BLU women fall short against Shepparton Youth Club United

By Oliver Shedden

Dec 9, 2024

BLU’s Amy Fitzgerald was her side’s player of the match, scoring 12 runs and taking 2-15 with the ball. Photo: Rechelle Zammit. Photo by Rechelle Zammit

After not playing for a month for various reasons, the Lionesses hosted Shepparton Youth Club United in round nine of the senior women’s competition, where the visitors ultimately got over the top.

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BLU won the toss and sent SYCU in to bat first, looking to take early wickets and put the fourth-ranked side under pressure early.

Nicole Mitchell got the breakthrough wicket of Phoebe Hawker for just seven thanks to the safe hands of Bree Styles, which brought Mel Saunders to the crease to partner Sophie Ullah.

From there, the pair took the game away from BLU, scoring quickly and aggressively to put the pressure back on the bowlers.

Both batters retired, Ullah scoring an unbeaten 47 while Saunders blasted 62 from her 30 balls.

This brought captain Lee Bancroft and Alicia Kazayi to the crease, with the former tallying nine not out, while the latter was bowled by Emily Holgate for a single run.

Natalie Millington and Maddy Andronaco didn’t last long at the crease as Millington was caught my Shae Christie for two and Andronaco was bowled for a duck, both batters succumbing to Amy Fitzgerald’s bowling.

SYCU batted out its 20 overs and finished with a total of 4-137, setting the Lionesses a sizeable chase for victory.

Unfortunately for the home side, it struggled to find much consistency through its innings.

Captain Liz Chapman and Styles opened the batting and managed to reach six and seven, respectively, before they were dismissed.

Chapman was bowled by a beautiful Lia Beecroft delivery, while Styles was caught by Ullah off Kazayi.

First-drop Fitzgerald was BLU’s highest scorer for the match, notching 12 runs before she was caught by Lauren Barber trying to take on Saunders’ bowling.

SYCU’s Lia Beecroft went on a tear through BLU’s middle order, bowling Shae Christie (2), Holgate (0) and Daneika Hucker (0) while catching and bowling Jessie Jespen (0) and catching Nicole Mitchell (0) out off Kazayi’s bowling.

Now firmly into the tail end and looking bleak, it was Chloe Forster and Aimee Rankin who were forced to stand up for their side as the last line of defence.

Unfortunately, Forster was run out by Andronaco for five and Rankin was caught by Barber off Kazayi’s bowling for six.

With BLU all out, it ended its day on 56, 81 runs short of victory despite an admirable effort after an extended period out of play.