With one round to go and Victorian Women’s Premier Cricket seconds finals locked in, a young Greenvale team is ready to go.
In the Kangaroo’s first season of premier cricket last year the team came eighth after winning just three games.
“We’re really excited that we’ve made the four and can’t come out,” captain Catherine Morrow said.
“So we’ll play finals and it’s only our second season in premier cricket. To play finals in our second season is a huge effort for the club and very exciting times for Greenvale.”
The youth of the Kangaroos is something that has really stood out to Morrow, with only three players in the starting XI over the age of 18. Herself, West Indies international cricketer Chedean Nation and recently turned 19-year-old Lily Pelosi are the only adults in the side.
“Our opening batter Noura [Abdul Qader] played for Victoria in the under 16 national championships last month in Tasmania, and our other opener Gurveer [Padam] is 14, they are doing really well as openers and Bailey Holt who comes in at three has just turned 17,” Morrow said.
Morrow said Nation has been a massive inclusion to the side bringing a wealth of knowledge and incredible playing ability. The Jamaican has played 62 One Day Internationals and 47 T20 Internationals for the West Indies and currently leads the competition in batting with 665 runs at an average of 66.5.
“Chedean has made a huge difference to our playing squad which has been fantastic,” Morrow said.
“Chedean has just taken all those girls to the next level basically with her professionalism and all her knowledge as an international cricketer has been fantastic.”
Second in the competition’s batting tally is the young opener Abdul Qader with 526 runs at an average of 37.57 for the season.
“I think you’re doing quite well as a batter if you get 400 runs plus in a season and both of them combined is over 1000 runs so it’s an amazing effort by both of them,” Morrow said.
Before the Kangaroos face the finals, they will play Parahan on Saturday for the final regular season match.
“Prahran is a very good side but we would like to keep our running going heading into finals,” Morrow said.
“We’ve beaten all the teams above us on the ladder which is a huge effort, so we just want to keep going and be as consistent as we can be and you never know what can happen in finals, finals cricket is a strange thing.
“The girls are really excited and keen to keep developing and getting better each week which is great.”
Harper Sercombe
