Tara Murray
Sydenham-Hillside made short work of Coburg to claim the North West Metropolitan Cricket Association women’s division 1 T20 premiership.
The top two teams faced off in the decider on March 17, but it was all one way traffic as the Storm won the match in less than 20 overs.
Both teams finished the regular season with seven wins from their 12 matches.
Brunswick batted first on Sunday and was bowled out for just 64. It was all single wicket takers for the Storm, which used seven different bowlers.
The Storm batters wasted no time chasing down the runs, finishing 1-69 in just 7.5 overs.
Arabella Wilson top scored with 22 before retiring due to give the other batters an opportunity.
Wilson, who has come out from England this season, said she had really enjoyed the challenge of playing with the Storm and in Australia.
“I’ve had a great experience out here,” she said. “I’m very proud of the team and the girls have worked hard to get there.
“To get the runs within 10 overs is really good.”
Wilson said that from the start of the season through to the end, her cricket had improved as had the rest of the team.
Storm women’s cricket representative Michelle Repacholi said winning a premiership meant a lot to the group.
“We’ve had our ups and downs but we improved and in the end we had 20 players come together and developed throughout the season.
“We got one premiership and the other side made the semi finals.”
Repacholi said they approached anyone they could in the off season as they tried to get more numbers for the sides. Repacholi was captain of the second side.
She said it didn’t matter if they knew how to play or not, it was about having fun.
“We can teach them to play,” she said. “We’ve created an amazing fantastic environment.
“We had about 150 people watching and more than half were kids.”
Repacholi said the reason for the women’s program was to ensure their juniors girls have somewhere to play cricket in the future. She said they need to ensure that the program is successful for the next generation.
“We are creating that pathway for these kids,” she said. “We need to keep this going, we don’t want them not wanting to play.
“We need to make sure that the momentum keeps on going.”
