2002-03 Annual R eport 2002-03 Annual R eport - Australian Sports ...

W omen’s National Cricket League, 2002-03
WOMEN’S NATIONAL CRICKET LEAGUE, 2002-03
The New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) Blues’ six-year
dominance of the Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL)
ground to a halt in season 2002-03, as Victoria Spirit defeated
the reigning champions in a fiercely contested finals series.
Led by Player-of-the-Finals and Victorian captain Belinda Clark,
the Spirit captured its first WNCL title since the inception of the
women’s domestic competition in 1996-97.
The Spirit wrapped up the best-of-three match finals series at
the Melbourne Cricket Ground with a 2-0 win, reversing the
result of the 2001-02 finals series against the NSWIS Blues.
Heading into the finals series, the season ledger between the
two sides stood at one win apiece.
Game one of the final series saw the NSWIS Blues set the Spirit
a target of 201 runs for victory, a total built on the efforts of
recently retired international star Lisa Keightley, who scored an
unbeaten 94 from 156 balls.
Victorian spearhead Cathryn Fitzpatrick’s 3-31 helped restrict
the NSWIS Blues to 6-200 from 50 overs.
A 111-run opening partnership from Belinda Clark and Louise
Broadfoot laid the foundation for the Spirit’s run chase, with Victoria
seemingly in control of the match at 3-185 with six overs remaining.
But a mini collapse saw four wickets fall in five overs (Kelly
Applebee, 11, Fitzpatrick, 1, Brooke McFarlane, 1, and Jodie
Dean, 1) and the Spirit tumble to 7-196, with the match in the
balance in the final over.
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Fast-bowler Cathryn Fitzpatrick spearheaded Victoria Spirit’s season, finishing as
the Women’s National Cricket League’s equal highest wicket-taker with 17 scalps.
Off-spinner Megan Foster became the heroine of the day.
Needing two runs for victory from the last ball of the match,
Foster struck a boundary over square leg to secure a threewicket
victory for the Spirit and a 1-0 lead in the finals race.
After winning the toss and electing to bat in match two, the Spirit
reached a score of 181 from 50 overs, again led by the master
stroke-play of Clark (63 runs from 107 balls) with support from
Melanie Jones (29 runs from 42 balls).
NSWIS Blues captain Julie Hayes (3-23) and Bronwyn Calver
(2-33) made the vital breakthroughs for the Blues, giving them
the chance to push the series into a third and deciding match.
That prospect looked shaky as opening pair Keightley and
Shannon Cunneen were both run out in the first 10 overs.
With Michelle Goszko (13) and Alex Blackwell (17) dismissed
soon after, the Blues were precariously placed at 4-56.
Lisa Sthalekar (45) provided some resistance with backing from
Leonie Coleman (23), but when the former Australian youth
captain was dismissed by Clea Smith, the Blues were all out
for 141, as Victoria Spirit celebrated a 40-run victory and its
first WNCL title.
Southern Scorpions captain Karen Rolton was again named
WNCL Player of the Year after heading the run-scoring charts
for the third successive year with 468 runs at an average of
78.00, and finishing as the competition’s third highest wickettaker
with 15 scalps at 8.60.