Sometimes there are days on the cricket field when everything seems to go your way and that was the case for Plenty Valley women’s side in the VCA Bartercard Women’s Premier Firsts on Sunday.
After being bowled out cheaply in its first two matches for the season, the Bats’ batters reached their highest total in two years, making 6-219, in their match against Melbourne at the AK Line Reserve in Watsonia.
Melbourne was all out for 168.
“The girls did themselves proud and batted at a level we have been working towards,” said Bats coach Andrew Walton.
“Fundamentally we’ve had the same batting order for the first three matches to help keep the girls in a consistent spot and build momentum.
“We’ve made small gains in the first two games and had starts from the top order in all three games, but this time it was just a little better.”
Kirsty Lamb was the star, making 76 not out.
“It’s her best score at the club ever,” said Walton.
“The most pleasing thing was that she had 48 scoring shots and worked hard to turn singles into twos.
“It’s pushed her to a level she hasn’t been before and it gives her a sense of self-belief.”
Walton said the girls knew the work wasn’t over despite setting a difficult target.
“We knew Melbourne would go close to batting the whole 40 overs,” he said.
“I knew if we bowled well we could control them.”
The bowlers shared around the workload as four players took two or more wickets.
“Kirsty was able to get out two of their top batsmen.
“Cherie Hallett bowled defensively in the middle overs and managed to pick up a couple of wickets, which mean that when the strike bowlers came back on they were bowling to the lower order.
“We maintained pressure on the batsmen by getting consistent wickets. Once we made inroads into the batting order, the wickets kept falling.”
Walton said the girls had been working really hard.
Last season they won two games for the season.
“To their credit the girls are amazingly enthusiastic and confident,” said Walton.
“What we did in the win was bat the overs out and get a good score and then bowled them out.
“Every player got something out of the game. Usually only one or two play really well.
“Full credit to them.”
The win tops off a good week for the club with four players – Hope Irvine, Kiara Jones, Rhiann O’Donnell and Tayla Vlaeminck – named in the 13-player Victorian squad for the under-18 national championships to be played in Ballarat in January.
A fifth Bats player, Sophie Reid, has been named in the Victorian development squad and could still be part of the championships.
“To have four girls out of the [in the championship] it’s a pretty healthy number,” said Walton.
“It shows we are getting players in the right age group to help the club in its development.”
