Dixon girls raising hell in Maroon
A TRIO of Townsville’s shining stars will be looking to maintain a record of indoor cricket dominance as the next generation prepares to take over.
Townsville’s Meagan Dixon took over the captaining duties of Queensland’s team in the lead up to this year’s Indoor Cricket National Championships from legend Jude Coleman and is focused on doing both her predecessor and the jersey proud this year.
“They’re very big shoes to fill, her motivational speeches before the game and at meetings set you off on another level,” Dixon said.
“A lot of the girls know what to do, it’s a very easy team to lead, they’re very professional about their business, they get out there and do their thing. It’s nerve-racking, but we’ll be all right.”
Backing Dixon will be her two sisters, Samantha and youngest sister Katrina.
While Meagan and Samantha have been part of the three-title winning squad in the past three competitions, Katrina will be making her mark this year, and Queensland Fire and Adelaide Striker signed Meagan is aiming to make it a successful all-family affair.
“It’ll be pretty cool, I think. We’ve never had that opportunity before, so it’ll be pretty special, we’ve got mum coming down, unfortunately dad couldn’t make it, but it should be pretty awesome,” Dixon said.
While Dixon heads into this year’s competition with buoyed confidence thanks to Queensland’s dominant run at the top, she was almost ruled out of action for the four-day competition after suffering an injury during her last campaign in the Women’s BBL.
“I got a call when Zones was happening, which is our selection process, I was out of outdoor, I’d had a stress fracture in my hip,” Dixon said.
“They asked me if I still wanted to play, and I said I wasn’t sure how long the injury was going to take, so they told me they wanted me to lead this squad, and that was a little bit of extra motivation.
“I told them to put my name down and I’d get myself right for it.”
If the winning record and family backing isn’t enough, Dixon’s also got another voice backing her to lead Queensland to a fourth consecutive victory – Coleman herself, who despite stepping back from the sport, is still inspiring the squad.
“Jude wore this shirt with so
much pride and put so much effort out on the court, I can only hope to do the same that she did,” Dixon said.
“In Brisbane, she was big on having a ladies competition up and running. That’s the stuff that not everyone sees, but it’s what builds this game and it makes her such a great human.”
Through eight games the Dixon sisters have been the dominant players of the national championships, leading their squad to an undefeated record.
Samantha has been the unequivocal tournament MVP, leading all teams for both wickets taken (10) and runs conceded (3).
She is also the tournament’s seventh leading run-scorer with 105, eight runs behind sister Meagan, who is fourth for the tournament (113 runs).
Katrina is seventh at the tournament in total contribution, scoring 86 runs and taking 11 wickets for 36 in five games.