THE two captains in Friday’s Premier Women’s grand final say the match will be full of voice and a celebration of the next generation of women’s cricketers in Sunraysia.
Mildura Settlers meet Nichols Point Gold to decide the SCA Premier Women’s premier at Alcheringa Oval in Gol Gol.
Settlers return to the final after last season’s grand final disappointment, but captain Jenny Donnelly said while a win would be appreciated, the result in Friday’s final was “irrelevant – to a degree”.
“This year is the grand final of the little kids growing up,” Donnelly said.
The Settlers team to contest the grand final will have only three players over the age of 15, while more than half the Nichols Point Gold team will also be under the age of 17.
The youngest players in both sides will be 10 and 11 years old, and Donnelly said the Settlers’ juniors’ inexperience and nerves had showed in the semi-final, when her side defeated Mildura West by 42 runs.
“That was the biggest crowd my girls had ever played in front of,” Donnelly said.
“(I said) if you’re nervous, it means it matters. Nerves tell you, this matters. So, step it up and make this count.”
Before Nichols Point’s four-wicket upset win over Merbein South, Kirirua-Gill said she had reminded her team to appreciate that they had made the semi-final.
But Kirirua-Gill said she had also felt nervous and responded positively to the feeling.
“When I’m nervous, I play well. When I go in confident, things can go pretty wrong,” she said.
Keeping spirits high will be a theme for both teams on Friday, and Kirirua-Gill said the message to her team would be to scream as much as possible.
“Just as long as there’s noise,” she said, “it makes a big difference, because when the team’s quiet, the game’s dead.”
Donnelly said she had noticed the Settlers girls finding their voice, using “silly sayings” to rally conversation on the field.
“(Once) somebody said something about dangling a carrot, which means making (the batter) come out to play a shot.
“And because another kid didn’t know what that meant, they just said a different vegetable. And it just became a thing. And now it’s still a thing.”
Kirirua-Gill said playing with juniors had made 2021-22 the “best season” and she looked forward to the talent on show on Friday.
“The focus is not on us – it’s more on the young ones. They have a lot of talents and skill (they’ll put) on display,” Kirirua-Gill said.
Donnelly said either result would teach the young girls something.
“You can learn from losing just as much as winning and that want to win shows,” Donnelly said.
“Whatever happens on grand final day, happens.”
The grand final begins at 5.45pm.
