelson pace bowler Anna Gaging — who bounced a player out on the opening day — and Hawke’s Bay Central Hind Rosemary Mair who showed her all-round composure with both bat and ball to get the team of a healthy start in the one-day matches and keep them on couse at pivotal moments in the T20s.

Monique Rees capped off an exciting tournament with figures of 3-1-5-3 in CD’s final T20 against Wellington — a four-wicket win — while Taila Hurley had returned 4-1-6-4 the previous day in their nine-wicket win over ND.

All four were named in the 2017 Tournament Team.

Tournament team — back row from left, Taila Hurley (CD), Rosemary Mair (CD), Kate Heffernan (Otago), Olivia McGoverne (Canterbury), Jess Kerr (Wellington), Amelia Kerr (Wellington), Jess Watkin (CD). Front row from left: Monique Rees (CD), Missy Banks (Canterbury), Allie Mace-Cochrane (Canterbury), Saachi Shahri (Auckland), Nensi Patel (ND).