Following a landmark year for the sport, Cricket Fiji chief executive Siti Rokoro has unveiled a comprehensive roadmap for 2026, placing the growth of women’s and girls’ cricket at the heart of their strategy.
Building on the momentum of hosting the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup East Asia Pacific Qualifier in September, Cricket Fiji is ready to boost the cultivation of local talent.
The cornerstone of next year’s development is the introduction of the first national under-19 women’s tournament.
Rokoro said the federation will launch an extensive school-based qualifying program to ensure nationwide representation.
“We will run schools’ tournament here in Suva, Tailevu, Sawani, Nasinu, Serua, in the West and in the islands as well of Moce, Lakeba and Cicia. So, we hope to include that in our calendar for the first week of the school break in Term 1.
“It’s about building directly from the momentum of the World Cup Qualifiers and giving our young girls a platform to shine,” he said.
In addition to this, Cricket Fiji is committed to strengthening the elite domestic pathway.
“In August, we will revive the national women’s tournament. We started in 2022, we did not have it in 2023 because of ground unavailability, last year we had a reduced format of only four teams, so we hope to revive that.”
There is also a prospect of an overseas team visiting Fiji for competition which would provide the women’s teams some much-needed game time.
“We met the director of cricket in New Caledonia; they want to visit Fiji next year again so there’s a possibility for a match against our national women’s team but that’s not confirmed.
Apart from these, Cricket Fiji has two major international tournaments next year for the girl’s U19 and the national men’s teams.
