Young female Ballan cricketers wanted

CALLING all under-fourteen girls in Ballan – your local cricket club needs you.

The Ballan Cricket Club, which competes in the Ballarat Cricket Association (BCA), is gearing up for the new season and wants to enter a team in the under-14 girls competition alongside its other sides.

But it still needs female players for that team.

Club official Emma Anderson said the club was “struggling a bit” to sign up sufficient numbers.

Partly to help fill the ranks, the club has scheduled a come and try day for youngsters aged from five to 17 on Sunday 14 September from 10am to 12pm at the Ballan Recreation Reserve.

Ms Anderson said the day would be for anyone within those age limits, both boys and girls, to head down to the club and just have a go at cricket.

Ms Anderson herself is an example of what new players can achieve – she won the club’s President’s Award last season in her very first year of playing the sport.

The club already has two senior men’s teams and a senior women’s team, along with teams in various junior competitions.

Young Ballan Cricket Club players show their skills last season.

Senior men’s teams are already training for the new season, which starts next month, with training for other levels and teams scheduled to begin soon.

But in the meantime, the club is hoping the come and try day will attract new young players.

“We’re welcoming everyone to come down – even if you’re not interested (in cricket), come and have a try, you might like it,” Ms Anderson said.

She said organisers were planning to run an informal game format so participants could experience different aspects of the sport.

“[They can] try batting, try bowling, try fielding,” she said. “It’s more going to be focused on a game rather than a training session.”

Ms Anderson said there will also be a barbecue.

Registrations for intending players are open now and can be submitted through the website play.cricket.com.au and searching for the Ballan Cricket Club.

Apart from the hoped-for under-14 girls team, categories are under-11 open, under-13 open, under-15 open and under-17 open, as well as the Blasters competitions for players aged five to seven.