DEMI Zanoni believes her three-year association with the Melbourne Cricket Club has helped develop her game greatly.
Working with coaches at the Victorian Premier club, including Gol Gol’s own Teagan Parker, the 17-year-old is thriving.
The Mildura West rising star will represent Melbourne in next month’s Victorian Women’s Premier Cricket Under 18s tournament, running from January 4 to 11.
The competition was formally the Marg Jennings Cup, but following an underage pathway restructure by Cricket Victoria it will now be played at under-15 level.
Zanoni, who has also played multiple third division games at premier level, said she hopes to further cement her spot with Melbourne into the future.
“It’s good to get down to Melbourne, being a different competition to what it is up here,” she said.
“It’s a really good opportunity to work with great coaches down there, Teagan Parker who’s Gol Gol bred will be one of the coaches which is good … just to even have those facilities to work with.
“This is my third season playing for Melbourne so I’ve been around them for a while, mainly in the under-18 comp.
“It’s a new team this year, we had quite a lot of top age players last year who went up, so there’s a lot of fresh faces.”
Zanoni believes the stronger competition has not only helped her development but has allowed her to bring more knowledge back to Mildura West.
“It’s really good to get that extra hand to help me improve, it opens me up to new bowlers and batters and to new areas of the game as well,” she said.
“I’ve probably improved my speed with the ball, I’ve picked up a couple of ‘k’s’ with the ball which feels nice and just with the bat, being able to place the ball more consistently and stay in for longer and help build those partnerships.
“Hopefully I can cement a spot with Melbourne and possibly look at getting back into a Vic state program, but definitely just progress up the grades in Melbourne.”
