“Mum started a junior girls’ social competition, just a fun muck-around for those interested in cricket,” she says.
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Abby has been living and breathing cricket her whole life.
As a three-year-old, Abby watched her mum play in the local women’s league where the friendly teammates would babysit her on the sidelines.
By the time she was in primary school, Abby had well and truly fallen in love with the sport.
“I instantly connected to it,” she says.
“I love batting and making runs.”
Passion for the code runs deep through her whole family, with her dad, mum and two sisters playing legendary games of backyard cricket.
Abby has worked hard on her craft, played multiple grades and is now getting noticed by selectors.
But it hasn’t been an easy journey.
‘Cricket isn’t a girl’s sport’
Eight years ago, the all-rounder was looking for a cricket team to join in her regional hometown of Coomealla in south-west New South Wales.
There were no girls’ teams in the region, and Abby was too young to join the women’s league.
Abby had to play under-12s with the boys, where she felt like an outsider and came up against sexist attitudes.
“Hearing people telling me that I shouldn’t be playing cricket was very difficult to overcome, especially playing in a boy’s competition,” she says.
“The thing I’ve struggled with the most is getting told that cricket isn’t a girl’s sport.
“I felt excluded and like I wasn’t getting the opportunities I wanted and deserved.”
Abby says there was always a women’s competition in the Sunraysia region, but never any teams, training or support for girls.
Abby’s mum Tash wasn’t happy about it and wanted young women to thrive in the game.
“Mum started a junior girls’ social competition, just a fun muck-around for those interested in cricket,” she says.
After just one year, it grew big enough to play in leagues.
“We had an under-15 girls’ competition, which has now been separated into under-13s and under-16s because of the interest,” Abby says.
“It’s pretty exciting. There’s roughly three or four teams in each grade and there’s more girls getting involved than ever before.”
Untapped talent
The league was expanding. Abby didn’t anticipate the number of local girls who loved the game too.
“It was heartwarming, and I wasn’t the only one that had the passion of potentially going far with my sport,” she says.
Abby and her fellow teammates represent Sunraysia in country competitions and have taken home some big wins.
“That’s when we finally started getting noticed by state selectors,” she says.
“It just proves we’ve got a lot of talent around here and that it was worth having it all start up.”
Abby was selected for Cricket Victoria’s Under-16s Emerging Players program in 2021, plays in the Victorian countryside team, and is in cricket academies for New South Wales and Victoria.
The now 16-year-old competes all over Australia, but she says it wouldn’t be possible without her mum by her side.
“Mum drives me thousands of kilometres and does so much to get me to competitions,” she says.
“We’ve travelled up to 20 hours just for a tournament.”
A league of their own
The up-and-comer has her sights set on taking wickets in a state team, hitting sixes in the Women’s Big Bash League, and then hopefully donning the baggy green for Australia.
But Abby’s biggest passion is seeing the next generation of girls in her region rise through the ranks.
“Mum has really inspired me and encouraged me to support others, and now I’m an assistant coach with my local junior girls’ team,” she says.
“I want to bring girls up through the competition myself and hope they can even get better than me.
“I’m going to go as far as I can. But most of all, I want to help others get here too.”
The ABC’s Takeover Mildura program gives a voice to young people across the Sunraysia region. If you would like to find out more, go to the Takeover website.
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