MELBOURNE Cricket Club’s Rhiann O’Donnell says it was great to start the season at Mildura West.
The former Victorian state cricketer began her season at West while in Mildura due to the Melbourne lockdown, taking time to play for the club where it all began for her.
“It was awesome, I absolutely loved it,” O’Donnell said.
“It’s been a while since I’ve played with the boys, I played one token game last year but it’s a bit of nostalgia coming back and running around with them.”
O’Donnell is now back playing Victorian Premier Ladies’ Cricket with her new club Melbourne, after crossing from Plenty Valley.
“To be honest, I hadn’t really been down there until round 1 last week,” she said.
“It was funny the way it panned out and I ended up at Melbourne but nonetheless I think it will be a good move for me and I’ll see how we go.”
O’Donnell said the decision to join Melbourne came late in the piece and might not have happened had she remained in the city and rode out the lockdown there.
“Pretty close to before the second lockdown I told Plenty Valley that it probably wasn’t the right place for me to be for the upcoming season, then I came home and sort of pushed it aside,” O’Donnell said.
“I didn’t actually lock in a decision until a couple of weeks ago, I had Melbourne ring me quite often just wanting an answer – if it hadn’t been for the second lockdown it might not have been where I ended up but I’m pretty happy with my decision.”
The switch puts O’Donnell alongside former Workers Gol Gol cricketer Teagan Parker at the club.
“Previously we’d only sort of seen each other at the coin toss as opposition captains,” O’Donnell said.
“But to link up now is good and to have that Mildura representation down there is even better.”
