She plays cricket with and against women twice her age and she wants to be the next White Fern – and she could be.

Tauranga's Nensi Patel. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

Year 8 youngster Nensi Patel gave a taste of her influence in the 30-over Northern District competition matches on Auckland Anniversary Weekend, with both bat and ball.

Making her Bay of Plenty Women's senior debut, Nensi showcased her immense potential taking four wickets for 26 runs, backing this up with 21 runs when batting.

Her bowling scalps included White Fern Nicola Browne and Northern Spirit players Brooke Kirkbride and Emma Parker.

'For a Year 8 to do that is pretty special,” says coach Tai Bridgman-Raison about his standout player.

The 12-year-old was playing against some of the top cricketers – but Tai says she wasn't out of place.

'She sees she isn't out of place playing with adults and I think it's a massive confidence boost for her.”

Tai's known Nensi for about two years since he first spotted her as a Year 6 at Tauranga Primary School.

'She stood out then,” says Tai. 'The thing that really blows me away is her work ethic and how much she loves her cricket.

'She just loves it, she's always available and always keen to play and train. She's great.”

'She's an equivalent of any of the other male cricketers of her age, she's just as good.”

Nensi picked up the bat at age five. Why? 'I just felt interested,” she says.

For her it's simple. 'I just like playing cricket.”

The young cricketer doesn't watch a lot of the game on TV and only sometimes watches games at Bay Oval. But she admits her cricket idol is Virat Kohli, India's test captain.

'Mostly, I just want to play because I kind of get bored watching,” says Nensi.

She wants to improve more on her batting but other than that – Nensi's good at 'just about everything”.

So what can you teach a 12-year-old who is already playing at a professional standard? Coach Tai says it's about challenging her.

'She's so far ahead of where she should be for her age it's about keeping her interested and setting her new goals and new challenges.

'But as far as technically, she's great. She's got all of the shots and she knows what she's doing.”

Nensi and the rest of the BOP Women's team take on Poverty Bay in Gisborne today. Will they win? 'I hope so,” says Nensi.