Mareeba stalwart honoured

MAREEBA Cricket Club trailblazer Trisha Spry has had her tireless work to grow the game on the Tablelands recognised with the Queensland Cricket Volunteer of the Year award.

The club’s secretary led the charge for the In2Cricket and T20 Blast programs and official women’s cricket competition for the first time in Far North Queensland in 2017-18.

Her efforts meant more than 150 people played cricket in those programs alone, around three-quarters of those for the first time.

Spry (pictured) said it was humbling to receive the honour at the Queensland Cricket awards night in Brisbane last week, putting her accolade down to a “team effort”.

“The whole club and everyone from Cricket Far North has helped out to make that possible and it’s definitely an honour,” Spry said. “It’s an absolute privilege.” The next step to capitalise on the growth would be a Women’s Big Bash League match in Cairns, although Spry resisted the temptation to get in the ear of Brisbane Heat’s bigwigs at the awards night.

“It would be extraordinary to be able to get it up here ... for the girls that are up here to see what is potentially a future option for them,” she said.

Queensland Cricket brings volunteers from every region to the night, which Spry said was handy for bouncing ideas off others in similar roles.

“It was a nice little opportunity to mix ideas up and talk to somebody else that’s going through the same things as we are,” she said.

As you would expect, Spry won’t be resting for long, with plans for a winter women’s competition this year.