Gisborne Green Under 14 girls turned in an outstanding performance to win the Northern Rivers Country Week grand final on Thursday.
It was a dual celebration for the Gisborne District Cricket Association, as its second string Gisborne White girls’ side also reached the grand final.
GDCA secretary, Callum Jackman, said it was an amazing performance by the younger squad to beat Bendigo 3/112 to 5/103 in the previous round and make the final.
Gisborne Green, coached by Brendan du Kamp with the versatile Ruby Watts as assistant, comprised players from seven different clubs.
They were Quinn Barnett, Eloise Arnup, Rosie Maguigan and Ashleigh Cross (all Kyneton), Freya Dodd and Lily Malone (Macedon), Lucinda Gray and Sienna Ranson (Woodend), Samantha du Kamp (Gisborne), Indigo Shanahan (Hanging Rock), Emerson Castle (Wallan) and Amelie Strugnell (Bacchus Marsh).
Batting first, Gisborne White was soon in trouble, with Lily Malone snaring two wickets with the new ball.
White recovered to reach 8/97 from 20 overs, the main scorers being Chloe Watt 29, and Emily Wallace 16.
Malone had the remarkable figures of 3-2 from her four overs, and Castle claimed 2-13.
A confident Gisborne Green rattled up 4/99 in just 12 overs, with Malone 22, Maguigan 17 and Barnett 16 among the runs.
It was a pity Friday’s finals in other age groups were abandoned due to the catastrophic fire situation across much of the state.
“All our teams did a great job representing the GDCA last week,” Jackman said after the girls’ grand final.
