MILDURA WEST
Coach: Ken Innes
Captain: Brianna Smith
Last year: Premiers
Brianna Smith: “It’s a good group of young girls who are all very keen to play and keen to train, which makes turning up on Friday good. We’ve also got a good group of support around the team, which is helpful.
“The season before last, we didn’t really win many games. But we stuck with our young kids and they’ve just kept improving.
“They were the ones who stood up in the grand final. At the end of the day, in the last grand final, it was our kids and their bowling which got us over the line.
“It’d be nice to back (last season’s grand final victory) but our aim this season is just for the girls and the group to keep improving and turn up each Friday and to have to have fun.
SCA women’s board delegate Natasha Anstee: “They’re reigning premiers. Say no more. They’re still going to be the team to beat.”
MILDURA SETTLERS
Coach: Joel Perry
Captain: Jenny Donnelly
Last year: Runners-up (also incorporating players from third-placed Gol Gol)
Jenny Donnelly: “It’s a rebuild year. We’ve had quite a few go off to university and we’ve got our under-14s from the new under-14 competition coming through playing the women’s.
“I love that the young kids are getting that chance to play that next level up in cricket.
“My theory is ‘aim small, miss small’.
“(I’m) making sure that every kid gets that little understanding of cricket and the little things to aim for. (I say) if you’ve faced three or four dot balls have a shot. (Focus on) running hard between the wickets.
“It’s not necessarily about smacking it for six every bowl. Let’s just push it through the field into the gaps and go for those quick singles.”
SCA women’s board delegate Natasha Anstee: “They’ve combined with the Gol Gol team this year, so they’re bringing a lot of juniors into the women’s team. It’ll be a bit of an experience for them this year just bringing new girls into the competition.”
NICHOLS POINT GOLD
Coach: Rakii Woetai
Captain: Tanya Kirirua-Gill
Last year: Fourth
Tanya Kirirua-Gill: “It’s been really hard getting all the players together but just being able to train again last week, it was really good just to see everyone and just have that interaction with everybody.
“All I want is for us to enjoy cricket. It’s all about inclusion and not exclusion – it’s not about races or anything like that.
“(Last year) our junior players just enjoyed themselves and weren’t scared. And seeing not just our team, but seeing other juniors coming up – that’s my highlight, just seeing a lot of young girls coming up to play in the seniors competition.
“(It’s) about enjoying the game of cricket and just promoting it to other women or girls out there that want to play but don’t because they think it’s too hard.”
SCA women’s board delegate Natasha Anstee: “Great club out there for the women’s game. They’re always going to be up the top there. This year will be an open very open race. But I think you’ll see both the green and gold up there in the top four.”
NICHOLS POINT GREEN
Coach: Rakii Woetai
Captain: Annie O’Rourke
Last year: Fifth
Annie O’Rourke: “We’ve got really strong links with the primary school here at Nichols Point, and just seeing that partnership between the school and the club now … is going to be a real highlight of the season for us.
“It’s about getting kids, and particularly young girls, interested in a sport that in the past it wasn’t a possibility (to play).
“(Last year) we missed out on finals by .04 four per cent. We think that we’ve got the talent. And particularly for young girls, (we’d love) to experience the pressure of finals. I think you learn a lot in those situations. So just to be back in the mix of the top four is definitely what we’re after.”
SCA women’s board delegate Natasha Anstee: “Great club out there for the women’s game. They’re always going to be up the top there. This year will be an open very open race. But I think you’ll see both the green and gold up there in the top four.”
MERBEIN SOUTH
Coach: Tara Martin
Captain: Tara Martin
Last year: sixth
Tara Martin: “I’m just looking forward to the season, because we won’t have as many games cancelled, with everyone double vaccinated. Hopefully, we get proper season out of it.
“It should be good to look forward to something each week and even training. Everyone’s looking forward to being together.
“We’ve got a lot of players that played previous seasons coming back again, (besides) lots of new players. So it’s a whole new team.
“Every team wants to win. But we definitely just want to come together as a team and have a good time. Because nothing’s worse than not having a good time on the field. So if we can just have a bit of fun with each other, and if we win games along the way, that’s a bonus.”
SCA women’s board delegate Natasha Anstee: “They recruited really well and they’ve got Tara Martin leading the way. I think they’ll be back up there again.”
COOMEALLA WENTWORTH
Coach: Sholto Douglas
Captain: Katelin Kemp
Last year: Seventh
Katelin Kemp: “The fact of being able to play but also having past players coming back, (and) just being able to see each other and put up a competitive side, is great.
“The thing where we’re weakest is definitely our batting, so that comes with that confidence. Because we have a younger team, the more time they spend actually doing it, the better they’re going to get. We’re looking forward to being a little bit stronger in that area this year.
“It’s great to see a lot of younger girls starting to play again. So even though there might be fewer teams, there definitely seems to be a lot of girls that are still to come up with the junior girls competition.”
SCA women’s board delegate Natasha Anstee: “Same old stalwarts out there. They’ll be very competitive again this year with Kaitlin Kemp leading the way.”
MILDURA EAST
Coach: Brett Higgins
Captain: Caitlin Finch
Last year: Eighth
Caitlin Finch: “I’m keen to see a lot of the younger girls step up a bit. They’re gaining a lot of confidence, which is helping them become stronger players. So we’re excited to see what they can bring to the table.
“We were pretty competitive last season but with the way that (the younger players) have been training, we aim to win a couple games. (We hope) to build their confidence up a bit more, to teach them to back themselves because they struggle with that.
“When the younger girls first started playing with us, it was their first time ever playing cricket and to see them come through the ranks over the last couple of years. This year, we will be more competitive because they’ve gained that confidence.”
SCA women’s board delegate Natasha Anstee: “They’ve got a really strong women’s team this year. They’ve been sort of mid-range for a few years, but I think you’ll see them rise to the top this season.”
IRYMPLE
Coach: Bruce Rochester
Captains: Kristy Carter and Nicole Zerveas
Last year: Tenth
Kristy Carter: “There’s more passion there this year than what there was in previous years.
“We’ve actually recruited a few more girls this season. (It’s) great to have extra players every week for cricket.
“We’ve got some really good girls and some upcoming young ones with their bowling and their batting, which is really handy for some of us older ones. (We can) let the other younger ones come through and have a real go this season.
“I think winning more games would be really handy for us. We’ve had a few off-seasons where we’ve won a few, lost a few. But this season, we’re actually looking pretty good.”
SCA women’s board delegate Natasha Anstee: “Could be the surprise packet. They’ve picked up a lot of the girls from the Fire Brigade team (ninth-placed last year) that unfortunately folded. So they’ve recruited some of their great players into this team.”
