By Gail Tewaru
A Powerful Sports Story for Young Indian Readers
Maya’s Cricketing Choice follows sixteen‑year‑old Maya Chen, a girl who sees the world through numbers, patterns, and data. Tennis is her comfort zone — predictable, structured, measurable. But everything changes the day she steps onto a cricket field for the first time. What begins as curiosity soon becomes a life‑changing passion.
Maya is drawn to the mathematics of cricket, the strategy behind every delivery, and the warmth of a team that accepts her exactly as she is. But switching sports is far from easy. She faces fierce bowlers, a frightening concussion, self‑doubt, and the fear of disappointing those she loves. As she moves from local club matches to a national tournament final, Maya must decide whether courage, resilience, and belief in herself can outweigh the risks.
This inspiring story blends sport, science, identity, and friendship — perfect for readers aged 12 and up who enjoy cricket, STEM‑minded characters, and heartfelt journeys of self‑discovery. Book One in the On the Front Foot series, it is ideal for Indian teens who dream big, fight hard, and love the thrill of the game.
About the Author
Gail Tewaru Tipa — writing as Gail Tewaru — knows cricket. Loving the game for fifty years, she brings an authenticity to her writing that young cricket lovers will recognise from the very first page — the nervous energy of walking out to bat, the roar of a crowd after a wicket, and the quiet moments in the dressing room where true character is built.
Gail’s connection to cricket runs deep, and her love affair with Indian cricket is personal. As a sixteen-year-old in 1976, she toured India with the New Zealand women’s cricket team, playing against Indian women’s teams at many of the iconic Indian cricket grounds that now appear as vivid settings in her books. That experience left an indelible mark and sparked a lifelong bond with the country’s cricketing spirit. Gail has since travelled internationally to watch Indian cricket teams play, attracted by the passion, skill, and sheer joy that Indian cricket brings to the world stage.
Gail is the author of multiple cricket fiction series for young readers, including the Guardians of the Game series, The Wicket Keeper Chronicles, the Little Cricketers Club for ages 7–12, and On the Front Foot for teenagers, which she has now decided to publish. Writing from New Zealand — a nation that shares India’s deep passion for cricket — Gail understands that cricket is more than a sport. It is a language spoken across generations, a teacher of life’s most important lessons, and for millions of young people, a dream worth chasing.
Gail believes the future of cricket lies in the hands of our children — and they are exactly whom she writes for. Her stories celebrate the values that cricket instils in every young player who picks up a bat or takes a run-up: discipline, teamwork, resilience, and the courage to rise after failure. From gully cricket dreams to the pressures of competitive selection, her characters face challenges that any young cricketer — anywhere in the world — will feel in their bones.
By putting stories into the hands of the next generation, Gail hopes to nurture not just a love of reading, but a deeper love of the game itself — ensuring that cricket’s greatest chapters are still to be written.
Whether your child is eight years old and just falling in love with cricket, or a teenager navigating the fierce world of representative sport, Gail Tewaru Tipa writes the stories they’ve been waiting to read.
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