North West Metropolitan Cricket Association Grand Final – Women’s Social T20 Division One

Sunday 14th March 2021

Darebin Falcons def Aberfeldie by 70 runs

It was the perfect day for the Darebin Falcons on Sunday, arriving to a beautiful sunny and surprisingly great playing conditions; the ground drying well after the deluge the day before.  This was an exceptionally successful season for the senior women’s team, after a five year hiatus from cricketing, with an unbeaten record from late November.   In the earlier encounter in the season, Aberfeldie had pushed Falcons in a close one, with the Falcons only winning off the bat in the last over.  But the Grand Final was a stronger performance, and it seemed everything was going to the Falcon’s plan on Sunday.

The Falcons won the toss and elected to bat.  Falcs openers Bec Hickmott and Faele O’Connor set the tone of the day, relaxing into game and finding the boundaries.  Carrie Brown was an unfortunately casualty during the first innings, retiring with a hurt calf muscle, the bane of the older athlete’s game.  Under modified T20 rules, each of the 8 players on the team can bat for only 5 overs, or 30 runs, before retiring to let the next batter take the pitch.  So accordingly the whole team had a chance to have a red hot go for this excellent batting performance.  Top scorer Sarah Logan had 57 not out against her name, enjoying the last part of the game to notch up six 6’s and a 4, with Bec Hickmott 46 runs, also contributing a tidy eight 4’s and one 6.  After 20 overs, the Falcons posted a formidable 3/156 target for Aberfeldie.

In the field, Falcons again kept up the whole team pressure, and produced the best bowling effort of the season.  The entire team contributed to the bowling, and all bowled accurately, putting the Aberfeldie batters under a lot of pressure.  Of the seven wickets, one was caught behind, and six were bowled out.  Maxi Phillips got 3 wickets from her 3 overs, Sarah Logon continued her devastating form with another 3 wickets, and Louise Potter also got a tidy return of 1/8 from her four overs.  Aberfeldie were under immense pressure through the 20 overs, with the last batter standing finished still 70 runs short.  Darebin were the winners of the 2020/2021 T20 Grand Final.

This competition has been developed out of the explosive growth in women’s sport, and started up 3 years ago aligned with campaigns such as #thisgirlcancvic and #changeourgame.  In the first two seasons, this competition reported that they had registrations from over 200 first time players, and expanding again in the 2020/2021 season with now six divisions.  The Darebin Falcons cricket women were keen to reconnect after the social and sporting isolation in 2020, and entered a team in this comp in the Division 1.  The Social T20 format gave the team the opportunity to enjoy a return to the game for experienced players, alongside supporting new players to have as much opportunity to bat and bowl.  The team are definitely keen to defend their title in the 2021/2022 season.

Match Scorecard

See the full results at MyCricket

Hear Darebin Falcons Player, Carrie Brown talk more about season 2020/21 here

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