Grand final win in Girls Shield

THE future looks bright for Sunraysia’s next generation of female cricketers.

Sunraysia dominated this week’s Western Victoria Under 16 Girls Shield campaign undefeated, culminating in a six-wicket grand final win against Geelong in Thursday’s grand final in Hamilton.

Mildura Settlers’ Abbey Aldridge played a huge role in the final taking 3/11 from her four overs before scoring 28 not out during the successful run chase.

It was an outstanding display from a team featuring players as young as 13 years old.

Irymple’s Maya McGregor and Nichols Point’s Makenzie Holy both also took wickets as Geelong finished their 20 overs at 6/73, while Gol Gol’s Megan and Abby Collihole made 15 and 12 runs respectively as Sunraysia won with 16 balls to spare.

McGregor was equal top of the wicket-taking leader board with nine scalps for the tournament alongside Warrnambool’s Jessica Walsh, while Aldridge was second in overall runs for the week with 170 at a competition-best average of 56.67.

Aldridge scored 37 and took two wickets in the opening win over Colac, with McGregor (3/7) and Mildura East’s Taya Higgins (2/7) impressing with the ball.

Next up was a strong win over Warrnambool led by Aldridge (36 not out), Abby Collihole (25), McGregor (3/12), Holy (2/4) and Point’s Bronte Fryar (2/9).

Higgins and Settlers’ Airlei Taylor each took two wickets to take down Hamilton, Megan Collihole (28) and Holy (15) batted well in the victory over Ballarat, and Aldridge (39 and 2/13), Higgings (2/24) and Settlers’ Ella Dingwall (19) played important roles in the final qualifying victory over Castlemaine.

– Mitch Rodd