Devchand stars
Longwarry’s division six women’s team welcomed Melbourne Stars’ WBBL player Bhavisha Devchand into the side as they faced Catani at home on Saturday afternoon.
Devchand was born in Zimbabwe to Indian parents before moving to Australia when she was eight and began playing cricket in WA for the
Western Fury, before moving to Victoria and joining the Ringwood Cricket Club.
She’s now an integral part of the Melbourne Stars WBBL squad and Longwarry Cricket Club secretary Randall Mitchell said having Bhavisha come and join their inaugural women’s side was a huge positive for the club and team.
“She’s a legend and knows how important grassroots cricket is for girls and wants to make them feel more welcome and help grow that pathway,” he said.
The inclusion of Devchand only strengthened the growing team, which has now seen three more girls sign up to the first all-women’s side to play in a men’s competition in the WDCA.
Mitchell said the side had been a huge positive for the club, who, in turn, wanted to do all they could to help them grow and thrive in the competition.
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“Having the team has been brilliant and great for the culture. While a few injuries and COVID had halted the momentum and motivation a little, as a committee we wanted to help out as much as we could,” Mitchell said.
After some behind the scenes work, the club secured Devchand to play, as well as former Australian international player Sarah Elliott who will take up the role of coach on Saturday afternoon.
Elliott, who scored a hundred for Australia against England in the 2013 Ashes series, also came on board to help share her knowledge about the game with the girls on Saturday.
The day also saw a cricket clinic run by Sarah before the match with the addition of Devchand to the side and Elliott on the sidelines on Saturday also giving captain Erin Maxwell and the team an opportunity to learn from a player at the elite level.
“We were really excited to have her come down and help encourage the girls to keep going and provide some more motivation.
While it’s been a challenging year for the girls’ team so far, they are continuing to grow as a side and remain optimistic heading into the back half of the season.
“We’ve had so much fun and now we’ve had girls who want to come back next season and play and bring their friends too. I’ve learnt a lot about captaining a side, as well as organising one too,” Maxwell said.
It turned out to be a historic day for the team well, with the side defeating Catani by seven wickets to claim their first victory, led by 55* from Devchand with the bat, as well as a five-wicket haul from Cadence Walker with the ball.
The day was one the club hoped would give girls the opportunity to see what it’s like to play cricket and maybe even sign up.
“I think just off the back of what we’ve done so far, we hope others come and watch and sign up to play.
“We’re keen to be the leader in the area and hopefully see other clubs jump on board and in the future, see a women’s competition start,” Mr Mitchell said.