KILMORE Cricket Club will field a women’s team for the first time in its inaugural season in the Gisborne and District Cricket Association.
Club president Brett Buttler said it had long been Kilmore’s ambition to support a women’s team, but it had been unable to do so in the Seymour District Cricket Association – the league in which it competed for the past five decades.
“It’s been a goal of the club’s for quite a while to get a women’s side up, because we do have a few junior girls who play,” he said.
“We’ve always had a desire to get a women’s side together, so towards the end of last year, when we knew there was a possibility of going to the Gisborne league, there was some talk about that.
“There was a fair bit of interest, so once we made the decision to go to the Gisborne league we contacted those who expressed interest and most of them were keen.”
Buttler said Kellie Freeman would coach the women’s team, bringing a wealth of cricket knowledge with her.
Freeman has played more than 20 seasons of cricket – competing for Brunswick Park Cricket Club, Coburg Cricket Club and Tallarook – and won eight premierships.
Cath Mogridge will support Freeman, with men’s A Grade captain-coach Josh Buttler lending assistance.
Brett Buttler said the club’s aim was to create a pathway for junior girls.
“We’ve got a couple of older women who we hope take the younger girls and women under their wing,” he said.
“Hopefully in coming years we can build those numbers and bring in a junior girls’ side, but this is our starting point and hopefully it creates a bit of interest.”
Buttler said the club was searching for more players for the 2022-23 season.
“We’ve been hoping we might be able to get some girls from Assumption [College] because we play on a Sunday and Assumption plays on a Saturday, so we might be able to get a few girls to play both,” he said.
“We have about 10 players ourselves, so we’re looking for just a few more to strengthen the numbers.
“Assumption do have quite a few girls, so there may be an opportunity for some who do miss out on playing for Assumption. It might be that in the weeks they don’t play for Assumption they play for us instead.”
Buttler said any interested players were welcome to attend the team’s first training session tomorrow, Wednesday.