The Illawarra junior girls cricketers continue to produce significant improvement on the field, with coach Travis Burton predicting a number of his players have bright futures ahead of them.
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It's been a busy few weeks for the youngsters, with the under 15 and under 18 Greater Illawarra Zone sides contesting the Country Championships before the under 15s launched straight into the Margaret Peden DCA competition.
The under 15 girls opened their tournament with two victories, including an impressive win over Newcastle. Keisha Baldwin was the star in that match, the 12-year-old taking a hat-trick and finishing with figures of 6-8.
A loss to ACT Southern Districts saw the girls contest the third-place playoff, where they fell to Western.
Wollongong junior Dharmini Chauhan led the under 18 girls to a first-up victory over Central Coast, with the youthful squad suffering a number of close losses in their remaining games.
With the teams featuring players of a range of experience and ability, Burton, who coached both sides, said the girls should be thrilled.
"We were not one of the stronger teams going up there, but we punched above our weight," Burton said. "The girls came together really well as a team and put a lot of teams away that I didn't think we would, which is great.
"There's a few talented girls in those sides. Keisha is an under 13s player who is an outstanding talent with bat and ball. She changed momentum for us a couple of times going out to bat. She has very bright prospects."
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Junior girls cricket in the Illawarra has grown rapidly in recent years, with the number of females playing the sport increasing significantly.
Burton said that has translated into results on the field and he's confident that with more playing time, a growing contingent of Illawarra girls will achieve higher representative honours in the coming years.
"The girls have shown a massive improvement. Steve Jenkin, the pathway manager, congratulated us on how much the girls have improved, especially the 15s, and how competitive we were at the championships.
"We've unearthed a couple of girls. They can spend all the time training, but it's not until they get out on the park when you figure out who can play properly.
"A couple of girls impressed us with the way they stood up and played. They had the spirit of doing it for the team, they weren't selfish, which was great.
"The numbers are growing in the Illawarra. It's great the talent pool is getting bigger, which is making us more competitive and setting us up for the future."
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