THE Hamilton and District Women’s Cricket Association (HDWCA) is continuing to be a trailblazer in the region, as the HDWCA takes to the field for a senior women’s representative game against Warrnambool this weekend.

The game was initially supposed to be part of the Reid Oval re-opening proceedings, but with the Warrnambool facility’s re-opening delay, the game will be played at Port Fairy instead.

Jodie Humphries has been involved in organising the game and team and said selection was based on the HDWCA performances so far this season.

“It is based off the Friday night games,” she said.

“We have gone with an experienced side, so it was a chance to give our regular girls a chance to represent the association and play a longer format.”

The HDWCA games are 16-over innings, while Sunday’s game will be 30 overs each team.

It has been in discussions for a few weeks with other games to follow.

“It has been in the pipelines for a while and we have games coming up against Mount Gambier coming up the following weekend as well.

“We will play two T20 games there as well.”

Humphries said the players were excited to join together and play alongside each other, an opportunity which doesn’t occur too often.

“We had a side that played in Warrnambool about five or six years ago and we still talk about it these days,” she said.

“It is a great chance for the girls to all get together and putting their skills.”

HDWCA president, Lloyd Ilett, is excited about what opportunities the game will create and said it is the start of a bigger initiative going forward.

“It is the natural evolution, we are also trying to get senior women’s rep games happening more regularly,” he said.

“We have the junior girls country week, so this makes sense.

“We have had interest from Warrnambool and Mount Gambier and this season is the start of it.

“At this stage the Mount Gambier games are on, but we are not sure of whether it will go ahead with everything happening, depending on the borders and everything else.”

With the junior girls carnival adding to the female cricket pathway in the region, having senior women’s representative cricket as an extension of that remains important for the association.

Ilett said he was hopeful the fixtures would be an ongoing thing between the three associations.

“It is a progression from the junior carnival and we are very excited for where female cricket is heading,” he said.

“The girls are very excited to play rep cricket, Warrnambool is a long way behind us in terms of how long it has been going, compared to ours which has been going for 25 years, but it is exciting to take the next step.”

The girls who play premier cricket have not been selected, due to fixture clashes, also ensuring that other girls got the opportunity to play at a higher level and represent the HDWCA across different formats over the coming two weekends.

Casterton District’s Claire Widdicombe will captain the team, while Pigeon Ponds’ Paige Murrell will be her deputy.

Macarthur’s Nicole Hunt will have the gloves and will be joined in the team by Demons teammates, Sarah Cassidy and Ruby Ross, along with Tarrington’s Aisha Hendriks and Megan Tonissen, Pigeon Ponds’ Hayley Boxall, Drews’ Bec Vankalken and Zoe Vankalken-Flack and Byaduk’s Ros Thatcher.

Three emergencies were named – Byaduk’s Emily Huglin and Julie Parsons, along with College’s Micaela Meyer.

One of the trio is already guaranteed a game with Caeleigh Humphries a late out for the game.

It shapes up to be an exciting opportunity for all involved and the HDWCA going into the clash full of confidence.

It also offers the girls a chance to play through the break with regular season games not resuming until January 28.