CASTERTON’S Alyssa Humphries has enjoyed a magical past year with her chosen sport, which was capped off with a premiership in the Victorian Premier Cricket first grade competition in Melbourne.

Humphries was an integral member of the Essendon Maribyrnong Park (EMP) Premier Firsts team that proudly held the flag aloft after defeating Melbourne at Junction Oval.

EMP was deserved premiers after dropping only one match for the summer, which was against Carlton in the penultimate round of the home and away season.

Having been sent into bat after losing the toss, EMP looked to its opening partnership of Humphries and skipper, Makinley Blows, to give the side the fast solid foundation that every team needs.

The pair added 97 for the first wicket with Humphries reaching 33 from 58 balls with six boundaries before being bowled by fourth change bowler, Erika Quinn.

After EMP posted 6-249 from its 50 overs, Humphries then pouched two catches at first slip, as Melbourne was routed inside 35 overs for only 96.

At 22 years old, Humphries has shoehorned plenty of highlights into her career, especially in the last 12 months where she has claimed a National Title with Victoria in indoor cricket; a world cup title with the Australian Under-23 team and world team selection - also in indoor cricket - and selection in the Victorian Country team for the Australian Country Cricket Championships, where she performed so well that she gained selection in the Team of the Tournament.

“I started playing cricket competitively when I was 11 playing in the Under-16 Casterton and District Cricket Association competition, so I’ve been playing for 11 years”, Humphries said.

“I started playing for EMP in the 2016-17 season filling in for a couple games towards the end of the year, then started playing full time in season 2017-18; this was my sixth season at the club.

“I played my first game in Premier Firsts in season 2017-18 in round one against Melbourne, so this is my fifth season playing First XI.

“This is my fourth premiership with EMP, and I’ve won two T20 and two one-day flags, and this one rated pretty highly.

“We’ve got a very talented young group and not many people expected us to even make finals let alone win it, so I think this will be the first of many premierships to come for us in the next couple of years.”

Her last 12 months has seen her go from strength to strength with her outdoor cricket and indoor cricket success and has put it down to having fun and enjoying the little moments in games.

“I’m enjoying every moment of my cricket, whether it’s indoor or outdoor I get to play cricket all year round, which is great in itself,” Humphries said.

“We have a great bunch of girls at EMP, we bounce off each other’s energy and have a lot of fun out on the field, which showed in our performances this season.”

Her performances have caught the eye of the Victorian selectors, with selection in three Premier All-Stars games and the next step could well be selection in the women’s Victorian National Cricket League (WNCL) team.

“I’m really enjoying my cricket at the minute, so if I continue that and keep making runs throughout the season, I’ll be happy with that,” she said.

“I’ve been invited to play three game series of Premier All-Stars which is the best performed players in Premier Firsts throughout the season.

“I’ll continue playing indoor cricket throughout the winter and we head off to Brisbane for the national titles in June, which we have started training for recently, then I’ll be back in the red and the black for EMP next season looking to go back-to-back, so whatever cricketing opportunities come my way I’ll always give my all.”