Pink Devils on precipice of BWCC entry

THE northern suburbs of Geelong are on the brink of adding another senior female side into the rapidly growing Barwon Women Cricket Competition (BWCC), tying in with a well-timed upgrade at Shell Reserve.

Corio Cricket Club is just a few months away from confirming its first women’s team, following growing interest in the team over the past four years vice president of the club Mitch Grace said.

“We tried to put together a women’s side two years ago pre-COVID, but a lack of numbers and interest bumped it back a bit,” Grace said.

“From then, we really started emphasising on making Corio a family club once again and it has provided awesome results.”

The Devils currently field two junior sides and five senior sides, all of which are male teams, but there have been large amounts of support to the women’s cause following Corio’s Pink Stumps/Ladies Day held in February earlier this year.

All funding raised from the day went towards the McGrath Foundation’s breast cancer research and saw the men’s First XI don specially made pink uniforms, the same uniforms which will be worn by Corio’s inaugural women’s side next season.

There were five divisions in the BWCC during the 2021/22 season, an increase from three in 2020/21.

Members of Corio Cricket Club will also see several changes take place in the lead-up to season 2022/23 as the City of Greater Geelong prepares to undertake major construction works on new changerooms.

Local council committed $3,081,000 to the project in June 2021 and secured a $500,000 state government grant through the Sport and Recreation Victoria Local Sports Infrastructure Fund’s Female Friendly Facilities stream.

The redevelopment, demolishing and improving of Shell Reserve’s changerooms, is estimated to be completed in December this year.

“We’ve had such a positive vibe at the club since we received our training facility upgrades back in March,” Grace said.

“I can already see it’s going to be the exact same reaction once we get these new changerooms and make our club more complete as a result.”

An announcement is expected to be made in the coming months by the club regarding a ‘Come and Try Day’ at Shell Reserve, most likely in August when cricket season approaches, which will help determine numbers.