Photo Credit: South Australian Cricket Association
After playing their first two games of the Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) season in September, the SA Scorpions now have to wait two and a half months to take to the field again.
Due to an uneven number of teams in the competition, the Scorpions had a bye in round two and with the Women’s Big Bash League starting in mid-October, won’t play again until December 18 against the ACT Meteors.
This scheduling placed extra importance on a successful opening round, where the Scorpions played Victoria and came away with six points after a win and a tie.
Scorpions assistant coach Jude Coleman said the team took a lot of confidence out of the results against a quality side.
“It was good for the girls to start us off with a win,” Coleman said.
“We probably didn’t play our best cricket at all over the weekend, so we were pretty happy to come away with six points.
“I think it’s given us a fair bit of confidence that we can beat a quality side like Victoria and the line-up that they had.
“But more importantly, I think it’s showing that we can win from anywhere, a tie was still a decent result for where we were in the game, particularly in the first half.”
It was thanks to all-rounders Tahlia McGrath and Jemma Barsby that the Scorpions were able to get out of tight spots and earn those points.
In game one, McGrath hit three sixes off the first three balls of the final over to not only bring up the win for the Scorpions, but also her own century.
In the second match, Barsby contributed with both bat and ball, first making 42 runs and then taking 4/21.
“Tahlia’s performance on Friday was pretty special,” Coleman said.
“I know she wasn’t too happy with how she performed with the ball, so she was pretty determined with the bat and we all saw the result of that.
“It’s something that you kind of expect from JB (Barsby) when the chips are down, she’s a bit of a scrapper like that.
“Whenever the team needs her and are in a tough situation, I think that’s when she plays her best and she certainly did that on Sunday.”
Now round two is over, women’s cricket in Australia turns its attention to the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL).
It’s an interesting time for those involved with the Scorpions, with some staying here to play for the Adelaide Strikers, some going interstate to play with other WBBL teams, while some others aren’t involved in WBBL.
Coleman said it isn’t an easy time, but one they are getting better at handling every year.
“Each season we are getting a little bit better at how we do things and we’ve got Darius Wyatt (Head Coach, Female Pathways) who will look after the Scorpions players who are not involved in WBBL,” she said.
“They’ll start to do a little bit of training by themselves but also will train with the under 19’s, which is a really good leadership opportunity for them.
“We’ll try and touch base with them as much as we can while we’re out on the road.”
Those players will get an opportunity to play a touring Western Australia side in October on Park 25, alongside some under 19 players and emerging players from Premier Cricket for two 50-over matches and a Twenty20.
Stay tuned for the squad for those matches, which will be released soon.
