Wahgunyah Dreamtime Mirri are champions of Narrabri District Women’s Cricket Association’s competition for the third time in four campaigns following an eight-run grand final victory against minor premiers and defending champs Redfern Contracting at Collins Park on Saturday night.
It was the Wahgunyah ladies who batted first in the 2025/26 season decider, and they made use of their entire 20 overs to register a score of 4-76. They then held Redfern Contracting to 9-68 in a match that went the distance.
Molly Welsh was named player of the match after scoring 16 runs during the first innings and then taking a match-best 3-15 from four overs in the second.
Welsh’s captain Angie Knox commended her performance while also heaping praise on all of her teammates following what she described as a great team effort.
“Our name will be on the trophy three times now. It felt amazing to get that win,” Knox told The Courier.
“Going into the game, the pink team were the favourites and we were the underdogs because they were first on the ladder the whole season.
“We’d only beaten them once before in the competition, which was in a T20 match, and the other two times we played them were in T10 matches, and they beat us in both.
“The match is a bit of a blur to me, really. It was definitely a great full team effort and everyone really contributed.
“We tried not to focus on winning or losing. We just went out there hoping to play our best, and we happened to be best on the night.
“It’s been a pretty new team this year.
“We’ve got an amazing bunch of girls in our team, ranging from all different ages. The young girls have really stepped up and have fitted in to the team well, and the core group of players we’ve had over a few years; I think that we’ve set ourselves in the competition well and we just love playing cricket together.
“We enjoy playing this game together and being around each other and playing for each other, and we love women’s sport.”
Knox has been the standout batter during the NDWCA’s 2025/26 season, but she fell cheaply on Saturday night when she was bowled by her opposing skipper Tori-Ann Gerarghty from the final delivery of the fourth over, which made the score 1-16.
Ava Manton then struck during the following over to knock over Wahgunyah’s other opener, Welsh, who was caught by Amy Trindall on 16.
Candice Stang bowled Velvet Craigie (8) during the 10th over as Wahgunyah found themselves on 3-34 at the halfway mark, but they only lost one wicket during their final 10 overs, which allowed them to lift the run rate as Dannielle Pokarier-Baker (21*), Fiona Redfern (14) and Lidia Richards (7*) powered them home to 4-76.
Redfern Contracting’s dangerous but injured duo Jade Williams and Grace Farrer opened the batting in the second innings, and Wahgunyah’s Meika Foley delivered an early blow when she bowled Williams in the second over to make the score 1-13, which became 2-19 in the fourth over when Foley struck again to bowl Kristie Toomey.
The chasing side were cruising at 2-33 after nine overs with Farrer (16) and Trindall (10) at the crease, but they then lost three wickets in the following four overs to find themselves on 5-47 after 13 overs.
Those included the big wicket of Farrer, who top-scored for her side before she was caught by Taylah Fogarty off the bowling of Welsh.
Welsh (3-15 from four overs) and Foley (3-18 from four overs) eventually did the bulk of the damage, while Craigie (1-9 from four overs) and Knox (1-11 from four overs) also took a wicket each and were impressive economically, as was Fogarty with 0-13 from her four overs.
The other wicket came via a Pokarier-Baker runout in the 19th over to dismiss Bec Cope (6), who had given her team some late hope, but they ultimately fell nine runs short of the required total after scoring two runs in the final over when they needed 11 to win.
A presentation was held in front of the Ross Panton Stand after the match, during which the Ian McGregor Premiership Trophy was awarded to the Wahgunyah Dreamtime Mirri team.
The batting aggregate and average trophies went to Angie Knox, who led the way with 162 runs in the 2025/26 season at an average of 62 and with a high score of 53, and the bowling aggregate and average trophies were claimed by Jade Williams, who took 11 wickets at an average of 3.27 with best figures of 3-7.
