Universities Women’s Cricket Club’s Australian representatives Alex Blackwell and Rachael Haynes have two hurdles to jump to finish the 2012-13 season with a full trophy cabinet.
The first hurdle is a win over Campbelltown-Camden in the sudden-death semi-final of the Sydney Women’s limited overs competition, to be played at the Village Green, UNSW, on Sunday at 11am. Entry is free.
Should Universities – the minor premiers – put that behind them, the final hurdle will be defeating the winner of the other semi-final between Bankstown and Northern District.
A win in the Limited Overs final would be a first in the competition for the Universities club, which was formed in 2003 with the amalgamation of the Sydney University and UNSW women’s cricket clubs.
Universities won their first title in January this year when they collected the Sydney Twenty20 crown, having finished on top of the competition and been awarded the title after the final was washed out.
Blackwell and Haynes were also members of the Australian Southern Stars, who won the ICC 50-over Women’s World Cup in February and the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in September 2012.
They were also members of the NSW side that won an eighth consecutive Australian title (Limited Overs) and the National Twenty20 crown during the season.
Universities will be fielding a star-studded side, including Australian Under 23 and NSW representative Kara Sutherland, NSW Under 18 representatives Emily Mifsud and Maisy Gibson, former NSW Under 18 player Georgia Redmayne, Tasmanian representative Erin Burns, former Emerging NSW Breakers Claire Hodgkinson and Renee Hebden, and former Wellington, NZ, representative Charlotte Mizzi.
SUSF Elite Athlete Program (EAP) scholarship holdern Burns was named UWCC T20 batter of the year, scoring the most runs and averaging 102 with a strike rate of 182, while Mifsud was awarded the club’s T20 bowler of the year, with 11 wickets at an average of 6.36 and miserly economy rate of 4.12.
Campbelltown-Camden are also awash with talent, including Australian and NSW representative Sara Coyte, NSW representative Claire Koski, NSW Under 18 representatives Tanya Bailey, Keira Perry and Steph Daffara, and former NSW Under 18 players Celeste Raack, Naomi Stalenberg and Zoe Richards.
The two clubs are hoping for fine weather and plenty of support to watch some of the best women’s cricketers in the country do battle. Entry is free, with an 11am start scheduled.
