GOOD leadership and attention to detail are paying off for one 14-year-old cricketer.
Settlers Gol Gol’s Abby Collihole, who earned this week’s Sunraysia Cricket Association Premier Women’s player of the round nomination, says the more she plays under the guidance of Jenny Donnelly and Shania McKinnon, the more confident she feels to improve her game as she works towards selection in Victoria’s Youth Premier League squad.
Collihole starred with ball and bat on the weekend, picking up 3/7 off two overs before retiring not out on 30 runs off 27 balls as Settlers Gol Gol earned their second win of the season against Irymple.
The 14-year-old said talking with McKinnon while batting, and having the support of Donnelly on the sidelines, helped as she focused on moving her feet to the ball and hitting shots to the gaps.
“(Donnelly and McKinnon) are both good players all around. So I just look at their techniques and work a bit off them and get some tips off them to improve my game,” Collihole said.
Although Irymple bowled a “decent length”, Collihole, who scored three fours during her 34-minute innings, said she knew where to hit the gaps and worked to modify her shots throughout to find them.
“I hit a nice few cover drives through the gaps. Just picking the gaps is the key thing to making runs.
“I almost hit a six that was probably half a metre away from the boundary. It was a nice shot. I was quite happy.”
Aside from a well-designed field thanks to Captain Donnelly, Collihole said she was able to secure her three wickets by fixing her line and length.
“I had to adjust my length a little bit. And then once I got to a fuller length they were edging it a bit so that was giving us more chances of catches and wickets. That’s how I got all my wickets, edges or shots up into the air.”
The up-and-coming cricketer, who has now retired not out in two consecutive matches and next week returns to Melbourne in hopes of making the Victorian Youth Premier League under-16s squad, said each week she was finding confidence in her ability to work on her game during matches.
“I just kind of reset myself. If I do some type of mistake, I just take a deep breath, refresh my memory and just work on my technique again and then just continue going until it works out.”
As the Women’s Player of the Round, Collihole receives a $40 voucher from the Coomealla Memorial Sporting Club.
