One of the rising stars of New Zealand cricket has been supporting the development of girls’ cricket at Marlborough this term.
Xara Jetly arrived from her native New Zealand in April with a wealth of experience. She captained New Zealand U22s in the Indoor Cricket World Cup last year and she has been a regular for a Wellington Blaze side that contests the 50-over and T20 domestic competitions.
The 21-year old is combining her College role with playing and coaching at Avebury CC, whilst she is also set to represent Royal Wootton Bassett in the newly formed Women’s WEPL – only the second Women’s Premier cricket league in the country.
It has been a whirlwind start to Jetly’s spell in England, but her enthusiasm for the game – and her desire to succeed – is clear.
“I am absolutely loving my time at Marlborough,” she said, speaking ahead of the girls’ Prize Day fixture against Shrewsbury School.
“My remit here (at Marlborough) is to help coach the Girls’ XI as well as the development side, in addition to attending as many games as I can and providing one-to-one technical coaching.
“The girls’ cricket programme here is supported by three further coaches, which is quite unheard of – so it’s great to be a part of such an impressive set-up. There are some quality grass wickets here with some quality groundsmen. They really are first class facilities, exactly as you would expect if you were playing first class cricket.
“The development (of girls’ cricket) here has been phenomenal. The girls have a fantastic mentality and they want to keep improving and to win as many games as they can.”
Jetly is able to draw upon her own recent experiences of starting out in the game as she continues inspire the current crop of Marlburian cricketers.
“I started playing indoor cricket with my brother’s team before stepping up to play for a representative side. Growing up I loved all sports, which gave me a good grounding to develop my skills. Fortunately, I got my first contract at 16 and started being paid a year later. The girls’ game is growing globally and I am doing what I can to try and help that.
“The opportunities that Marlborough provides for the girls’ game are wonderful. That comes from a lot of initiative, so full credit to Marlborough College for what they are doing.”
Jetly will remain with Marlborough until the end of this term and once her commitments with Avebury come to an end, she will return home to continue her professional cricketing journey.
“As soon as I get back to New Zealand I should be straight into pre-season. The season in New Zealand runs from October through until March and then hopefully I’ll come back to England for some more cricket!”
