Geelong Cricket Club has fallen just short of a premiership in its maiden women’s Premier Cricket campaign.
The club’s women’s second XI played in the Victorian Premier Cricket third grand final on Sunday against the Melbourne Cricket Club.
The Cats were unable to back up their win over the Demons a month earlier, falling to Melbourne by 22 runs.
The Demons won the toss and chose to bat at Kardinia Park, putting 40 runs on the board before Ruby Couch made the breakthrough.
Another two wickets fell cheaply, dropping Melbourne to 3/46 in the 17th over before the Demons stabilised.
They managed to build partnerships and increase the run rate in the second half of the innings to get to 6/142 by the end of the 39th over.
Aisha Hendriks, Summer Don, Grace Schrama and Couch each took one wicket each.
In the second innings, Geelong was on the back foot from the first ball when opener Ella Couch was given out lbw.
It went from bad to worse, with the Cats falling to 5/33 in the 14th over.
However the lower order gave the Cats a chance, building partnerships along the way.
Sophie Walsh and Charlotte Poyner put together an important 33-run partnership for the eighth wicket that got the Cats over the 100-run mark.
However the Cats ran out of overs towards the end of the inning and had to play aggressively, eventually being bowled out for 120 in 38.4 overs.
The Geelong Cricket Club took to social media this week to celebrate the team’s achievement.
“They may not have taken the flag but this group made us so proud,” the club posted on Facebook.
“They fought hard in tough weather conditions and supported each other with big smiles and loud cheering right until the very end.
“What a first season it has been for our women’s program with 17 wins across our two teams the future is more than bright.”
