By Parker McKenzie
After a successful season for both its senior women’s and junior girl’s teams, women’s cricket continues to grow at St Johns Tecoma Cricket Club.
The u15 girl’s team, which competes in the Ringwood District Cricket Association Girls Stage 2 Stars, topped the ladder after an undefeated season with thirteen wins and three draws.
In the grand final on Sunday 5 March, St Johns Tecoma won by two runs against fellow hills club South Belgrave to cap off a fine season.
Team coach Elaine Kos, who also captains the senior women’s team, said the younger players have stepped up under the guidance of the senior players.
“We all trained together. We were very big on developing each other by training as a whole squad,” she said.
“It’s just been phenomenal with how much everyone has jumped on board to help out the ladies and getting the juniors going.”
Several players from the u15s team also play in the women’s team, who won their semi-final on Sunday 5 March and will play in the grand final this weekend.
St Johns Tecoma Hall of Famer Dean Palandri said the girl’s team has been playing competitive cricket at the club for around four years.
“They’re all fairly young and vary in age. When they first started, some of the girls were as young as seven or eight,” he said.
“Playing competitively, they now vary in age from 13 to 16 after coming through junior programs.”
Palandri coached the junior team up until this season because of his long-term involvement with St John’s Tecoma Cricket Club and his daughter playing in the team.
He said as soon as he found out the club was going to put a girls’ team together, he put his hand up straight away.
“They’re great learners and listeners, they put everything into place. They’re like sponges,” he said.
“The season has gone a lot better than expected. I stepped aside as coach because of my own work commitments, but helped out during the week with training.”
In the women’s and girls’ teams, there are three pairs of mothers and daughters which Kos believes contributes to the family-friendly atmosphere at the club.
She said the senior women’s team was restarted two years ago after more than a decade of being inactive after a nearby women’s team folded.
“I got a call from our president who asked how I would feel about getting a ladies’ team together because Upper Gully folded,” Kos said.
“We started off with three players and then made phone calls. I got my daughter who’s never played cricket before and Dean’s daughter just to field a team.”
After assembling a team and finishing last in the 2021/2022 season, the senior women finished second this season before beating Bayswater Park in the semi-final on Sunday 5 March.
Ms Kos said the results on the field are because of the “club effort” to support women’s cricket.
“It’s been building and developing the younger girls, giving them the opportunity to play,” she said.
“We’ve worked as a team, not just as a squad, and it’s done a lot for the girls’ and ladies’ cricket.”
The club is hoping to continue expanding female representation at the club with a second senior team next season.
Palandri said a testament to the club’s success is creating pathways for its players to continue developing their cricket through representative sides.
“One of our current girls is playing for Ringwood Rams in their third eleven and played a couple of games in their second eleven,” he said.
“We’ve got another girl who is looking to progress on from under 15s this year to the Ringwood Rams next season, which has been an exciting time for the club.”
He said beyond the pathway for players, the club also creates lifelong friendships.
“A lot of these girls will be playing cricket into the future for a long time based on those relationships,” Palandri said.
“It was an absolute thrill to be front and centre and watch it unfold each week this season.”
