Girls play for shield
Three Wimmera Girls Cricket teams competed in the Twenty 20 Western Victoria Girls Shield at Hamilton in January.
Wimmera players made up the under-14 and under-16 teams and an under-18s team was a combination of Wimmera and Hamilton players.
The under-14 team finished fourth, the under-16 team third and under-18 team sixth after three days of compition.
Under-14
The under-14 team started with a bye before taking on Geelong in round two.
Wimmera’s Reese Parsons and Indira Hogan opened and saw off the opening bowlers. Emma Uebergang took advantage of their next bowlers making 50 off 25 balls.
Despite a couple of team made 9-123.
Wind and rain affected the bowling, however Lily Scott and Amelia Maloney started strong and kept the run rate down until Isabelle Degraaff, for Geelong, found some form.
Some top bowling from Aurora Merrett, Hogan, Holly Bird and Hayley Uebergang resulted in a tight finish.
Scott came back in to bowl the final over under pressure and it came down to the final two balls, but Geelong managed to get the runs in a thriller.
Round three was won against Torquay and each player contributed with the bat, retiring on solid runs to make 8-188 in 20 overs.
Bird and Jenna Hogan both took three wickets. Alethea D’silva and Merrett also took a wicket each.
Round four was against Warrnamrunouts, the bool, who took some early wickets.
Emma Uebergang managed to score quickly with 34 off 31 balls, ably supported by Moloney, Hayley Uebergang and Merrett.
Darcy Venn and D’silva ensured Wimmera batted out 20 overs for 71 runs. Warrnambool’s batters were strong and made the required runs in 13 overs.
The final round was against Ballarat, who sent Wimmera in to field first where they managed a couple of quick early wickets to D’silva and Bird, which kept the energy up.
Amelia Moloney was on a hat-trick, but unfortunately could not convert.
Ballarat’s Sarah Burton was unstoppable with a century off 87 balls.
In reply, Parsons and Indira Hogan went out and batted with good intent and Emma Uebergang added another 69 runs to the tally.
Emma Uebergang was the tournament’s highest run-scorer for the week with 196 runs at an average of 98.
Bird was fifth in the bowling statistics with five wickets at an average of six and Jenna Hogan was eighth in the bowling statistics with four wickets at an average of 10.
Under-16
Wimmera opened its campaign in style, beating Castlemaine in a closefought victory.
Castlemaine set an imposing task of 117 runs to win, however, Issy Boulton made light work of that with 82 runs from 59 balls.
The next round was against Hamilton, and the team continued on its winning way thanks to some tight bowling from Lucy Avery, Boulton,
Ayva Mitchell, Dakota Meehan and Amalie Bell.
They restricted Hamilton to 84 runs and the run chase saw Issy Boulton continue her dominance with 49 from 28 balls and Maddison Walle with 16 runs from 30 balls.
Day two saw the team have its first loss, against Geelong, in a restricted over game due to bad weather.
With only 15 overs available, the Geelong girls worked hard for their 3-77 runs in slippery conditions.
Boulton dominated two of the only three wickets for the innings.
In reply, the Wimmera fought hard against the sharp bowling of Geelong, with Lilly Reading making 10 from 36 balls, Chloe Moloney 12 from 29 balls and Walle 11 from 26 balls.
The team then faced Colac and Boulton and Mitchell combined for a partnership of 51 runs. Wimmera set the target of 95 runs. Walle’s bowling saw her on a hattrick and sharp fielding from Avery and Reading resulted in vital run-outs that saw the Wimmera take a victory.
The team needed to beat Warrnambool on the final day to finish top-two but was also relying on other results.
After facing some tight bowling early, Boulton was again a star with the bat, going about her business with 50 runs from 60 balls. Warrnambool needed 76 runs to win. The Wimmera showcased impressive bowling, which saw Warrnambool struggle to get bat on ball early.
Bowling honours went to Mitchell with two maidens and one wicket and Reading with one wicket.
It was not enough to get into the
finals and the team finished third. Boulton finished first on the under-16 batting top performer list amassing 203 runs across the five games and second on the champion player list with 323 points.
Under-18
Five Wimmera girls joined forces with Hamilton District Cricket Association, with one training under their belt.
The first game was against Warrnambool, with Hamilton-wimmera reaching 4-93, Caeleigh Humphries top scoring 32 runs, Bridie Reid, eight, and Ella Moloney, seven.
Warrnambool lost wickets regularly, reaching a total 7-94 with three balls to spare in the innings. Ella Jackson was 2-8, Micaela Meyer 2-5, Moloney 2-17, Bridie Reid, two catches and Gabby Campbell a run out.
The second game was played against South East.
Hamilton-wimmera batted first, finishing at 7-82 on the scoreboard, with Emilie Tonissen, 16 runs, Humphries, 15, and Moloney, seven.
In return, South East reached 3-83
with Reid, 1-12. The first game of day two was against Ballarat, who batted first and showed their skills, achieving 10 boundaries resulting in 3-161.
Hamilton-wimmera’s high bowling tally saw Reid at 1-20 and two catches. Ella Jackson was the only double-figure scorer with 26.
The fourth game was against Colac, who scored 6-104.
Reid had 1-20 and a catch, Campbell 1-9, Moloney 0-13 and a runout and Matilda Venn a runout.
Hamilton-wimmera struggled to put runs on the board, but continued fighting to the end, making 9-69.
The last game of the competition saw Hamilton-wimmera playing Geelong, who batted first.
Hamilton-wimmera started strong, getting quick wickets and continuing throughout the innings until the last few overs, where Geelong had a 34run partnership reaching a total of 9-103.
Hamilton-wimmera lost early wickets then a 44-run partnership between Reid and Jackson settled the run chase to achieve 6-83.