CASTERTON is celebrating the selection of another local woman on the international sporting arena, with Alyssa Humphries earning a place in the Australian Under 22 Women’s Indoor Cricket team at the National Championships.

Hot on the heels of the news that Kathryn Mitchell had been chosen to participate in her fifth Commonwealth Games later this month in Birmingham, came word that Humphries’ efforts at last week’s championships had been rewarded too.

Humphries took her place with Victoria in the Open Women’s team for the national carnival and her performances saw the selectors choose her in the Under 22 team to play in the 2022 World Cup to be held in October.

She played in six of the 10 games that Victoria played in for the nationals week and her skills with the bat in hand saw her post 95 runs and only be dismissed once, while her bowling saw her take five wickets for only 68 runs.

As Humphries was still under 22 years of age, it meant that she had to be rotated in and out of the side due to a carnival rule, otherwise with her form, she would have played every game.

She was integral in the front court at cover (think silly-mid-off in outdoor cricket) where her razor-sharp reflexes brought many an opponent undone through either run outs or catches taken.

Victoria could not get past Queensland in any of the three games that the two teams contested, with the Maroons taking their fourth title in a row, but Humphries couldn’t be blamed, as she missed the grand final due to testing positive to Covid-19 the night before the game.

The Vic’s missed her valuable runs in the middle order and her pressure-packed bowling as the team went down in the last game, 109 to 129.

Humphries put her form with bat and ball down to a team mindset, that saw the squad believe in each other to perform when required.

“The secret to my form would be our team; we all believed in one another, so we brought the best out of each other on the court,” Humphries said.

“It’s always a good challenge playing against QLD (as) they’ve got some very classy players (and) it’s always a learning curve out on the court, no matter who we’re playing, as the game can change so quickly.

Having played the game since 2018, it’s a sharp ascent for the all-rounder to be selected in a national team, especially when you consider that the pandemic interfered with so much sport over the last few years.

With a whirlwind of well wishes via texts, calls etc, Humphries had yet to have a full chat with her coaches for the upcoming World Cup.

“I’ve been on the phone to my coach and manager and will have more information later in the week via email in relation to training etc,” she said.

While Humphries is yet to be given her role within the team, it is highly unlikely that it will change much from what she performed for Victoria.

Humphries gained her grounding in cricket playing for Casterton women’s cricket club in the Hamilton and District Women’s Cricket Association, where she earned selection for the Western Waves Region as a junior and then progressed to Cricket Victoria Premier First grade in Melbourne, where she is the first-choice wicket keeper for Essendon-Maribyrnong Park.

She becomes the first ever HDWCA/Casterton player to be selected for a national team and it is yet to sink in for the 21-year-old

“Pretty exciting news as this is my first time being selected so I’m looking forward to getting stuck into training and the lead up to the World Cup,” Humphries said.

The 2022 World Cup will be staged at Casey Stadium in Melbourne early in October.