Bat donation a big step towards women’s First XI

NEWTOWN & CHILWELL Cricket Club’s community has banded together to supply its inaugural women’s side with an array of cricket bats, providing a massive assist in getting a First XI female squad on the pitch for 2022/23.

Leading advocate for a Two Blues women’s team and senior hard wicket coach, Phil Twaddle, said he received the six bats, donated by members of the club, in March at the end of season 2021/22.

“The callout for donations originally was just a way for the club to play a small part in beginning of the first women’s side and the response was incredible,” Twaddle said.

“The main challenge was trying to tailor the bats to be more friendly to female players, things like making them lighter, thinner handles, things like that.

“Luckily we knew a man by the name of Steve Young, the man behind Ulysses Cricket Bats, who kindly donated his time to get the bats right for our future women’s side.”

The bats were fully refurbished a couple of weeks ago, yielding excellent results.

Newtown and Chilwell Cricket Club stands as one of the oldest clubs in the Greater Geelong region with history dating back more than 120 years.

“I don’t think any of our players fully understand the kind of impact this group will have on our program,” Twaddle added.

“The club is absolutely pumped for this, we’ve never quite been able to get this team going, but this will be the thing we drive forward, these women will be walking around like rockstars.”

Anna Ferguson hasn’t played cricket since she was a junior in New Zealand, but she has committed as a Two Blue for season 2022/23 under the tutelage of captain and former Australian Netball captain Susan Meaney.

“I haven’t played for quite a while and after I heard the call-out from Phil, a few others got recruited and he explained it was a great way to meet people and have some fun, that’s what appealed to me, so I jumped on,” Ferguson said.

“There’s 1,001 things I love about cricket, the team aspect is massive for me, just having a hit and giving it a crack, plus being out in the sun for a while is always a bit fun.”

Twaddle said the club is also on pace to field two female junior sides in addition to the senior side.

Spots to join the women’s side are still available and those interested can get in touch with Phil on 0431 382 691.