Women win first cricket title

IN a grand final for the cricket connoisseurs, Beechworth have been crowned premiers in the Goulburn Murray Cricket competition. In a replay of last season, the clash against powerhouse Echuca went down to the wire with victory secured on the second last ball of the innings. Played at the picturesque Tongala Recreation Reserve, Echuca won the toss and elected to bat. Neve White and Sophie Panozzo opened the bowling and Echuca batted well against some quality bowling. The introduction of Cath Wood saw the first wicket fall in the seventh over with the score on 39. Kate Burns bowled two overs conceding just one run. Kaitlyn Ritchie was introduced into the attack and after consecutive fours she turned the tables to remove the danger wicket of Grace Moyle to a brilliant catch by Alyssa Priest for eight runs. At the 10 over mark, Echuca was 2/56. After a 17 run partnership, Priest bowled her opponent to take the score to 3/66 and then quickly it was 4/67 when Crystal Stevens struck to claim the next wicket. Stevens' bowling was superb and her four overs yielded figures of 1/6 with 17 dot balls. Priest bowled two overs taking 1/7. The fifth and final wicket to fall for Echuca was a fantastic run out by Alex Randell who threw the ball to Stevens to rattle the stumps. Echuca mustered 5/97 from their 20 overs. Neve White had figures of 0/18 off two overs; Panozzo 0/17 off four overs; Ritchie 1/15 off one over; Wood 1/12 off two overs; Burns 0/14 off four overs; Emmaline Howard 0/6 from one over. After the tea interval, Beechworth took to the batting crease and unfortunately Stevens was dismissed in the first over after a mix up led to a run out. Sophie Panozzo joined Randell they were able to partner for 12 runs before Randell was dismissed. Cath Wood joined Panozzo and in the space of three overs added 36 runs with seven boundaries to progress the score to 3/48 from six overs. Panozzo was dismissed LBW for 25. Wood was able to play all her shots for 30 runs before retiring after the 30 ball limit. Bree Wojtowyez and Kaitlyn Ritchie came together at the wicket and ran hard between the wickets. With the score on 85 Wojtowyez was dismissed for 10 which triggered a batting collapse with a triple wicket maiden restricting Beechworth from 4/85 to teeter at 7/88. A valuable eight run partnership ensued with Alyssa Priest and Emmaline Howard which took the total to 8/96 when Priest was dismissed. Burns came and was dismissed with still two runs required for victory. Number 11 bat Andrea Belci then came to the crease and joined Howard. After surviving the first ball, Belci took a blow to the helmet but scampered through for a single to tie scores. After the injury was assessed, Belci came from the field and was replaced by Wood returning from retired not out. With Howard on strike, a wide was bowled which saw the 2021/2022 Goulburn Murray A grade women's premiership secured by the WDCA/Beechworth team. For her score of 30 from 30 balls and taking 1/12, Wood was awarded player of the grand final. In batting order, the premiership team was Alex Randell, Crystal Stevens, Sophie Panozzo, Cath Wood, Bree Wojtowyez, Kaitlyn Ritchie, Emmaline Howard, Kate Burns, Neve White, Alyssa Priest and Andrea Belci, while Erin Brond was 12th team member.

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