CASTERTON’S Alyssa Humphries is ranked in the top eight Under-22 female indoor cricketers in the world, after an outstanding week at the Indoor Cricket World Cup.

Played at Casey Stadium in Melbourne, the seven-day tournament brought together the best indoor cricketers from eight countries.

The 21-year-old played in eight of the Aussies’ 10 matches, top-scoring for the side with 148 runs for the tournament at an average of 19 runs per innings (only being dismissed twice), and 10 wickets from her 16 overs.

“It was a great moment, as it was my first time being selected for Australia, you always aspire to pull on the green and gold in an indoor cricket World Cup and to be able to do that with a great bunch of girls was pretty special”, Humphries said.

“We had a great week as a team we were one, so it made it a lot easier to go out and do your job as we were having fun and bouncing off each other’s energy which showed in our performances.

 “Our performance over the week as a team was outstanding first time all playing together, and we improved as one throughout we all played as one and really jelled as a team from day one unfortunately falling one run short in the grand final was really disappointing, but overall (it) was a great experience and one I’ll remember for a long time.”

Australia was out to defend titles in both the men’s and women’s divisions that were won back in 2017, the last time the World Cup was held, and the Aussies came to play, as the younger home side dropped just two matches for the tournament - both against the predicted tournament powerhouses, the Australian and New Zealand Open women’s teams.

Day one saw the young locals take on the other division pacesetters, New Zealand Under-22s, for the win – Humphries finished with three wickets and posted nine runs for the home side, before facing the Open Kiwis team.

Led by Humphries who top-scored with 20, the locals gave the Cross-Tasman neighbours a shake-up, despite going down by 27 runs, 89 to 102, and against the Open side, the young Aussies again showed plenty of future potential, posting 80 runs.

From there, the Aussies posted six wins and a tie, securing them a place in the final against New Zealand.

Humphries was outstanding for the Aussies, sitting at the top of the runs table for the home side and taking several handy wickets – including a magnificent caught-and-bowled effort against the South African Open women.

New Zealand’s Under-22 side proved to be the only fly in the ointment for the locals, and after two wins and a draw in favour of the Aussies in the regular rounds, the two faced-off in the grand final.

Opening the batting for Australia, Humphries added to her runs record for the week, posting 18 runs and claimed a handy wicket while conceding just 12 runs.

Unfortunately for the home side, a replay of the 2017 overall result was not to be, and in an epic battle with the neighbours from across the ditch, the Aussies went down by a single run.

“The personal highlight would be playing the first game; it was a big build up and lots of nervous energy around so to finally get out on the court in a home World Cup and play and get the win was unreal,” Humphries said.

“You always have a desire to play for your country, (but 2025 is) still a long way away, so hopefully I can have some strong national tournaments leading up to it, you’re always aspiring to play in the Open Women’s Australian team (but) it is a hard team to break into.

“It was a pretty special moment as I always strive to do my best and give it my all, so to be able to do that for the team throughout the week was good and get that reward at the end was an added bonus.”