Western Australia are once again bringing home the winning hardware from the National Indigenous Cricket Championships (NICC) in Mackay today, winning their inaugural Women’s title.
WA Taste Victory at National Indigenous Cricket Championships
WA kept in close contention with the rest of the competition across the week, winning four matches across seven days, including their dominant 72-run win against hosts Queensland in the Grand Final, held at Great Barrier Reef Arena.
Western Australia’s Mikayla Hinkley had an outstanding individual campaign blasting 232 runs at 33.14 including an important half-century in today’s final, whilst taking five wickets across the competition.
During the final, Hinkley and Melville Cricket Club’s Charlotte Toohey put together a strong 104-run partnership, steering their side to 6-164 at the end of their 20 overs.
Bowler Regina Deleeuw, who plies her trade at Wanneroo District Cricket Club, made quick work of the Queensland lineup, taking four poles at a measly 6.00.
Notching their first ever final win, the Women’s team showed the Aboriginal talent pool remains strong in WA, following the Men’s dominant championship win last year.
Named Player of the Final, Hinkley said the win was an emotional and happy time for the team to finally taste the ultimate victory.
“It is really emotional, these girls have worked so hard and built such a massive culture over a lot of years,” she said.
“This is the first final we’ve made, and we won it.
“The girls are so strong, probably some of the strongest women I’ve ever played with, and we’ve had a ball this week.”
Hinkley spoke about the united team mentality of the Women and Men’s squads had this year.
“The WA boys have gotten behind us all week, every single game they have showed up and they haven’t faulted in the energy they’ve brought,” she said.
“Just goes to show that our state is one club, it doesn’t matter whether we are the First Nations team or whether we are in high performance, we are just one club. We all stand together.”
The women’s team was mentored by Zoe Goss OAM, with her experience as both a coach and player once again proving to be invaluable for our young up and coming athletes.
Currently serving as the coach of the Aboriginal Talant Academy, Goss has been a leading hand in developing our future stars of the game.
With the support of the WA Cricket Foundation, the Academy aims to identify talents male and female players across the state, support and guide them towards state and national selection.