Limestone Coast’s First All-Girls Club Builds Pathway to Women’s Cricket
The Limestone Coast Lightning is set to make history this season as the region’s only all-girls cricket club, giving young female cricketers across the Limestone Coast the opportunity to play together, develop their skills and build a pathway into the sport.
Lightning coach Craig Hicks said a number of the girls had success playing in a competition in Victoria last year, prompting the girls and their parents to push for an all-girls club to be established locally.
“We put a team in the Under 14s Country Week in Hamilton last year. We ran a program for that and as we went along it became pretty apparent that the girls wanted their own team to play in. So we decided to make that into a club with the hope of multiple teams in the future,” he said.
Forming a “Team of Their Own”
“Girls were just sick of playing with the boys and probably being left out a little bit. They wanted ownership of their own team. And we do have really good cricketers in this age group.”
The club is already attracting interest from across the region, with players potentially joining from Bordertown, Millicent and Naracoorte, and even from across the border in Hamilton and Warrnambool.
The Limestone Coast Lightning girls will compete in the Mount Gambier and District Cricket Association against traditional boys teams, as there is currently no dedicated girls’ competition.
Hicks believes competing against the boys will provide an important opportunity for the girls to rapidly develop their skills.
“It’ll definitely upskill the girls really quickly. It’ll put their skills on a fast-track. But it’ll also mean that it’ll be very competitive, and we will be very competitive,” he said.
Kayleigh and Clare are two of the girls eagerly awaiting the start of the season next month, and see the Lightning as a great opportunity for local girls wanting to give cricket a go.
Both have experience playing alongside boys and believe having a dedicated girls team will provide greater opportunities for players to get involved and contribute.
“I feel just playing cricket and being around the girls, I feel like it’s better than playing alongside the boys, because with the boys some girls don’t get as much of an opportunity. But with the girls, it’ll be all shared,” Clare said.
Lightning Ready to Take on the Boys
The girls are not concerned about competing against boys teams, with Kayleigh confident the Lightning can not only hold their own, but prove to be a force to be reckoned with.
“There are a heap of girls that are joining this that are honestly better than some of the boys and should be getting put up the batting order,” she said.
“It should be a proud thing for most girls, because they’re going to get opportunity, and it’s going to get people out of their shells.”
Paving the Way for the Future of Women’s Cricket
Hicks hopes the Lightning can become a catalyst for building a stronger pathway into women’s cricket across the Limestone Coast, with ambitions to build the club to four teams over the next few years.
“In three years’ time, we hope to have a competition. The Lightning will go it alone for a little while, but hopefully there will be a competition, maybe an Under 16s girls competition but to do that we’d need four teams. So in three to five years, that’s the aim,” he said.
“And after that, we need a pathway of women’s cricket here in the Limestone Coast as well, which currently there’s not.”
Hicks hopes having a club dedicated to girls’ cricket in the Limestone Coast will provide the opportunities girls need not only to start playing cricket, but to feel comfortable and supported enough to continue with the sport.
“A lot of these girls will probably leave cricket if they don’t have their own team. And that’s the bottom line. Once they hit high school, it’s really hard to keep girls in cricket if they haven’t got their own team,” he said.
A recent Come and Try day at Frew Park provided an opportunity for girls interested in cricket to get involved, with a number of girls taking part and enjoying the chance to try the game in a dedicated girls’ environment.
The club will now continue with weekly training sessions as the girls prepare for the upcoming season, with the aim of building on the interest generated through the Come and Try day and encouraging more girls to get involved.
Give Cricket a Go
When asked what advice they would give to a local girl wanting to try cricket, both Kayleigh and Clare had the same message: give it a go.
“Yeah, they should give it a go, it’s a great opportunity and you get to meet some really good people,” Clare said.
For the Limestone Coast Lightning, the goal extends well beyond one season. The club hopes to create a place where girls can play cricket, develop their skills, build friendships and ultimately continue through to senior women’s cricket in the region.
Those interested in joining the Limestone Coast Lightning can contact coach Craig Hicks on 0423 297 455 or email limestonecoastlightningcc@
