All-rounder Heidi Stansfield wants to see females get as many opportunities as possible to play cricket and she's thrilled to be part of the process.
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The 18-year-old has been named captain of Bookaar's inaugural youth women's team in the Colac District Cricket Association.
The new twenty20 competition starts on Sunday November 15.
"It would be great to have a fun year but also develop our skills and learn a bit more about cricket," Stansfield said.
It would be great to have a fun year but also develop our skills and learn a bit more about cricket.
- Heidi Stansfield
She's stoked to part of the competition's debut season.
"I'm really excited, it's a great opportunity because I haven't really had much experience in a local women's team," Stansfield said.
The emerging cricketer explained she had participated in some informal training among women in Warrnambool.
The Pelicans' new skipper played for Nirranda's under 17 boys and girls teams in the Warrnambool District Cricket Association last summer.
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The right-hand batter and medium-pace bowler has played all her juniors with the Knights.
She opened the batting for the girls side and they made a semi-final last season.
Stansfield said she was too old to play for Nirranda's girls team so was open to taking on her new role with the Pelicans.
"I've never played with Bookaar because it's the first (youth women's) team so it's really exciting to be associated with a new side," she said.
The teenager, who lives at Peterborough, is in year 12 at Timboon P-12 School. She's also part of the South West Academy of Sport.
On top of her WDCA experiences, she played with the Western Waves representative team during the 2018/19 season. But perhaps he most valuable experience thus far has been opening the batting for Melbourne Cricket Club in the Women's Community Cricket Competition last season.
"I was lucky to get those opportunities," she said.
She played in the shield twenty20 and one day teams and scored 13 runs on two occasions. The talented youngster also collected three wickets across the two formats.
"They had a lot of great coaches and it was good for progressing my cricket because it was a higher standard and you obviously get a lot of more support in metro regions," she said.
"It's sometimes hard to progress your cricket in regional areas because there are not as many opportunities and less players."
Bookaar's other cricket teams play in the South West Cricket Association.
Pomborneit is another SWC club entering a youth women's side into the CDCA.
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