With the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2022 just weeks away, 40 primary school girls relished a chance to take part in a special event to celebrate girls' cricket in the Bay yesterday.

The Northern District Cricket Association's annual Rainbow Festival at Bay Oval saw 40 Year 4 to 6 girls from around the region take part in three games of modified cricket.

In previous years, around 300 girls took part in the festival. Covid-19 restrictions dwindled numbers.

It comes as the first game of the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2022 - New Zealand Women and West Indies Woman - is just weeks away.

Tauranga will host the opening ceremony and a total of seven games with the first at Bay Oval on March 4.

Alongside the tournament, the festival also included a 'cricket world cup-themed carnival' to celebrate the 2022 world cup.

Hosting multiple events in the competition would be "a once in a lifetime chance" to showcase the city to the world and grow Tauranga's reputation as one of New Zealand's premiere event-friendly destinations, Byrne said.

She hoped the inspiration for future cricketers would be the same as it was for keen snowboarders watching gold and silver snowboarding medalist Zoi Sadowski-Synnott recently.

Steward said cricket's popularity among tamariki and rangatahi in the Bay of Plenty had been on the rise over the past three years, despite Covid-19 disruptions.

For the first time, the association is planning to transition into an open age-group women's competition next season.

Eight teams will compete in the world cup in Christchurch, Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Dunedin until April 3 in 31 matches over 31 days.