Tara Murray
There was a mixture of nerves and excitement as the Greenvale Kangaroos finally made their women’s Victorian Premier Cricket debut.
The club this season is fielding sides in the premier seconds and thirds competitions for the first time, to run alongside their men’s premier program.
Kangaroos women’s captain-coach Catherine Morrow said to have both men’s and women’s premier sides was something the club had been aiming for to provide for all cricketers in Melbourne’s north.
After their first two games were called off due to the weather and grounds not being playable, they were finally able to get on the pitch in round three.
“It was unbelievable that we were able to get on with men’s premier cricket called off,” Morrow said.
“It was great and the girls were really excited and nervous. There were lots of positives to come out of it, as we played a really experienced side in Ringwood.”
While both sides suffered first up losses, Morrow said there were some really good personal results to come out of the games.
Outside of Morrow, just one other player had played any form of premier cricket before.
The average age of the second XI is just 14 and the first XI is only slightly older with an average age of about 16. She said they teams would be better for the experience in the future.
“There’s a lot of talent in the teams,” she said. “It’s about them learning and getting that match awareness.
“The pace is a bit quicker.”
Morrow said wet weather had meant they had limited full outside training sessions in the lead up to the season, with most of their training done indoors. She said hopefully it cleared and they could do some more match simulation.
She said while they are hoping to get some wins on the board this season, they are looking at the bigger picture of the program.
“We want to be competitive every week and improve,” she said.
“We want to develop and put on some scores, whether it’s making some runs or taking some wickets.
“We want to do the little things right and hopefully get some wins on the board. We want to build the program and improve for next season.
The Kangaroos are set to face Prahran on Sunday in round four.
The Kangaroos men’s side are finally hoping to get their season underway against Fitzroy Doncaster.
