Although there is not yet an official youth girls' league in the region, after a string of successful come-and-try days, Cricket Shepparton is launching a super 8s format for junior girls to try their hand at batting and bowling.
The competition will last six rounds and begins this Sunday, December 1, at Princess Park.
One of the competition's organisers, Chris Barclay, said the round-robin format would hopefully be the beginning of a youth girls' league.
“I think girls deserve a competition like this in the region,” Barclay said.
“I think it is long overdue and it is something that has worked in other regions, so we are really looking forward to giving the girls of our region the chance to play in a standalone competition.
“We had good numbers at the come-and-try days.
“If those girls continue with their cricket along with a few more, we will start to look at some really heavy numbers in the region and be able to grow the comp quicker.”
Barclay and Cricket Shepparton are inviting girls — no matter their experience in cricket or sport — to come down to Princess Park for a whack, trundle or even some wicketkeeping.
Cricket Shepparton is running two divisions; under-11 and under-15.
The only requirement to attend and play is to be registered online — a QR code can be found on Cricket Shepparton’s Facebook page — to cover the insurance costs.
Barclay said one of the main focuses was to make the sport as fast-paced and fun as possible for participants.
“At the moment, if you attend, you get allocated to a team for that day, you play and then your team might change the next week,” he said.
“The girls will be divided up into batting pairs, every pair will have a chance to face two overs and then every girl will get a bowl — it is about giving everyone a go at everything.
“It will be plastic bats and stumps and soft balls.
“It is about short, sharp games as well, trying to remove that stigma that girls will be spending four or five hours out in the sun on a hot afternoon.
“We are trying to keep the comp short, sharp and sweet to keep interest.”
Round two will be played at Nagambie Recreation Reserve on December 8 and round three will be held at Mooroopna Main Oval on December 15.
The first three rounds will begin at 8.30am.
The remaining three fixtures are yet to be released.
Cricket Shepparton has put an emphasis on trying to grow female cricket in the region in recent years and Barclay believes you can already see the signs of development.
“Shepparton Youth Club United was the first club to have a women’s team out of the Cricket Shepparton clubs,” he said.
“We now have four Cricket Shepparton clubs that have women’s teams that participate in the (Goulburn Murray Cricket senior women's competition).
“We are seeing the standard of that competition improve, particularly in scoring, not just from an individual perspective, but from a team perspective.
“We are seeing more teams getting a total of over 100, more than we previously have, and just the general skill level just keeps on improving year after year.”
Through running this six-round competition in the height of cricket season, Barclay said he hoped it would create a snowball effect on junior girls' cricket interest and participation in the area.
“This is a catalyst of giving girls a taste of cricket before we introduce an actual league with teams next year,” he said.
“That’s what it is essentially about, getting girls to play cricket.
“Things like training and bonding to a club can occur down the track, but most importantly getting girls a bat and ball in hand.
“It’s about coming down and having a bit of fun.”
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