By Mikayla van Loon
Mooroolbark women will have a new team sport option this summer, with a cricket team preparing to launch into the Ringwood and District Cricket Association (RDCA).
Captain coach Briony Polkinghorne said with the development of a junior girls cricket team last year, which has expanded into two teams for this season, a clear path to establish a women’s side was presenting itself.
“It’s been a vision since Danny [Martin’s] been president to bring females into the club,” she said.
“A few of us had played cricket before and conned a few other mums to participate in an indoor cricket competition over winter just to build their skills and the basics of indoor cricket and then that led into putting a team in the RDCA competition.”
With women aged 15 to 60 signing up to join the team, including three generations of one family, Polkinghorne said the interest has been great so far, seeing 12 people interested in playing in the upcoming season.
“15 is a good number of committed players because with work commitments, summer with weddings and Covid, 15 would be good because obviously you need 11 but you can play with 12. So that’s our aim,” she said.
Having started training three weeks ago, Polkinghorne said with players of all experience levels the team has been focusing on basic skills and will progress to batting, bowling and fielding over the coming weeks.
“It’s really interesting to chat to [the players] because when you just give little pointers at all clicks and they’ve obviously watched a lot of cricket for many years…so they’ve really embraced it, learnt heaps and from week to week you can see they’ve improved just with basic little tips.”
More than just the women embracing cricket, Polkinghorne said Mooroolbark Cricket Club have welcomed both the junior girls and the women’s team with open arms.
“The local cricket clubs have traditionally been where the husbands go and play cricket and have a drink with their mates but I think clubs have realised for growth and for membership and for fundraising and sponsorship, they need to get everyone involved.
“The club embracing the females into the cricket club has really made that an easy transition for women whereas in the past, you were probably frowned upon if you were female in a male dominated sporting environment and I think the world’s changed that.”
While of course the skills and fitness side of things are an important benefit in joining a sport, Polkinghorne said the social aspect has been a driver of participation.
“The best part about cricket is you make lifelong friends. Netball, a traditional ladies sport, you play for an hour and you go home whereas cricket is obviously an afternoon thing.
“So the social side of things I know for our team was the biggest hit, because we’re all just about having fun and we’ve been around the club but not played in a team together so that’s really exciting.”
Polkinghorne said for the women who have sons, daughters and husbands already playing cricket, having that deeper level of understanding from playing the sport themselves will hopefully also make watching cricket even more enjoyable.
Starting a women’s cricket also now gives young girls the opportunity to grow through the club, rather than having to move elsewhere.
“When you’re involved in a local community club, it’s a dream of kids to play all the way through and play in the men’s senior team. Well the girls have that opportunity now too.
“There’s a lot of families involved at Mooroolbark that have seen dads, granddads and grandkids go through the ranks, and now some of those families have got granddaughters and daughters being able to progress through.”
The dream for the club in the next five years is to have two women’s teams, one a more social group and the other a higher level for the junior girls to progress to.
The women’s season will get underway on Sunday 2 October with the draw yet to be released but there’s no doubt some local rivalries will be passed from the men’s to the women’s.
Training will be held on Thursdays at 6pm for the next three weeks at the Croydon Indoor Sports Centre. Anyone interested in joining can contact club president Danny Martin by emailing dcmartin1979@gmail.com
“We’re always looking for more participants. Age doesn’t matter, as long as you’re prepared to have fun and stand in the sun, everyone’s welcome to come down. The more the better.”
