Narrabri District Women’s Cricket Association’s 2023 season to get underway early next month

Narrabri’s women’s cricket comp will return bigger and better in 2023, with round one right around the corner.

A four-team T20 competition will get underway on Saturday, February 4, and will break the following weekend for the Santos Festival of Rugby that is being held in Narrabri.

The season will continue with round two on Saturday, February 18, and then round three will be played on Saturday, February 25.

After all teams have played against each other once, the two top-ranked sides will face off in a grand final on Saturday, March 4.

This season’s games will be played at Collins Park and Hogan Oval after the local men’s competition fixtures have all wrapped up.

They will get underway at about 7pm and will be played into the night under lights.

The four teams this year are Wilga Hotel, captained by Carmel Harvey, GFS Engineering, captained by Alecia Tubner, Nandewar Motel, captained by Michelle O’Connor, and Wahgunyah Dreamtime Mirri, captained by Angie Knox.

Each team will have a squad of 15 players this season.

Those are already filled up, but keen players are being urged to register their interest for the following season.

After two years of preparation and a COVID-19 delay, a women’s cricket competition was finally launched in Narrabri in February last year and it was a huge success.

There were four teams who all met each other once during the regular season, and then a grand final and a third-placed playoff were contested to wrap up the tournament.

That competition was driven by a small but hard-working organising committee, which included Christina and Chris Watkins, Michelle Wheeler and Michelle O’Connor.

The games were entertaining and all attracted large crowds, and the players enjoyed their time out on the field.

While it was more of a social comp, this season’s campaign will have a more competitive feel to it.

It is being driven by the Narrabri District Women’s Cricket Association committee, which was formed late last year.

The NDWCA is a sub-committee under the Narrabri District Cricket Association.

Mark Page is the new committee’s chairperson, with Sam Woolford as vice-chairperson, Chloe Tough as the secretary, Michelle O’Connor in the PR role, and then Monique Houguet, Louise

Tout, Alecia Tubner, Michelle Wheeler and Angie Knox all forming the general committee.

O’Connor told The Courier that the committee had worked hard to listen to feedback from last season’s players and then implement changes based on the negative feedback, while also continuing with what worked well.

The committee’s chairperson is a well-known local cricket player.

Page plays for Tourist Hotel and is a former captain of that club, and he also lined up for J and D Weed Management in the Namoi T20 Super Slog.

He told The Courier that he enjoyed watching the women’s games last year and was keen to help the competition grow in 2023 and beyond.