THE Hamilton District Cricket Association (HDCA) was well represented at the Western Border Challenge as the best female talent from town travelled to Mount Gambier for two Twenty20 games against the home team last Sunday.

The Hamilton women brought home one win from their two matches and a wealth of experience and knowledge they can implement in the HDWCA.

It had been about five years since a Hamilton women’s representative side took the field and the team hoped it could become a more regular occurrence in the future.

It was shaping up to be a scorcher of a day, as the side arrived at Frew Park for its first T20 game of the day.

After winning the toss, Hamilton captain, Paige Murrell, elected to bat with the plan of putting a strong score on the board to setting the tone for the remainder of the day.

It was Byaduk’s Ros Thatcher who held the innings together with an outstanding knock of 27, as her teammates fell around her.

She managed to tick the score over and capitalise on the occasional boundary with her solid technique presenting a task to the Mount Gambier bowlers.

After Jacqui Robinson was dismissed early, Leah Drendel strolled to the crease determined to play her natural game and put some pressure back on the bowlers.

She made her ambitions clear with an early boundary but was bowled only a few balls later leaving the team at 2-16.

Ruby Ross (nine) scored some late handy runs for the Hurricanes and with some wayward bowling from the home team, the score ticked over to 88 after the 20 overs.

Laura Chester was a wrecking ball for Mount Gambier, removing Hamilton’s top four batters, a result of some tight bowling targeting the stumps which gave her figures of 4-11.

It was clear from the beginning of the Hurricanes’ bowling innings that it would take their opponents’ best efforts to reach the target, as they bowled economically and got a few early breakthroughs.

Caeleigh Humphries sent down some fast deliveries and was rewarded with the early wicket of Mount Gambier opening batter, Angela Donnelly, after rattling her stumps for a duck.

Drendel did damage with the ball at a crucial time, picking up impressive figures of 2-3 from her spell.

Hamilton’s Megan Tonissen made an instant impact, as she took a wicket in her first over and with a few run outs to conclude the game, as the Hurricanes bowled Mount Gambier out for 65, well short of the target set by the visitors.

Wicketkeeper, Nicole Hunt, was solid behind the stumps conceding just one bye for the entire 20 overs.

In the afternoon, it was time to throw the coin up for the second game and with fatigue starting to set in, the ladies shared the workload.

The visitors lost the toss and bowled, and thanks to some good scores from Fiona Young (37-not-out) who backed up her first game score of 16 and Chester (20), Mount Gambier posted a very strong total of 107.

Humphries was the pick of the bowlers, grabbing two wickets and conceding only six runs from her two overs.

The Hurricanes’ top order fought hard through Robinson (10), Thatcher (14) and Murrell (19), but it wasn’t enough as they ended up being bowled out for 79 in the 18th over.

Sarah Roberston and Lydia Megaw took three wickets each for the home side.

Hurricanes’ coach, Jodie Humphries said it was a great day, with the team taking plenty of positives out of the two performances.

“It was a really big day (and) an awesome effort by the girls with a longer format than they are used to playing, it was really good,” she said.

“It was absolutely brilliant for the girls to play together rather than against each other, it’s going to be good for our own local comp with the things they put into play when they come back.”

Humphries said she was very impressed with the way the team performed throughout the day with some particular players catching her eye.

Thatcher was the obvious one, scoring 41 runs across the two innings, helping to push the team to their one win on the day.

“Ros is just a force, she’s very unassuming but gets the job done, she is very technically correct and even her running between wickets improved as the day went on,” Humphries said.

“Young Micaela Meyer did quite well, Caeleigh’s pace and line was really good, the fielding was good from the whole team, Ruby Ross gave her all in the field diving for balls and a big mention to Nicole Hunt who kept for the whole 40 overs.”

Having picked up a win in the first game, the second game was about sharing it around so everyone could learn and have a go.

“We weren’t really concerned with the outcome, it was about giving everyone a taste of what rep cricket was like, obviously we would’ve liked to take the win but there are plenty of wins for our side out of it.”

“We are looking to get one game a month between maybe Geelong, Warrnambool, Hamilton and Mount Gambier, a one Sunday a month comp is the ultimate goal, (while) Mount Gambier will be coming across for a return game next season.”