By Tyler Wright
Olinda Cricket Club’s women’s side won its first grand final in the Ferntree Gully & District Cricket Association’s Women’s League on Sunday 12 March, playing off against South Belgrave.
Women’s coordinator and co-captain of the First XI women’s team at Olinda Cricket Club, Nikki Burgess, said it was a “very close match” at the opponent’s home ground.
“It was really quite an even playing field, and great to have the result we did; there was a lot of celebrating amongst the girls and the wider club and actually the wider community in general have been very supportive,” Burgess said.
With one stand-in player to field, Olinda came home with a result of 1/125.
Martha Box ran 44 not out, followed by 32 runs from Hannelize Human and a 22-run streak from Maddie Vouvoplousos.
Belgrave South’s Lucy Searle bowled 1/11.
The home team scored 6/117, with top scorer Miah Beardshaw securing 50 before retiring.
Kate Cattanach scored 30 runs, with Nadia Beardshaw running 11.
Ellie Buxton bowled 2/13, with Martha Box bowling 1/18 and Grace Emmett with 1/29.
After losing three games in the home and away season, the Olinda women ended up fourth on the ladder; with the battle of facing top-placed Knox Gardens in the semi final.
“I said to my girls, ‘this is like our grand final,'” Burgess said.
Olinda’s cricketers rose to the challenge, coming away with the win after scoring 8/115, ahead of Knox Gardens’ 6/113.
“[It] was an incredibly close and exciting game that came down to the last two balls of the game and everybody was on the edge of their seat,” Burgess said.
“Somebody [said] ‘cricket is boring, but it was very gripping and exciting’… which was amazing.”
Despite the win, Burgess said it has been difficult getting women into the club since the team formed in 2020; with the First XI team having to forfeit games this season due to a shortage of players.
“When we first started, there hadn’t been women’s teams for 109 years…so the first couple of trainings were quite hilarious because we’d be in the nets practising with them [the men], and they were just so quiet you could hear a pin drop because it was like they didn’t know how to act around us.” she said.
“We still have a long way to go. I think sometimes we’re not taken as serious as the men and just things like getting equipment; we had to use men’s bats, men’s pads… because there just weren’t women’s stuff available for us, so they don’t fit properly and they’re hard to move in and that kind of thing.
But she said attitudes are changing, with Olinda Cricket Club president David Ardley and members of the Ferntree Gully Ferntree Gully and District Cricket Association have been “encouraging” and “very inclusive”.
“We would love to see the Olinda Cricket Club become a destination club for women’s cricket for multiple senior women’s teams,” she said.
