Queensland Ashes defeated New South Wales Blues in the final over of their division one clash to claim the title at the second annual Veterans Cricket Australia Women’s National Championships in Wollongong.
The five-day tournament at North Dalton Park finished on Thursday, November 23, with the tense origin-style clash.
Other championships titles were nabbed by Victoria who took out both the division two and division three victories.
Championship director and chair of Veterans Cricket Australia and Veterans Cricket New South Wales Women’s Organising Committee Jess Henry said the carnival was well-received by the more than 100 players who travelled from throughout the country to the Illawarra to compete.
“The local support has been extraordinary,” Jess said.
“The New South Wales Women’s Organising Committee has been working literally for nine months, over hundreds and hundreds of hours to pull this together, and this week we've had players who are also doing all of the ground’s logistics in the morning – they're pulling covers off, they're putting chairs out, putting gazebos up – so it's been a massive, massive undertaking.
“Wollongong City Council, their ground staff have been incredible because the weather hasn't been particularly friendly to cricket, and they've been amazing with the pitch preparations and what-not.
“The facilities are wonderful, the Dalton Park hub I'm very jealous of as a club cricketer back home… so it really has been absolutely fabulous, and even though a week ago the weather forecast was looking absolutely horrendous, even the weather came good in the end as well.”
Last held alongside the men’s national tournament in November last year, this is first time the women’s over-40s competition has been held as a standalone carnival.
In just one year, Jess said the women’s veteran league had experienced exponential growth in player numbers, with 15 teams from six states competing at this year’s championships – up from last year's eight teams.
“Veterans Cricket Australia itself has been around for [around] 30 years… but the women's piece only really started in about 2019 when I arranged a New South Wales versus Victoria event at Bradman Oval in Bowral,” she said.
“[Post-Covid] when we finally were able to hold our first national carnival in Geelong in November last year, that had two teams from each of Western Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, and New South Wales across two divisions, and when we came away from that... we said, ‘Right, let's go bigger.’
“This time round is our first standalone carnival, and we also added Queensland and South Australia who each have a team, and then you've got New South Wales and Victoria who both entered four teams, we've got Tasmania with two and Western Australia with three… so we've got almost a hundred percent growth on last time around which is tremendously exciting.”
In her almost four decades of premier cricket at Gordon Women’s Cricket Club – 25 of those years spent as president – Jess has seen enormous change for women in the sport at all levels. But with the recent introduction of the women’s veterans league, she believes that perhaps the most exciting change is the creation of a home for women in cricket whether they be ex-professionals or first-time players.
“40 years ago, I struggled to find somewhere to play cricket – I wasn't aware there was women's cricket,” she said.
“Of course, you've had the tremendously successful Australian women’s cricket team who've won everything that is going around which has increased the profile… [but] what we're running right now with the Veterans Cricket Australia Women's National Championships, what we are finding is that you've got past players who are coming back into the game, you've got some older women who are playing cricket for the first time, but you've also got people who are like me who have been playing forever and may or might not necessarily still be playing club cricket or might be looking to transition from club cricket.
“Having a vets avenue like this is where the growth opportunity is for us. We want to see the Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry's of this world still playing cricket in 20 years’ time at a veterans carnival.”
This ambition is not unfounded, as retired international cricketers Bronwyn Calver and Karen Price and many former state players faced stiff competition at last week’s championships from women who first picked up a bat in their 40s.
If the women’s veterans league continues on its current growth trajectory, Jess is hopeful that in the coming years its structure may parallel the men’s league, where the competition is divided by age group, and where there’s more than just one formal round each year.
“At the moment it's just the national championships, [but] we're hoping next year as we continue to grow in New South Wales that we'll then start having some regional competitions… with a view to selecting nationals from that down the track,” Jess said.
“The men at the moment are over-40s, 50s, 55s, 60s, 65s, 70s, and as the women's game grows in size, we'll be able to split out into age groups. At the moment, you've got 65-year-olds playing in an over-40s competition, [but], by the way, the oldest player in the tournament’s playing for Victoria and we celebrated her 77th birthday [on Wednesday], and she's the best bowler in their team.
“For us, it's not just about the cricket. With people coming back into the game and having a bit of fitness and mental health wellbeing and reconnecting with people, it's a community of players, and it's about the friendship.
“The cricket is fabulous. We really love it… We are here to be competitive but enjoy ourselves as well.”
