Women’s Premier Cricket heads to Bendigo for the first time

For the first time in history, the Bush Bash included matches from the Women’s Premier Firsts division of the VPC, and saw the likes of Southern Stars and VicSpirit Captain Meg Lanning make an unbeaten 170* for Box Hill.

A host of fellow VicSpirit teammates also took to the field, providing a mix of experience and youth in each side and a spectacle for all to watch.

At the picturesque ground of Queen Elizabeth Oval in Bendigo, Local State Government MP Jacinta Allen tossed the coin for Plenty Valley and Prahran, who played out a spirited game across day and night.

Ahead of the game in perfect conditions, Plenty Valley Captain Kirsty Lamb spoke of her excitement to be playing not only with and against some VicSpirit teammates, but also to be doing so in the bush.

“For us to come out here today in our region is really important,” said Kirsty.

“We’ve got two girls in our side from Bendigo so that makes it especially important for us to get up here and give back to the kids who come down to Melbourne each week and play with us.”

Prahran Captain Emma Inglis echoed the support of bringing cricket out to the country and giving the locals a taste of the talent Victoria has to offer at all levels.

“To be able to come out to the regional centres and show what we’re made of out here and give the people out in the country a little bit of a taste of it is very exciting.”

With the WNCL already underway and the inaugural WBBL season soon to kick off, women’s cricket is continuing to grow in participation.

Victoria in particular has the biggest women’s community competition in Australia, and overall female participation in cricket has grown to 24% which Cricket Victoria’s Women’s Club Development Coordinator Emma Gallagher believes is a platform for the female formats to grow further.

“It’s about creating the pathway, showing the girls that there is somewhere to go… It’s an awareness thing as much as anything.”

A full list of results from the Bush Bash weekend can be seen online at the Premier Cricket homepage.

The next stage of VicSpirit’s WNCL campaign continues this weekend on October 31 and November 1 against South Australia and Western Australia at Junction Oval.