Jackie Newman had never planned on being a cricketer.
Administrator? Sure. Supporter? Absolutely. But when her local association in Gippsland's south gave women the opportunity to play in a local competition for the first time, she immediately put her hand up and worked to bring everyone she knew along for the ride.
Every woman in her phone got a call or text. Jackie asked clients from her finance business, promoted the competition on local Facebook community pages, and even recruited a group of players from the local netball club.
"I'm more of an organiser," Jackie said.
"I signed up so that other women my age would feel more comfortable."
Opportunities for women to play cricket in Victoria have exploded in recent years, returning to the previous heights of the 1980s when the Victorian Women's Cricket Association (VWCA) boasted over 130 teams across Melbourne.
However, the decades that followed saw numbers more than halve before the VWCA (previously responsible for all cricket played by women) integrated with Cricket Victoria.
This saw exponential growth of local associations adding women's divisions and increasing participation, particularly in metropolitan leagues.
Now, this momentum is also gathering in regional areas like Gippsland, where opportunities have previously been scarce.
Getting women at the wicket in regional Victoria
The Leongatha & District Cricket Association (LDCA) is one of six cricket associations in the country region of Gippsland in Victoria's east.
Both the region and association have a proud history of women and girls in cricket, but the LDCA were seeing women drop out of the sport, even after playing at representative level.
The options available either required too much travel or didn't provide the social environment they were looking for.
The LDCA identified the need for local options specifically for girls and women and set their sights on an all-girls, junior competition.
After considerable efforts over a number of seasons came to nothing, their focus moved to the senior level and a six-team women's competition kicked off in November.
This inaugural competition included a side from the Inverloch Cricket Club and administrator-turned-player and unofficial recruiter Jackie Newman has been one of their driving forces.
Having supported her brother, husband, and sons from the sidelines for over 36 years as well as countless other cricketers in her various volunteer roles over the last seven, Jackie was one of the women who decided to take the field as part of LDCA's inaugural women's division.
"Don't tell anybody, especially my family, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself," she said.
Like Jackie, most of the women who took up playing for Inverloch Cricket Club as part of the inaugural competition have a family connection, and many were likely convinced to take part by Jackie herself, which has contributed to the success of the LDCA's first season.
"100 per cent of the people have said [playing] is a social thing," Jackie said.
She says the key to recruiting women is to ask people personally and give the reassurance of enough numbers so there can be a rotation of players to lessen the commitment.
Shorter seasons and formats were also attributed to the success of women's competitions in other areas and had been identified as a concern prior to the competition's launch.
The LDCA ensured their season would be shorter than other divisions, running fortnightly in the T20 format.
"It's perfect… Our game yesterday was done in two hours and 15 minutes, so [Jackie's teammate] was home in under three hours start to finish.
"They've [LDCA] done a really good job of setting up the rules to be accommodating for all skill levels. They've made it inclusive and engaging," Jackie said.
Safe spaces and local legends
For Jackie, the key to her enjoyment is the safe space where everyone in the community can feel at home.
From the entry-level junior programs and U12 kids she has managed to her fellow teammates, it's all about creating a positive environment and making sure that people can be themselves.
"Knowing that what you're doing is having an impact on so many families in the community … people come to your club, and it means a lot to them," she said.
So, what was different about this year that enabled the women's division in Gippsland to get off the ground?
Jackie suggests having a couple of ambassadors committed to the project and engaging with clubs has been vital.
Ambassadors such as 19-year-old Phillip Island resident and member of the Koonwarra Leongatha RSL Cricket Club, Jess Bohn.
Now officially the LDCA committee's Women's Representative, Jess began her cricket career after being spotted at a school cricket competition.
"One of the blokes came up to me, and he was like, 'Hey we've got this come and try day', hands me this stack of paperwork and says we really think you should come along," she said.
"I had no idea what it was in relation to."
Having pursued dance and athletics to that point (including participating in national level long jump), cricket had not been on the radar at all until Jess was handed these papers inviting her to trial for the region's U14 representative team. A team for which she went on to be selected that then required her to join a local club.
Jess first joined a club in the small farming community of Glen Alvie, over half an hour from Phillip Island, but at the time, Jess had felt it was the only choice she had to play.
"They were the only team in the LDCA region that was a predominantly female team. I think there were eight girls, and the rest were boys who would fill in," she said.
"I don't think we competed against any other girls in the competition."
When that team fell over, Jess moved to another team with what she describes as having a visual pathway.
That club was the Koonwarra Leongatha RSL Cricket Club which had coaches connected to the representative team that she was a part of.
Now Jess knew she would have support, but more importantly, they had girls and women playing in older age groups and senior teams with the boys and men — a strong and inclusive environment.
"There were more senior girls there that were already at the club. It was the visual pathway of there is somewhere else to go that isn't just junior cricket."
Opportunities for regional women in sport
For Jess, the six-team women's division is a great start to providing the full, local pathway in regional areas she would have loved to have had herself.
Jess is now passionate about using her position as the LDCA committee's Women's Representative to continue to build on the strong foundation this inaugural competition has built, and use the senior competition to drive more momentum for another try at developing a junior girls division.
"Girls aren't getting the opportunities I think they should be getting, especially in a region that is large enough," she said.
For now, they have two U14 teams playing as curtain raisers to the women's games in the hope that this new six-team competition, and the ongoing support of the women on the ground, will help to close those gaps for women and girls who want to play cricket in the region.
As Jackie said, "You just have to keep planting seeds, and eventually, the timing will be right."
And with women like Jackie and Jess spreading the word and bringing women along in supportive and encouraging ways, those seeds should continue to grow.
ABC Sport is partnering with Siren Sport to elevate the coverage of Australian women in sport.
Emma Gallagher grew up on Gunaikurnai Country in Gippsland's far east and is now a sports administrator and commentator living and working in Naarm/Melbourne.
