MILDURA young gun Shania McKinnon has capped a stellar season in the South Australian Premier Cricket women’s first-grade competition after being named the joint winner of the Karen Rolton Medal last week.
The 19-year-old, who shared the top gong with Kensington’s Sarah Lowe, starred with bat and ball for Southern District in the 50-over format, racking up 341 runs and eight wickets, including one century and two fifties.
McKinnon has also played a pivotal role in the Stingrays’ charge to the weekend’s SA women’s grand final after knocks of 40 not out and 59 in her past two innings.
The grand final, however, did not go her way as Sturt claimed a resounding victory over Southern District. McKinnon was dismissed for just two runs as the Blues completed an eight-wicket victory.
The Mildura ace said the Rolton medal win came as a surprise to her.
“I’m really honoured, but I didn’t expect it,” said McKinnon, who plays locally for Mildura Settlers.
“I thought there were a lot of other players who out-shone me during the season.
“But I was really thrilled to win it with Sarah. It’s a medal that has a lot of history behind it.”
McKinnon is the Christies Beach-based Stingrays’ second Rolton medallist after Tahlia McGrath claimed the club’s first major individual prize in 2014-15.
It is the first time in the competition’s history that both the men’s and women’s medal counts were tied after Brad Davis (Sturt) and Sam Kerber (Adelaide University) were joint winners of the Bradman Medal.
