SWAN Hill will be abuzz with the sound of leather on willow this Sunday morning, as the Wimmera Girls Cricket League (WGCL) comes to town.
The Murray Downs Diamonds will play their first home game of the year against the Horsham Hurricanes at the Alan Garden Reserve, with the girls hoping to secure their second win of the season.
It won’t just be the Diamonds or the Hurricanes who will be hitting the pitch, but entire competition, with Gurnett Oval and the Ken Harrison Reserve to host the other four WGCL teams.
Wimmera Girls Cricket League president Tony Caccaviello told The Guardian this week that he was hoping this was only the start of big things for not just the league itself – but girl’s cricket in the region.
“The whole purpose of this competition is to encourage the leagues and regions that are participating to eventually get their own girls cricket league up and running,” Caccaviello said.
“It’s an amalgamation of four associations that didn’t have a big enough playing population to start their own girl’s competitions – but the whole plan is to kind of be the starting point for these leagues to get up and running with their own league.
“Swan Hill for example only started playing in the girl’s competition last season and now they almost have two teams worth of girls playing cricket.”
After last weekend’s games in Horsham were washed out, all six teams from across the Wimmera-Mallee, including Stawell, Dimboola and Horsham, will be desperate to get back on the park come Sunday morning.
“There are eight players per team, however we have some teams that have a more than eight players – overall, we’ve got 62 girls registered and I would expect there’ll be around 55 participating in Swan Hill on Sunday morning,” Caccaviello said.
And while cricket has traditionally been the domain of men and boys in the past, that’s now quickly changing, with over 5000 registered female only cricket teams across Australia, with the next crop of talented cricketers all dreaming of being the next Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry or Alyssa Healy.
“When I was aligned with Cricket Victoria, our motto was a sport for all – and this girl’s competition is probably living that motto really,” Caccaviello said.
“It’s just great to see kids, whether it be boys or girls, being active in a team environment – and I think cricket is the ideal environment to do that.”
“The whole goal is as a sport, we want to be as inclusive as possible, and I think we are ticking the box there with this competition.
“WIMMERA GIRLS CRICKET LEAGUE – ROUND 3
Murray Downs Diamonds v Horsham Hurricanes – Alan Garden Reserve, 9.30am
Wimmera Roos v Horsham Sixers – North Park (Gurnett Oval), 9.30am
Stawell Strikers v Wimmera Mallee Belles – Ken Harrison Reserve, 9.30am
